Duxbury, Massachusetts is a historic town located on Cape Cod Bay, just south of Boston. It is known for its cranberry bogs, oysters, and beaches. Like any seaside town filled with year-round residences and seasonal visitors, professional pest management is essential to the well-being of its people. Rodents in particular are keen to take advantage of the easy access to food, water, and shelter.
A rodent infestation can damage your home and pose serious health risks with gnawing, nesting, and waste. Rodent teeth never stop growing, which means rats and mice never stop chewing. They will gnaw on just about anything, including wood, fabric, furniture, electrical wiring, pipes, and insulation. Rodents will also use a wide range of materials for nesting, particularly favoring fiberglass insulation in basements, attics, and crawlspaces.
Where there are rodents, you can bet on two things: Lots of babies and lots of waste. Rodent urine, feces, saliva, and other bodily fluids carry diseases and contaminate the air you breathe. Common diseases spread by rodents include hantavirus, plague, rat-bite fever, salmonella, and even Lyme disease. Considering all this, rodent control is crucial to the overall health of your home.
What You Can Do
Seal entry points. Rodents need very little room to gain access to your home—mice require an opening the size of a dime; rats, a quarter. Even small openings in your foundation, near bulkheads, or around utility chases allow rodents to invite themselves indoors.
Repair/replace damaged screens, doors, windows, bulkheads. Again, even a little access provides a lot of opportunity.
Maintain your yard. Limit leaf litter, contain compost, and keep shrubbery pruned to reduce rodent harborage areas. Store firewood away from your foundation and trim tree branches back from the home.
Keep trash under wraps. Make sure garbage can lids seal tightly. Metal cans are best.
Store food securely. Production packaging is often made of the kinds of materials rodents love to chew. Storing food in airtight, preferably glass, containers is good practice to keep rodents and other pests out.
Call the professionals. While there are do-it-yourself methods of mouse and rat control, a rodent problem can be extremely difficult to eliminate, not to mention the dangers of direct contact with mice and rats. The rodent control experts at Burgess Pest have the latest technology and nearly a century of experience, including elimination, prevention, Home Sealer & Sanitizer Service, and insulation cleanouts.
