Making a (Ro)dent in Pest Problems

When it comes to pest control, it's not always about nuisances of the six-legged kind. There are plenty of furry four-legged critters than can cause havoc with your lawn or garden and cause need for rodent control.

To the casual observer, there's not much difference between rats and mice. But the one thing they both have in common is their ability to be disruptive and harmful to any environment they happen upon. Rats and mice aren't too picky when it comes to what they eat and can get into everything from grains and cereals left in bags or cardboard boxes to birdseed and other types of pet food. Even worse, both can carry nasty bacteria and diseases.

While we love to think of squirrels happily munching on nuts, leaves and berries, they are omnivores and won't hesitate to dig up insects or even small mice. This can wreak havoc on fields, farms and gardens as the rodents will dig up plants, seeds and more to get to whatever they're looking to devour for dinner.

In many instances, the squirrel's prosperity has a lot to do with the (oftentimes unintentional) generosity of humans – something that is quite in abundance around Southern California. Instead of searching out a tree to nest in, squirrels may make themselves at home in a your attic – setting up leaves and fluff and getting comfortable out of the reach of predators. Likewise, pet food left out in the open, unattended garbage cans or birdseed left in reachable spots offer an easy food source. Doing your best to limit access points to your attic and removing any easy to reach foodstuffs can help prevent squirrels from becoming pests.

Gophers may be solitary creatures, but it doesn't take a lot of gophers to do a lot of damage. Just one gopher tunnel can stretch for over 150 yards and studies have shown that a single gopher can move over a ton of soil in a single year. Yikes! That's a lot of unwanted harvesting in your garden. They're also pretty fond of your vegetables. Since they spend most of their time underground, they feed from the bottom – chewing on roots and pulling plants and vegetables down from underneath the soil. With cheeks made for storing large amounts of food, they can carry quite a few vegetarian munchies back to their homes.

Most gardeners and homeowners have a love-hate relationship with moles. Sure, they gobble up worms, insects and a whole lot of other unwanted critters from lawns and gardens. But their burrowing can cause unsightly mounds of dirt and other types of damage in the soil. Moles will leave volcano-shaped hills that can sometimes reach up to two feet tall.

Keep in mind that it can be easy to mistake molehills with gopher mounds. It's not quite making mountains out of molehills, but when it comes to figuring out which pest is pestering you, it is important since treatment methods differ between the two.

Always remember that control and prevention is usually the best rodent control. But in the event that you have to take them on head-to-head you can always check out the pest control company in Southern California that can help you out.