30August 12, 2015
We are into August and we are now beginning to get some cooler nights. This is indeed a welcome change from the constant heat and humidity we had during the latter part of July. I’m sure we will get some more hot and humid days but fortunately, we are heading toward fall and cooler weather will prevail.
August is a month of increasing activity for mice in your yard. New generations have been born during the summer and all those mice have to have a warm home for the coming winter. Mice will start looking for that home any time now and your home may be the place where they chose to spend the winter. There is a product called Mouse Magic that is a rodent repellent. It comes as a packet that looks like a large tea bag. The packets are placed inside your home in areas where mice would enter your home. Packets can be placed at the bottom of the bulkhead, on the sill in the cellar where pipes come into the house, in the garage or anywhere that you find an opening large enough for the mice to enter your home. The packets contain a mixture of mint oils. Mice hate the smell of mint. By placing the packet where mice would try to come into your home, the mint smell will keep the mice from coming in. Each packet releases the mint fragrance for 30 days. You should replace the packets every 30 days until the winter settles in. By that time the mice have found a home outside and you won’t have to deal with them in your home. We carry this product in our store.
The other issue with mice that you should address concerning mice is that they are a host for Lyme disease. As the mice run around your yard, the ticks can attack them and the ticks become infected with Lyme disease. The ticks go through several life cycles and ultimately the ticks become infected with Lyme disease. At various stages in their life, the ticks need a blood meal to continue to grow. They will feed on the mice but they can also feed on you and your pets and infect you with Lyme disease. There is a product called Damminix that can help you to control the ticks in your yard. Damminix consists of cotton balls that have been treated with an insecticide. The cotton balls are place in tubes. The tubes are placed in your yard. The mice find the cotton balls and realize that the cotton balls are an ideal nesting material for their home. As the mouse rests against the cotton balls, their fur gets coated with the insecticide. As the mouse runs around the yard, the ticks try to climb on the mouse and the insecticide on the mouse’s fur kills the ticks. The mouse has become your tiny exterminator that kills the ticks in your yard. The Damminix product is placed in your yard 2 times per year. One of the times is in the Spring and the second time is right now. We carry the Damminix tubes in our store and if you want more information on how they work or how many you need to apply in your yard, stop by the store and we can help you to protect your yard from the ticks that cause Lyme disease.
Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.