Rodents are the scourge of many gardens, despite the fact that most gardeners think of insects when they think of garden pests. Mice, rats, gophers, and other rodents not only inflict unsightly damage by tunneling through the grass and garden, but they may also colonize the garden and eventually infiltrate your home.
To keep rats out of your garden – and out of your house – you must first figure out what attracts them there, and then change the environment to deter them from settling down.
Recognizing Rodents’ Symptoms
Rodents, like any other living species, seek food, water, and shelter. They see your garden as a natural extension of the woodland or prairie area in which they inhabit. Not only does it supply plenty of food, but it also provides water and shelter thanks to the quantity of foliage.
Compost piles, garden beds, decorative plantings, and lawns can all be colonized by rodents. Once they’ve infested your yard, they’ll keep looking for better places to stay, especially as winter approaches. They frequently enter homes, sheds, and garages through small holes. Rats and mice, on the other hand, prefer the warmth of houses than that of gopher colonies. Rats and mice may seek sanctuary inside your home if they are allowed unmanaged in the garden.
How Can You Determine If Your Garden Has A Rodent Problem?
Keep an eye out for the following signs:
- You’ve noticed them: Rats frequently roam on top of power lines, especially at dawn and dusk, in addition to activities in your yard and garden. Rats can be found along fences and trees, so keep an eye out.
- Plants that vanish overnight: New plantings, seedlings, and sprouts frequently vanish without a trace overnight. Some look to be being dragged beneath the surface from below. Plants are chewed from above by deer and rabbits, who often pull them out of the ground and leave roots behind. Plants are often disturbed from below by rats, mice, and gophers, who pull at the roots or gnaw at them.
Rats, mice, gophers, and other rodents frequently cut tunnels in the earth, which are connected by small entrance and exit holes. Rats and mice create a smaller, less obvious mound of earth, but gophers leave a larger, more visible mound of soil. These tunnels serve as superhighways for rodents, allowing them to kill plants simply by traveling through them.
Gophers and rats build earth mounds to mark the entrance to their burrows.
- Droppings: Rats, mice, and other animals leave behind their droppings. Rodent droppings like black rice grains.
Check the following parts of the garden for rodent infestations:
- Compost piles: If not adequately managed, compost piles can be a free-for-all for rats and mice. They’ll be easy to see, especially if you dig into the pile and disturb their nests. Mice are a common nuisance in compost piles.
Check your garden shed for signs that someone has been digging underneath it. Rats and gophers can tunnel under sheds and make a home for themselves.
Look for droppings and gnaw marks on your rubbish and recycling bins if you store them outside, as this is a solid sign that rats are there. You should inspect these containers for holes on a regular basis, and you may wish to switch from plastic to metal cans.
- Wood Piles: Rodents find outdoor wood piles to be attractive places to make nests. If you have a wood pile in your garden, you may have unintentionally created a rat hostel. It should be restocked on a regular basis.
- Bird feeders: Birds drop seeds from bird feeders, attracting rats to the garden. Many rodents are attracted to bird seed stored in garden sheds or garages. Always keep bird seed in a metal, galvanized container that is well sealed.
Do Mice Consume Plants?
Seeds, nuts, berries, and plants, as well as small insects, are eaten by wild field mice. Is it true that mice consume plants? Yes, and they will devour both garden and indoor plants. Garden mice are particularly fond of seeds, therefore newly planted garden seeds such as corn and sunflower seeds are popular targets. Mice are also attracted to newly sprouted grass seed, cereals, and lush green vegetables.
Rodents in the Garden Pose a Risk
Rats and mice can not only consume your hard work in the garden, but they can also infect it with a variety of infections. Rat feces, for example, can spread salmonellosis in or near vegetable plants. Watering spreads the germs from the ground by splashing it onto foliage and fruit after an infected rodent leaves droppings in your vegetable garden. This can happen to lettuce, spinach, and many other herbs and vegetables, producing severe diarrhea and stomach cramps within three days of swallowing infected materials.
Rats, mice, and other rodents can spread a variety of viral and bacterial illnesses as primary carriers which is why it’s essential to have a mouse extermination Preyon tech on standby. They can also contain fleas and ticks, which can bring diseases like Lyme disease (which is spread by ticks) and other ailments.
