A top pest control company has revealed they have received 50% more rodent callouts in the months leading up to winter this year compared with last.
Rentokil confirmed the massive spike between August and October of this year as rodents attempt to make their way indoors out of the cold.
The company said Dublin had the most callouts this year and said those living in the capital were responsible for 16% this year in total.
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This is followed by Cork with 11%, Meath with 9%, Galway with 6%, and Wexford with 5%.
Richard Faulkner, who is an Advanced Technical Field Consultant with Rentokil, said: "As temperatures drop over the winter period, many rodents will look to move indoors in search of food and shelter.
"We would advise home and business owners to practice some simple steps which could help to protect their premises from rodent activity, such as carefully storing food, keeping their property tidy as well as sealing any cracks or holes in external walls.”
Rentokil said rodents pose a problem for home and business owners because they can spread disease, damage property with their constant need to gnaw, contaminate food, and even create a fire risk by chewing on electrical cables.
Here are some ways to help prevent rodents from entering your home according to the experts
● Doors – Fitting bristle (or brush) strips to the bottom of doors can help to prevent entry, especially in older properties where the door fit may not be snug.
● Pipework and Hole – Seal gaps around existing or new pipes with a coarse grade stainless steel wire wool and caulking (pliable sealant), and check that old pipework holes are sealed too.
● Air Bricks and Vents – Cover these with fine galvanised wire mesh, especially if they are damaged.
● Eaves – Fix damaged roofing and use wire mesh to seal gaps.
● Vegetation – Trim tree branches back and where possible avoid plants growing up the sides of your property. Vines, shrubs or overhanging branches can be used by mice to get onto roofs. Overgrown vegetation close to the walls will also provide rodents with shelter and potential nesting sites.
● Lawns – Keep grass mown short to reduce shelter and seeds for food. Ideally, leave a gap between the building foundations and the garden.
Rentokil advises businesses to explore unmanned, non-toxic pest control solutions, such as PestConnect, a digital solution which provides 24-hour protection from rodents.
Through a system of infrared sensors, it detects and then captures or humanely kills rodents using automatically deployed bait stations and traps.
Unmanned devices like PestConnect do not require human interaction and send updates and reports to users online.
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