Rodent Problem in Southwest Florida post Hurricane Irma

Rodent problem in southwest Florida post Hurricane Irma is due to flooding, trash and debris littering the streets. In addition, recent cold weather spells have contributed to the pests seeking warmth inside residences. Rodents pose great risks to health, as well as potential fire hazards.
Some health risks are Hantavirus, lymphocytic chriomeningitis, tularemia, and plague. As a matter of fact, these pests are known to spread more than 35 diseases. The diseases can be spread to humans directly through the handling of live or dead rodents, contact with rodent feces, urine, or saliva, and (of course) bites. Indirectly, disease may be spread through fleas, ticks, or mites that have fed on an infected rodent. The National Pest Management Association estimates rodents invade about 21 million homes in the United States every winter, squeezing through spaces as small as a nickel. Rodents also are a fire hazard concern. The pesky little teeth gnaw right through electrical wires causing fires. They scurry in our walls and above our heads during the night, they raid our food and ruin it with their feces, and they reproduce wildly, creating more and more inhabitants for us to worry about. Rats, mice and squirrels also do a lot of damage to your homes structure, insulation, pipes and even electrical wiring.
That’s where the biggest problem comes in to play. While you can repair obvious damage, it’s all too easy to miss a gnawed piece of wire when confronted with larger scale issues like insulation used as nesting, excrement contaminated floorboards and gnawed on support beams. However, a missed frayed wire can cause more damage than all of the other problems: it can cause an electrical fire in your home.
Plastic insulation surrounding electrical wiring exists because electricity is quite hot when it goes through wires. The insulation protects nearby objects from getting overheated. However, when a rat or other rodent has been going after your wires, they leave nothing left but the hot, exposed metal. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the wire either short circuits, causing a spark, or heats up and causes something nearby to ignite. Usually household insulation or other debris that are stirred up by the rodents are what sets fire, but sometimes it can just be that the wire is resting against a wooden support. You can keep rats and mice out of your home, garage, storage unit, vehicles and any other enclosed places safely and effectively with rodent repellent: FRESH CAB Mouse Pouch. FRESH CAB is the first botanical rodent repellent to earn federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration for safe, effective use indoors and in enclosed areas. FRESH CAB’s main ingredient is balsam fir oil, which is safe and smells great to humans but which rodents hate.

Here are some things you can do inside and outside your home to make mice and rats feel unwelcome and prevent house fires caused by rodents:

1. Caulk foundation cracks and utility line feeds. Mice can fit through a hole the size of a pencil eraser.
2. Cover ceiling vents, outside dryer vents, and soffits with wire mesh.
3. Trim trees and climbing vines so that rodents can’t crawl up them to enter your home.
4. Make sure the bottom seals on all outside doors, including your garage door, are tight.
5. After you’ve done #1 through #4, place FRESH CAB Mouse Pouch inside your home at the site of foundation cracks, utility line feeds, ceiling vents, dryer vents and soffits and on either side of all outside doors.
6. Also place FRESH CAB in the pantry, under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, and in crawl spaces and drop ceilings—anywhere that mice and rats might feel inclined to settle in and breed.
For more information on how to keep your home rodent-free using a safe, natural rodent repellent, visit www.earthkind.com. Should your home or business suffer fire or smoke damage contact D’Orsa and Associates, LLC Public Adjusters to help you through the insurance claims process. Our public adjusters will assist you through the insurance claims maze to fully recover from your loss. Call Us For Help with Your Insurance Claim (877) 742-3587.