fbpx
Windowell Expressions Logo

Prevent Rodent Infestations in Your Lower Level

Prevent Rodent Infestations in Your Lower Level

Preventing rodent infestations in your basement can save time and future extermination expenses. Mice, rats, squirrels, and other creatures attempt to find shelter from harsh weather inside the warm, dark, lower levels of houses. It’s close to home but without the elements, so what could be better?

Only, it’s horrendous to have rodents in your home. Not only are they disease-carrying creatures you don’t want in your home for sanitation reasons, but they can cause other serious problems you don’t want to handle.

Here’s why you should be concerned about rodent infestations and some suggestions on what you can do to prevent these unwanted, unclean guests. Keep reading to learn more.

2 Risks of Rodent Infestations

1. Health Risks

First of all, rodents pose a health risk for humans. Certain rats and mice are carriers of a potentially deadly disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. This syndrome is most often carried by rodents in rural areas, although it is possible for a rodent in a heavily populated place to have the virus. 

When people come into contact with droppings or urine or are bitten by an infected rodent, they can develop a fever one to five weeks later. Their major muscle groups begin to ache, and they may experience vomiting or diarrhea. 

The disease may initially be misdiagnosed as the flu or an upper respiratory infection until the symptoms progress. 

At that point, the individual starts to cough and gasp for breath as fluid rushes into the lungs. It’s not uncommon for infected individuals to require hospital care. It is thankfully not contagious and can’t be transmitted through saliva. This virus has a fairly high mortality rate.

Other diseases passed from rodents to humans include rat-bite fever, salmonella, eosinophilic meningitis, and leptospirosis. Eosinophilic meningitis affects the brain and nervous system, while leptospirosis is a bacterial disease.

People can also experience strong allergic reactions to mice and rat hair. Those reactions share similarities with many other allergens, so you might not even realize you’re having an allergic reaction to a rodent. 

2. Home Risks

Other risks are to your home, like when mice chew through wires, food packages, insulation, etc. While cute mice are portrayed chewing away on a block of cheese, the reality is that they’re likely to work their way through your electrical wiring (which could cut your power or cause a fire), food packages in your pantry, and the insulation in your walls. 

Not only are these major nuisances, but they cost you money, too. You’ll need an electrician to fix your busted wiring. You’ll have to replace any food packages that rodents gnawed their way through. And you’ll want the insulation in your home to be repaired to ensure proper conduction, convection, and radiation in your home. 

5 Ways to Prevent Rodent Infestation

1. Keep Food Contained

Leaving food out, inside or outside, is not a good idea. Food left outside, say on the grill or a leftover snack abandoned by your toddler, might seem harmless, but it’s a great way to attract rodents. 

If there’s food outside, they’ll be encouraged to make their way inside to get to more. We recommend keeping food contained inside, too. If a rodent doesn’t find anything worth chewing once they get inside, they’re less likely to stay. That doesn’t guarantee they won’t get into your home, but it’s an excellent way to discourage them. 

2. Keep Water Contained

Rodents are equally interested in water from your faucet and outdoor spigots. Pay attention to puddles of water or any source of water collecting around your home. They will attract rodents, and those rodents will be eager to find more. Gnawing their way into your home will be their next step. 

3. Seal Cracks

Rodents can enter a home through a hole the size of a coin, as long as the opening is big enough for their skull to fit through. It’s a good idea to walk around the outside and inside of your home’s foundation and seal cracks using dense, sturdy materials like copper wool. 

If you want extra peace of mind, hire pest control to inspect your home. They can recommend even more ways to keep pests away from your home. 

Determined rodents can quickly chew through delicate, porous materials like caulking. We recommend looking for gaps around plumbing lines and cable wires – two locations rodents commonly use to breach the home’s perimeter and enter the basement.

4. Trap Invaders Immediately

If you suspect rodents have taken up residence in your basement, inspect any clothes, bags, and boxes in the area. If you notice small holes or droppings left behind, it’s time to set up traps to rid your home of rodent infestation. It’s also critically important to sanitize or replace your belongings to prevent the spread of disease.

The removal speed is critical because female mice can birth up to 10 litters per year, and baby mice reach sexual maturity at six to 10 weeks. So, the longer mice go unattended, the faster they’ll multiply – which is the last thing you want. 

Without the threat of outdoor predators to their growing population, mice infestations in a home can quickly escalate to astronomical proportions. If you are unsure whether to use bait-and-release traps or instant-kill traps, call an exterminator for a consultation.

5. Install Window Well Covers

Impenetrable window well covers deter rodents intent on taking shelter in a window well and gradually chewing their way through the window seal. Invest in fitted, secure covers to prevent small creatures from falling into the well or nesting in the alcove.

Let Windowell Expressions Help

If you haven’t taken steps to prevent rodent infestations, act now before it’s too late. The sooner you protect your home from rodents, the better.

As for window wells, contact Windowell Expressions for more information on selecting specialized window well covers for your lower level to prevent rodent infestations and keep your home safe and clean. We offer clear covers, standard and custom grates, foundation liners, and more, all of which can protect your home from rodent infestations. 

We serve the Salt Lake City, Utah, area, including Salt Lake City, West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton, and more. Get started today with your window well covers!

admin

admin

Leave a Replay

Recent Posts