Winter's coming!
It's the time of year when we need to start thinking about winter heading in, so chimneys swept, logs ordered, heating oil tanks fuelled up.
Mice and Rats will also be thinking about winter heading in, so your open fires. your woodburners, your central heating, plus of course any potential scraps of food are all very inviting for them.
Vermin control
The first port of call is generally the local councils pest control, which is not free, even though you pay council tax, and in fact below is a list of fees payable by one council in SE UK
The picture below is one typical set of charges that a local council may charge for their pest control services.
"Charge" is the column which a local council may often charge for their services.
"Cocessionary charge" is for people in receipt of benefits.
So Rats are £87 for 3 visits and Mice pip them at £126 for just 2 visits
So the obvious answer is:
Get 1x good cat and,
1x good Jack Russel 👍
Joking aside, as of course we would never support the killing of innocent animals for the benefits of Humans.
But one of the biggest, yet often not thought of, encouragements for Rats and Mice to head into your gardens initially are the bird feeders that get forgotten about once the temps start dropping; Rats and Mice love a bit of seed, and small fruits such as raisins/sultanas, so a good Idea is to get any bird feeders away before the winds start swinging them around and/or dump them on the ground. Squirrels also love a bit of bird food too, and you don't want any of those 'tree rats' moving in either!
Protecting your period and listed buildings from damage caused by nibbling cables and potential fire hazards often forgotten or overlooked
Rat's front teeth are continuously growing so Rats like to keep them under control by nibbling, and whilst lab tests have shown that Rats can gnaw a hole big enough, through a ¼ inch or 6mm thick steel plate for them to contort their bodies through, a nice bit of 240 Volt electrical cable also helps them!