As a prepper, knowing how to protect your home from pests and rodents ensures that your survival stockpile lasts for a long time.
Keeping your home clean is also important for maintaining proper hygiene when SHTF.
Pests to avoid
Pests are some of the biggest enemies of food storage. Keeping pests away from your food stockpile is crucial, especially if you don't want to waste any of your hard-earned supplies.
Bugs
Bugs may hide in the long grass around your home. You can cut down their numbers by keeping the grass cut short.
Some types of bugs can die before maturing due to exposure to sunlight. Short grass allows the sunshine to kill them before they spread to your pantry.
Buy or borrow a push lawn mower and use it regularly to keep bugs at bay. If you live on a property with tall grasses and plants, use a machete to cut them down quickly.
Mosquitos
Mosquitoes are dangerous because they can multiply after laying their eggs in standing water.
Always remove or minimize any standing water on your property. Check around your yard and empty containers like buckets, trash cans or anything that could collect standing water.
Check all the screens in your windows and doors. Repair or replace screens that have holes.
Rats and mice
Rats and mice can carry 35 different diseases and they can be hard to keep out of a home.
Rodents only need a hole the size of a dime to squeeze through. Neither mice nor rats have a collarbone. This means if their head can fit through a hole, so can the rest of their body.
Rodents have sharp teeth and will gnaw through just about anything, even plastic food containers.
If you have rodents at home and you want to avoid using rat poison with harmful chemicals, try using traditional mouse traps. If you don't want to kill them, get a no-kill catch-and-release trap.
Alternatively, you can adopt a pet cat or foster one so it can catch mice or rats for you.
Seal or cover any openings around your home and remove bushes and trees near your house so rodents can't use them to access the roof and enter.
Termites
Termites eat constantly and in the spring, they will swarm and start looking for food in your home.
Termites like dark and damp rooms. If possible, treat termites by hiring a professional.
If you're worried about termites after SHTF, protect and maintain the integrity of your shelter. Divert water away from your home and trim and cut back trees nearby to keep termites away. Make sure none of the roots or branches are touching your home.
Seal all openings properly
You can keep most pests away from your home and stockpile by sealing all openings properly.
Inspect your foundation and look for any cracks. You should also check for gaps around windows, frames and doors. If possible, hire a professional to seal and double-check your home.
Stockpile some expanding insulation and rolls of thick metal screening. Use the insulation to seal small holes and reinforce the metal screening. Insulation can also help prevent rodents with sharp teeth from entering through the hole.
Check the following areas for any openings:
- Inside, under and behind kitchen appliances and cabinets
- Inside closets, especially along the bottom and corners
- Around the fireplace and doors
- Around the pipes under sinks, water heaters, furnaces and washing machines
- Around floor and dryer vents
- Inside the attic, basement or crawl space
- Drains in the basement and laundry room
Cut off access to food
You can eliminate rodents and other pests by cutting off their access to food. Store food in sturdy, thick plastic or metal containers with tight-fitting lids.
Always clean outdoor grills, cooking spaces and spills. When you're done cooking, wash the dishes and put leftover food away.
If you have pets, don't leave their pet food or water bowls out overnight.
If you have a bird feeder, use a squirrel guard on it. Any other food for animals should be at least 100 feet away from your home. The farther away, the better.
If you have livestock, keep all animal feed in heavy plastic or metal containers. Elevate all trash cans, hay and woodpiles at least one foot above the ground.
Keep woodpiles as far away from your home as possible. Aim for at least 100 feet.
Clearing the property of old vehicles and equipment means that rodents won't have access to spaces that they can live in. If you can prevent rodents from having nesting sites outside your home, you can decrease your chance of mice and rats trying to get inside your house.
Use snap traps and peanut butter
If you're having trouble with rats sniffing around your food stockpile, use snap traps.
Peanut butter is perfect for bait because it is sticky and won’t fall off if the trap is knocked over. Rodents will have to get very close, if not onto the trap, to eat the peanut butter.
You only need a 1/4 teaspoon of peanut butter on the trap to attract vermin. Read all the instructions before setting up your trap.
Place snap traps along the wall with the short end of the trap touching the wall. It should look like the letter "T." Because rodents often run along the edges of walls, this placement will either get their attention with the peanut butter or snap them when they pass by.
However, rats and other rodents are cautious. It may take a week before they decide to approach your traps. Just be patient.
If you decide to use snap traps, place them in sheds or outbuildings you have on the property.
Try to avoid live traps and glue traps. When rodents get caught in them, they often become afraid and will urinate. Animal urine may contain germs. To minimize the risk of being exposed to disease, it is best to kill rodents before they urinate.
When dealing with a long-term survival scenario, you must know how to deal with annoying pests and rodents. Keep your home clean and store food properly to keep pests away from your property.
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