If You Have Pests, Now Feels Like The Time to Deal with Them.

I’ll never forget the story.

My spouse’s grandma used poison to deal with a rat problem. Well, it worked. But the rats didn’t die in the bushes. They died under her house. Nobody could find the bodies, but they could sure smell them.

For days, and days…

This makes one reason we don’t use poison to deal with pests. We try to use exclusion first. Unfortunately, we have a mice problem. They’re not just in our walls. They’re in our attic. They’re in our air ducts. They’re taking cute little dumps in our laundry room. Our sustainable pest control service told us we don’t have a choice. We have to use poison bait. Otherwise, they’ll outbreed us.

Reports from earlier this year identified mice as a major vector of H5N1 bird flu. Mice can spread everything from Hantavirus to plague.

So, you don’t want them in your house. And you really don’t want them crawling around or dying in your air ducts. And you really, really, really don’t want them in your ventilation system at the onset of a pandemic.

You know?

So a mouse infestation puts you between a rock and a hard place. Until you clear the problem, you’re not safe—no matter what other precautions you’re taking. I’ve been looking into ways we can protect our homes better, especially when it comes to things dying inside and spreading disease.

I’m sharing the most important thing first, because it’s probably something we should all be doing anyway, especially those who live in apartments.

Protect your vents.