My office has received several calls regarding rat sightings due to the mild winter. Below are some tips to prevent rodents on your property:
1. Cut off their food supply
– store garbage in a container with a tight fitting lid
– feed pets outdoors and then remove/clean up the pet food
– clean up bird seed on the ground or suspend the use of a bird feeder
– keep the area around your barbecue free of food scraps
– ensure backyard garbage composters are rodent-proof
2. Eliminate harbourage areas
– watch for and take action on rat burrows under or around garden sheds, wood piles, miscellaneous materials in your yard
3. On rat poisons and traps
– store in their original containers with label and instructions, away from children, pets, livestock and wildlife
Use by:
– following the manufacturer’s instructions use of baits and traps
– place rat baits in areas not accessible to children and pets (if possible push rat bait down the rat burrow)
4. Communities must work together
It’s very important that neighbourhoods with a budding rat infestation work together to prevent the infestation from becoming established. If one property owner takes all of the above-mentioned prevention measures and his neighbour does not, the rats will simply establish themselves on that property and continue to be a nuisance in the neighbourhood.
For more information, please visit: mississauga.ca
