ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

Do you have mice in your rice or rats in your hats? The good old fashioned mousetrap is still the best. Set with a pumpkin seed, if they feed your rodents rather than fool them, a little butter spread onto the trap is unbeatable. And the bodies?

Tremendous success is obtained by placing a body in herb or flower pots before transplanting. If the above does not appeal to your sensibilities and you'd prefer not to kill them, bushes of peppermint, spearmint and pennyroyal grown around the house are said to repel them.

Here are some simple rules of thumb you can adopt to prevent a rodent invasion in your home:

Store all your accessible food in rodent-proof containers such as glass or metal

Place your trash in tightly covered metal cans to prevent smells from escaping or potential rodent entry.

Check your faucets to make sure they are functioning properly and to fix leaks as they occur, since gaps or holes around pipes can serve as easy entry points for rodents.

Seal up any unnecessary openings with concrete or sheet metal. For other access points, a 1/4 inch hardware cloth or steel wool should do the trick.

For pet owners, put any uneaten pet food away before you go to bed, as any pet food left out is subject to rodent consumption!

Carefully watch your bird feeders. Be sure you are not feeding the local rodent population instead of desirable song birds!