Grandma's Rodent Pest Control Guide


photo of a mouse in the kitchen sink drain photo of a large black rat photo of a cat and mouse seeing eye to eye on a sidewalk


Using toxic rodent poisons around your home isn't very practical when rodent pest control can be easily done with simple and safe formulas that won't harm your children or pets. Even though some rodents can be considered cute, it's really important to keep up with rodent control since they can cause a lot of damage to your homes, food and even your health.

A pair of mice can produce as many as 50 mice in a 6-month period. They can leave as much as 20 pounds of dropping during that time and many people can develop allergies from rodent droppings and become ill.

Rats can actually drop 50 feet and land on its feet with no injury. They can squeeze through a hole that is the size of a quarter and tread water for 3 days without drowning. Rats are even known to survive an atomic blast, as long as they are not at ground zero. Rats are also considered to be fairly intelligent so when considering rodent pest control you need to think outside the box and try to outsmart a rat.

Even though rodents are something that really creep me out I still try to figure out a humane way to deal with them. But there are times when you just have to use a form of rodent pest control that kills them.

To be honest I can't remember having a problem with rats but we do get plenty of field mice wondering into our house, mostly when the seasons change or we have severe weather. I usually take the cowards way out and just leave nature take its course and leave my cats do their job. We all know that having a cat around the house is the best way to ensure rodent control. Two cats are even better since one cat will tend to get lazy after awhile but when you have two cats they love a little competition.

Do you know that rats hate mice? People in big cities actually have pet rats for mouse control. They figure it's easier to train a few rats than to fight the infestation of mice. Another idea is you can always have a pet snake. Pet shops keep stockpiles of mice and rats as snake feed. There's nothing like that old supply and demand.

You can also go out and get yourself some barn owls. I know you think I'm being sarcastic at this point but that exactly what New York City did. We all have heard stories about the rats in New York City, especially if you watch the David Letterman show. Well, the stories must be true because New York City built special nesting boxes for barn owls to attract them. Do you know that a family of 6 barn owls can consume as many as 16 rats in one night? Well, it turned out the idea didn't work because the nesting boxes were stolen.

Planting mints around the border of your home and garden will keep mice away. They hate any kind of mint, they are allergic to it. They also hate catnip. Catnip oil seems to work best. If you put a few drops of catnip oil on a cotton ball and place in area they are known to get into your home. Once they get a sniff of the catnip oil they'll run away.



photo of a owl flying down to catch a rat an excellent natural source of rodent control photo of a mouse walking across a computer keyboard photo of a nest of baby mice


Rodent Pest Control Recipes


Rodent Poison Safe for Humans (Keep Away from Pets)

  • 2 ounces of barium carbonate
  • 1/2 ounce of granulated sugar
  • 1/2 pound of bread crumbs
Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Add a small amount of water to dampen and make into small balls. Place in areas the rodents like to visit.

Instant Mashed Potatoes will Kill Mice

Leave a bowl of instant mashed potato flakes and a small bowl of water where the mice can find it. They will eat the instant potato flacks and drink some water, the flakes will expand in their stomachs and cause their stomachs to burst and kill them.

Dry Ice & Rodent Pest Control

Rodents usually have an area that is an active rodent burrow, if you can locate the burrow, either in your yard, basement or even a crack in your wall, you can drop some dry ice into the burrow and the carbon dioxide given off will kill the rodent and their offspring.

Most Humane Method of Mice Pest Control

This is my favorite way of dealing with mice pest control. Take a large container, something that you can throw away, and butter or oil the inside to make it real slippery. Take a piece of cheese or peanut butter on a cracker and lay it inside to attract the mouse to go inside, it also helps to provide a ramp like a tongue depressor or popsicle stick and make it slippery too. Once the mouse is inside it can't get back out and you can quickly take it outside and release it.

As you can see there are various ways to deal with rodent pest control that don't put your family or pets in danger of exposing them to poisons or toxic chemicals. Plus, you don't have to worry about disposing the chemicals that are making our planet toxic. We can all pitch in and start thinking about saving our soil, water and the air that we breath from a toxic world.



DISCLAIMER:

The statement's made here have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These statements are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure or prevent any disease. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Google
 




Return from Rodent Pest Control to Grandma's Natural Pest Control

Return to Grandma's Wisdom Home

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.