Are Your Autumn Decorations Ringing the Dinner Bell for Mice, Rats, and Snakes?

Forget the inflatable turkey that lights up and towers over your yard. You and your neighbors want authentic decorations this Fall. Yes, to really embrace the Halloween and Thanksgiving seasons, you imagine bales of hay, corn stalks, straw, pumpkins, and gourds. It’s a practical cornucopia of autumn decorations!

While you may think that your seasonal selection of fall decorations will attract all the neighbors’ eyes and put you in the running for Yard of the Month, just be aware that you’re also inadvertently attracting something else. You’re attracting a bunch of rodents and snakes from miles away!

It’s true. Hay, corn stalks, pumpkins, and gourds are magnets for mice, rats, squirrels, and voles. And the moment you have a rodent problem, you can bet you have a snake problem, too.

Hay, Corn Stalks, and Gourds Are a Thanksgiving Feast for Rodents

As the weather turns cool in the Southern New Jersey areas, mice, rats, squirrels, and voles are actively seeking food sources. And when your front yard or porch are complete with displays of corn stalks, pumpkins, and hay bales, it’s like ringing the dinner bell.

Hay contains dried grasses, leaves, and seeds that provide both necessary food for rodents and also nesting material. Both corn stalks and dried corn used for decorations are a great food source for mice, rats, and squirrels. The kernels on a corn cob are a high-energy food that rodents love. Plus, corn stalks provide a perfect nesting spot for small rodents, such as mice. To mice and rats, pumpkins and gourds are a delicious food source.

Signs You Have a Rodent Problem

Sure, you may notice a couple mice scurrying about. You may even see a squirrel come and go. But, if you never lay eyes on the rodents that are feeding off of and nesting in your fall decorations, there are still some telltale signs of a rodent infestation. These signs include:

• Bite marks on pumpkins or gourds — While mice, voles, and rats have small mouths, you won’t be able to miss these bites and teeth marks on your gourds and pumpkins. 
• Rodent droppings around your decorations — This is where it gets unsanitary and even a health hazard. Small dark brown or black pellets on your porch or in your yard is all the evidence you need that you have a family of pests. 
• Rustling sounds day and night — If they’re using the hay, corn stalks, or straw for nesting, you may hear noises outside. 
• Burrows or nests in hay bales — Look for little tunnels throughout your autumn decorations. Multiple burrows is a sign of multiple rodents.

Why Straw May Be a Better Alternative Than Hay and Corn Stalks

If you are committed to your fall decorations, there’s a better way to do it. Rather than stacking the hay bales, instead of filling your porch with pumpkins and gourds, rather than tying the corn stalks to your home, consider straw.

While mice, rats, squirrels, and voles may still use straw as bedding and building material, it’s not a good food source. Therefore, they won’t be attracted to its smell or taste. Because straw is simply the dry, hollow stalk of a grain plant, rodents don’t seek it out like they would hay or corn stalks.

ROSS Environmental Solutions Protects Southern New Jersey from Rodents

With more than 33 years in the pest control business, the ROSS Environmental Solutions technicians have seen and disposed of many rodents. And lots of them were discovered as a result of a homeowner simply trying to beautify their yard with Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations, such as hay, corn stalks, and pumpkins.

Because we have so many years of eradicating rodents in Southern New Jersey, we know the most prevalent species. This area gets its share of Roof Rats. These are outstanding climbers that will certainly be attracted to your fall decorations. We also see Norway Rats, also known as the unflattering term “sewer rats”. These rodents are known to gnaw and burrow, so hay bales, corn stalks, and straw are their favorites. Finally, mice are among the most prevalent creatures in Southern New Jersey. If you have pumpkins, gourds, and hay, you’ll probably see their droppings.

Whether it’s rats, mice, or other rodents, these are wild creatures that can spread a number of dangerous and life-threatening diseases. Hepatitis, dysentery, hantavirus, Lyme disease, and plague are just a few diseases that could be harmful to your family, your children, and even your pets.

Not to cause a panic, but if these disease-spreading rodents are in your yard or on your porch, chances are they WILL find a way inside your home.

ROSS Environmental Solutions’ Rodent Elimination Program to The Rescue!

Whether your autumn decorations attracted mice, rats, squirrels, snakes or other rodents or pests, take comfort in knowing that ROSS Environmental Solutions is just a phone call away. The technicians at ROSS will solve your rodent problem safely, quickly, and affordably!

What sets ROSS apart from other pest control services in Southern New Jersey is our Integrated Pest Management rodent elimination program. We use the latest strategies, technologies, and materials in this environmentally responsible program to eradicate all rodents and keep them from coming back.

Even better, when you take advantage of one of ROSS Environmental Solutions’ ongoing rodent programs, rest assured that if the rodents return, so do we. That’s right, for no charge, we will come back to make sure your property is free of pests.

Worried you may have a mice, rat, or rodent problem? Get a 100% guaranteed pest control solution. Call ROSS Environmental Solutions of South Jersey at 1-866-981-1322 for a free estimate.