Keeping Wild Mice Where They Belong... Outside!

We all want peaceful coexistence with mice. We also want them to stay outdoors, not in our pantries and garages.

Two good reasons for that:

1. We want our seeds left just the way we stored them -- not gnawed on.

2. Mice, cute as they can look, are also vectors for some pretty nasty diseases like Hantavirus and bubonic plague (plague isn't just in Monty Python skits, it's still around).

Rats aren't widely considered cute (unless you had pet rats in your childhood) so it's easier to think of them -- and all wild rodents, including squirrels and chipmunks -- as potential disease vectors. Squirrels in the Los Angeles area were recently identified as bubonic plague vectors.

Prevent rodents from setting up shop

In our video, Tricia shows how she keeps mice and rats from getting into her house or stripping the produce from her garden. One of the first strategies in Integrated Pest Management is prevention. For prevention you can use mechanical barriers.

Rodent-proof seed storage containers

Rodents have strong teeth but metal and glass mechanical barriers typically stop them. Store your seed packs securely in metal seed tins. There's a sad story here at Peaceful Valley about a family that stored seed packs in a basket in the garage for many years with no trouble -- and then one winter the mice devastated the seed collection.

What had happened? The family cat had died and was no longer standing guard over the basket. For storage with greater capacity use our Le Parfait glass jars with rubber gaskets. Tricia gives more details on storing seeds (and suggests a refrigerator as the ultimate storage container) in another video of ours.

Composting without rodent participation

Compost heaps can attract rodents too. A compost pile is not meant to be a neighborhood gathering spot for rodents. Turn the compost in a closed container often with an aerator or fork to maximize oxygen as the wastes break down.

For more information about, see our range of products from barriers to fatal solutions. How far you want to go in controlling rodents is up to you. Lead photo courtesy of Rat Pack.