There is no doubt that some people can find great pleasure in keeping rats and mice as pets. However, outside this context, these rodents are actually very terrible pests. They can provide incalculable damages to our properties and to our health. In fact, millions of dollars are being wasted away each year because of these animals. Over the past years, we have developed tons of methods used to control them in order to minimize the damages that they can do. However, most of these methods are chemical-based and unfortunately, such chemicals can greatly harm the environment. Thus, in the end, although mice are indeed controlled by the methods used, the amount of damage is still not minimized.
But it's not just the environment that these chemical-based control products harm. One characteristic common to most rat and mouse poisons is their slow-killing ability. This means that only a few types of poisons can kill mice and rats on the spot. Most of them kill the rodents slowly by weakening their internal organs or by forcing their bodies to bleed internally. Apart from the cruelty of this method, it can also pose serious threats to the other animals in the house. For example, a mouse or a rat dying from the poison might run lose and get the chance to encounter your pet dog or cat. You might might eat or play with dying or dead rodents and poison them in the process.
These are the reasons why greener approaches to rodent control always make it big whenever they are introduced into the market, at least when it comes to popularity. For obvious reasons, products which are "Earth-friendly" are more expensive to produce and this reflects in the cost of these products. Thus, no matter how popular these products are, too few people still use them because of the cost. Nevertheless, manufacturers are putting forth some extra efforts to be able to make these products more affordable. So, expect to get one of those "green mouse/rat control" products at a friendly price in a couple of years from now.
Of course, we can't just wait until all these products are made available for us. Actually, we can improvise and control mice in our own way by using items which we can find at home and in our pantry. We can also "mouse-proof" our homes in order to discourage mouse entry. Here are some of my ideas:
1. I used to live in a brick house. I have noticed that mice often use the gaps between the bricks to enter our kitchen, but I can't really seal the gaps because bricks need them in order to expand safely. The physical characteristics of bricks are greatly affected by the weather. It can contract or expand depending on the surrounding temperature, thus the gaps are intentionally placed in order to avoid breaking whenever the bricks expand. Knowing that I can't do much about the gaps, I "sealed" the gabs by using a crumpled chicken wire. The wire was sufficient to discourage mice entry while not completely sealing up the gap, thus still giving the bricks space to expand.
2. For houses which are not made from bricks, sealing should be easier. Owners should inspect every corner of their house in order to identify possible entry points. The easiest way to seal the openings is through the use of steel wool or scourers (usually used for cleaning cooking pots). Steel wools are very affordable and they can be bought per piece. Scourers can be cut to the right sizes using industrial scissors.
3. It is common knowledge that mice and rats are attracted to garbage. These rodents like to nibble on everything found in the trash can including leftover foods and vegetable peelings. Thus, it is wise if the homeowner covers all the trash bins in the house with lids which are not easy to remove. As much as possible the lids should perfectly fit the trash bin's opening so that the rodents will not be able to sneak in the gaps. For compost bins outside the house, homeowners are advised to elevate them. The elevation will make the bin less easy to penetrate. However, if the bin is indeed elevated, homeowners should make sure that the bottom portion of the bin is drilled with holes in order to let the moisture of the compost leave the bin.
4. Rodents prefer to nest indoors but they can also nest outdoors. If you have already sealed your house, chances are, the mice and rats might have just settled to nest outside. To stop them from doing so, make sure that you clear your yard from any forms of debris piles. Mice also nest under firewood and rock piles. If the piles are inevitable, practice disturbing these piles on a regular basis just to give the mice a hint that they will not be at peace under these piles. Mice do not like disturbances thus if you do it often, they will definitely leave your property on their own.
5. It is also helpful if you conduct regular clean-ups in your kitchen area and in the other places in your house where mice are most likely to nest. Mice require very little sustenance so even a very small portion of leftover food can encourage them to stay in your area and forage where you have these leftover food lying around.
6. You will know if your area is really prone to rat or mice infestation. If you are certain that despite all the safety measures that you have done, mice and rats might still come in your place, change all your trash bins to metal ones. Do no use plastic trash bins anymore because mice have this twisted thought about anything that they can chew. They will only attempt to chew on your plastic bins and in the long run, they might actually succeed in doing so.
7. Just like squirrels, mice and rats also feed on bird seeds. If you have a bird feeder at home, just make sure that you place it far from your house so that the rodents that happen to find out about it will not be tempted to visit your house. As much as possible, cleanout fallen fruits the soonest that they fall from the tree as these too can encourage mice and rats to come into your residence.
