Controlling Rodents And Pests With Natural Solutions
While there are people who like to have rodents as pets, most people don't want them in their homes and see them as pests that can carry disease. Putting out traps, getting a cat, or sprinkling poison around their homes are just some of the ways that they use to try to get rid of them. For a lot of people, though, the idea of getting rid of the rodents is coupled with an unease at deliberately and often inhumanely killing them, and people are starting to look for better ways to get them out of and away from their homes that don't involve harm to the little creatures.
If you want to remove rats and mice from your home and/or discourage them from coming around the good news is that there are natural solutions for rodent control that you can use so you don't have to kill them. Killing them 'humanely' has been another argument that people have made, but what constitutes 'humane' killing is certainly arguable, so no real conclusion on that has been reached. There aren't that many choices for people who don't want to kill rodents or cause them to suffer but who certainly don't want them around, but there are two: trapping them humanely and releasing them elsewhere, and using natural methods to keep others away.
Live traps, not the kind that snap, can be used to trap rodents that are in or near your home without hurting them. With live traps the rodent is lured inside and the door closes, so the mouse or rat just remains there until you (or someone else if you're squeamish) remove the trap to a different location and open the door. Some people think that the catch-and-release method of rodent control doesn't work because the rodents just come right back, but if they are taken far enough away they generally won't return to your home, because they'll find a closer place instead.
Before you take any drastic measures to get rid of rats or mice be sure that you aren't giving them a reason to come around your home. Things like keeping woodpiles and compost piles away from your home, keeping your trash cans tightly closed, and not leaving your pets' food sit outside where rats and mice can smell it can go a long way toward keeping your house and yard free of rodents. If you follow simple tips like these, and trap and remove any rodents you might already have around, the odds are that your rodent problem will go away.
However, if you've tried that and it hasn't been enough, or if you already do these things and there are still rodents, there is more that you can do without causing harm, such as getting special fragrance pouches that discourage mice and rats from coming into your home. These aren't toxic and you can't smell them, but rodents can " and they don't like them at all. This can help to clear up a stubborn rodent problem for people who are very serious about getting rid of the rodents and keeping them out of their homes but equally serious about not killing or torturing them.
For people who don't mind killing the rats and mice but would prefer not to use chemicals and traps to do so, getting a cat or even a small dog can often do the trick. Cats, especially, are natural predators for rats and mice, and they'll be inclined to give chase without any training. The downside to this is that the cats will not generally eat what they kill, so they may leave the dead rodents as 'presents' for the family, and this can be an unpleasant find that a lot of people would really prefer to avoid if possible.
No matter what rodent control method you choose, the best thing you can do is to know the facts about whichever treatment you choose, because you don't want to use something that you thought was safe only to find out that it wasn't. This is especially true if you have small children or if you have pets that could potentially get into any rodent poison that you might put out. You don't want to take a chance with your family's health by putting out dangerous chemicals, but you certainly don't want them to be exposed to rats and mice in your home, either.