Unfortunately, rodent infestations are a common symptom of poor sanitation. If you suspect a rat infestation, it’s a good idea to look for debris in your yard and garden. Not only can rats transfer disease, but inadequate garden sanitation can also result in plant ailments. A tidy garden is a healthy garden — and one that rats find less appealing.
Rodents in the Garden: How to Keep Them Out
Knowing how to keep rodents out of your garden begins with correctly recognizing the mouse that is causing damage to your plants. To assist you pick the right rodent, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is there any evidence of mounds in the yard?— You’re probably dealing with gophers or moles if you answered yes. The eastern mole makes a conical-shaped mound, but the pocket gopher makes a round or heart-shaped mound.
- Is it possible to eat seeds from the ground without disturbing the soil surface? – It’s possible that you’re dealing with mice or rats.
- Is it true that plant matter, particularly fruit waste, is vanishing from the compost pile? — Check for droppings; Your compost bin is probably full of mice. Opossums and other creatures devour compost pile objects.
- Are there small openings to burrows? — Is it difficult to locate the entrance? Is there a water supply near the burrow? If you answered yes to these questions, you’re most likely dealing with a Norway rat. Norway rats prefer to dig burrows near reliable water sources and structures like sheds and garages.
It’s time to act now that you’ve identified the most likely suspect. You can keep rodents out of your garden by doing the following steps:
Remove their food sources
– If your bird feeders are luring rats into your garden, you may need to remove them for a few weeks, just long enough for the rodents to realize their free lunch is over. Fill your bird feeder carefully and store bird seed in tight metal bins that rats cannot chew through to avoid spills.
Brush piles, wood piles, and thick grass are all popular places for rats and mice to build nests. Throughout the gardening season, keep the grass mowed. Instead of piling old plants near your garden, bag them and throw them away. Move wood heaps on a regular basis. Make the compost pile as unattractive to mice as possible to prevent mice infestations. Weekly, turn the compost and water it with a yard hose.
Control grass grubs
– Many rodents, including gophers, moles, and rats, are attracted to grubs. Kill grass grubs with milky spore or other treatments to eliminate the rodents’ feeding source. You’ll minimize the population of Japanese beetles in addition to keeping rodents out of the garden, which is a bonus for gardeners!
Improve sanitation near your garden
– Keep rubbish and recycling bins clean if you keep them near the garden. Once a week, wash them down with the garden hose and cleanse the insides with a home cleaner. Rodents may be attracted to the yard by leftover food particles or odors on the bins.
Mice can squeeze through holes the size of a coin, so seal them. To prevent mice and other rodents from finding a pleasant place to overwinter, plug any entrances inside sheds or outbuildings. Wood or metal can be used to plug holes.
Fences
– Strong fences help keep gophers out of gardens. Another advantage of employing fences is that the same barrier that keeps gophers out will also keep rabbits out. Make a fence out of quarter-inch hardware cloth to surround your garden. Bury the cloth’s edge 18 inches underground and away from the garden, and slant it outward several inches underground. If the gophers dig beneath the dirt, they will hit the hardware cloth and flee.
Mesh tubes
– To keep gophers and rats away from vulnerable seedlings, install plastic mesh tubes around them.
How to Get Rid of Rodents in My Garden How to Keep Rodents Out
Traps and other rodent-repelling devices are widely available in hardware stores. Other times it just works occasionally. Rats, in particular, are smart and shy. In fact, they’ve probably found out that a repellent won’t hurt them. To keep rats guessing, you may need to change your techniques frequently. Water can evict rodents from their burrows. To push rodents out of burrows, pour a garden hose directly into the opening. They may return, but they will get the feeling that this is not a pleasant garden to live in.
If everything else fails, build up traps that will not harm pets, children, or non-targeted species. While traps are unpleasant, they are effective at reducing or eliminating rodent populations in your house or yard. Peanut butter can be used to bait traps. While an outdoor trap is unlikely to harm children or pets, it is advisable to install it in an out-of-the-way location. Larger rodents, such as gophers, may necessitate the use of larger traps or mice exterminator Preyon Pest Control.
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