Mobile Home Pest Control 101

If you've ever had an animal under your mobile home, you know how frustrating it can be. Live animals can:

• Make a ton of noise
• Cause expensive damage

On the other hand, deceased animals under your mobile home can:

• Attract various insects
• Cause a horrible smell that lasts for weeks

Luckily, there are some things you can do to help prevent pests from nesting under your mobile home.

Pick up trash and debris under and around your home.

Rodents love rummaging through trash. If you leave trash and debris under and around your mobile home, you may notice that you have unexpected visitors quite often. And once they come, they can be hard to get rid of.

Tightly close your trash and recycle bins.

This builds off our first point. Rodents have strong noses. They can smell trash from great distances, and will often flock to it. Even keeping trash off the ground and in the bins can still attract rodents if the lids aren't tightly closed.

Install skirting and repair as needed.

It may be a great idea to invest in rodent proof mobile home skirting. The most common materials for this are vinyl, metal, brick, plywood and cinder block. To be effective, the skirting should go all the way around your home. Additionally, it's recommended to check it regularly and repair any cracks or holes as rodents can fit through the smallest spaces. This is a small effort that can go a long way.

Keep bird feeders a good distance from your home.

Some rodents are attracted to bird seed, and for those with bird feeders, it is inevitable that some will fall to the ground. Of course, this means that the rodents could be lurking around. To keep them away, it is best to keep bird feeders further from the home.

Sprinkle chili or habanero flakes in the dirt around your home.

We mentioned earlier that many rodents have strong noses. The flipside to this is that they are very sensitive, and they usually won't spend too much time around smells they don't like — specifically chili or habanero flakes. These spicy smells are said to make a great deterrent! Just be sure to reapply them after it rains.

Set up motion-sensor lights.

Since most rodents are nocturnal, a lot of them prefer darkness over well-lit areas. However, they can apparently adapt to steady light and learn to live with it. That's why motion-sensor lights are helpful at keeping them away. Motion-sensor lights aren't always on, so they're harder to adapt to. Plus — their randomness is likely to scare some rodents away.

Install hardware cloth or galvanized metal mesh underneath the home.

These will essentially serve as a fence to keep rodents from underneath your mobile home. The purpose of getting hardware cloth or galvanized metal mesh is that they are harder for rodents to chew through. Of course, it's best to do thorough research before making a purchase, as some brands may be better than others.

Call your local animal control to safely remove animals that are already there.

If you notice that you do have rodents under your mobile home, consider calling local animal control. If you try to remove the animals yourself, you risk causing additional damage and may do more harm than good. Handling it yourself may cost you more in the long run, so it may be best to pay a professional up front.

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