dead insect laying on its back.

Smart Tips for Natural DIY Pest Control

Natural backyard pest control is a necessity because it helps you to keep those “outside” pests from becoming “inside” pests. Rodents and insects, like humans, like to create their homes in an optimal environment. Unfortunately, some view this Utopian nesting space as your home.

So, while their job is to invade your space and nest, your job is to keep them at bay using natural backyard pest control techniques to prevent their entry into your space.

Natural DIY Pest Control Ideas

Install Owl Boxes

Did you know that one owl can eat between 10 to 15 mice per night? They are great hunters with voracious appetites. Their favorite menu items? Mice.

Owl boxes are similar to other wooden bird houses. The main difference is that they are oversized to accommodate the larger size of an owl versus a songbird. Attract an owl, and you will have a predatory bird who will rid your yard of rodents in no time flat.

Owl Box House

Block ‘Em with the GutterBrush Gutter Guard

Mice, squirrels, and rats are naturally acrobatic. They can climb your gutters with almost no effort. From there, they can find easy entry points into your home. In fact, your attic vents, soffits, or any tiny opening can allow a mouse or squirrel.

Once inside, they will chew up electrical wires and insulation—a dangerous combination that can spark an electrical fire. They are destructive chewers who will shred anything they can for nesting material. In addition, mice and rates will wait until you’re asleep at night and make snack runs through your pantry, as they will view your kitchen as the prime source for food and water. Of course, they will leave the telltale sign of rodent droppings in their wake.

Stop them from entering your attic by installing the  easy home improvement, the GutterBrush. The  brush will block their entry into the gutter system while the large bristles will still allow water to flow cleanly through.

GutterBrush Blocks Leaves And Pests

“Steel” It

If you look around your house, you’ll probably find small gaps where your plumbing and hvac work enters your home or exhausts. A mouse can maneuver into a hole as small as your little finger! No gaps, at all, are acceptable when it comes to pest prevention.

You can fill the holes with caulking, but it eventually decays, and you need to repeat the process. However, the first indicator you might get about the decayed caulking might actually be mice entering the home…again.

There’s a simple natural solution. Before you run that bead of caulking, shove steel wool into those gaps to close them off. Rodents cannot chew through steel wool. We all know how sharp it is to our hands…can you imagine chewing it?

Steel wool will close the gap, then you can seal it with the caulking. Re-inspect those beads of caulk every year and repair as needed.

Last Resort

And, as a last resort, you can lay traps to catch rodents. Place them near the areas where you find droppings or suspect is an entry point. You can choose the traditional snap traps or sticky traps, either one is effective.

You may be wondering why this is a last resort? Quite frankly, they are gross to clean up. And, if you have trapped a rodent and forgotten to check your traps, they can be stinky, too! Additionally, if you’re trapping, you are not solving the problem of the infestation. They will persistently continue to enter the home until you’ve found…and addressed…that entry point.

 

Bug Free Home Too

Of course we want to keep out pest and bugs; everyone wants a bug free home. Check out this guide to keeping your home fresh and bug free.

 

The Takeaway

You work hard to keep your home the way you want it. Don’t accept sharing it with mice, rats, and squirrels! Use natural backyard pest control methods to keep those undesirable housemates at bay for good!

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