Stop Rodents Getting Into Your Home

How to Stop Rats and Mice Getting Inside

1. Prevent the rats or mice getting in. A mouse can squeeze beneath a door if there is a gap large enough to fit a pencil and a young rat is only a little larger than a mouse! Draft excluding brush strips, are an ideal method of proofing such gaps. However, there are almost always other possible entry points around any building.
2. Seal gaps around pipes and cable where they enter buildings or go from one room to another. Pipes and cable often act as rodent highways.
3. Prune climbing plants and overhanging trees well away from roofs as these act as 'ladders' for rodents. Check eaves for entry points to the roof voids. If possible seal these.
4. It is always wise to keep fresh rodenticide bait in place in safe places such as the roof void so that any rodents that get in are dealt with before you know about them.
5. Rodents are what we would call agoraphobic, they fear open spaces, and like to be under cover. A wide clear area around a building will deter rodents from reaching and entering the building.
6. Removal of available food and shelter from within a building can have a powerful deterrent effect. This is an important and often overlooked aspect of controlling pests.
7. If you have seen rats or mice, or evidence of them around your property, the most efficient and effective way to get rid of them is to use rodenticide baits, sometimes in conjunction with simple traps (like the Kiwicare NO RATS TRAPS and NO MICE TRAPS) and proofing.
8. NO RATS & MICE rodenticide bait is placed at strategic, safe points, inside and outside the buildings, in order to reduce populations around the building and to deal with individuals that enter, before an infestation can take hold. The NO RATS & MICE WEATHERPROOF BAIT BLOCKS is a rat bait well suited to using outside or in damp areas while NO RATS & MICE DUAL ACTION BIT & POWDER or NO RATS & MICE BAIT STATIONS are ideal for use in dry areas inside the house. If you do not wish to use toxic rodenticide bait, Kiwicare NATURAL NO RATS is a bait that is harmful only to rodents. However it should only be used in dry areas where other food sources can be controlled. 
9. Kiwicare NO RATS NOOSKI TRAPS and NO MICE NOOSKI TRAPS are useful to use where poison baits cannot be placed or as a helpful way of catching rodents that are 'dopey' from taking bait. The rodents can then be removed without risk of causing an unpleasant smell. For more information on effective use of traps for controlling rats and mice see the article on Using Traps to Catch Rats and Mice.