Rodents and appliances

How rats and mice affect appliances

As we come into the colder months, mice and rats coming into our homes becomes more of an issue. Whether they confine themselves to wall spaces or enter the rooms themselves, rodents can affect appliances by nibbling away at wiring. Many a fridge or oven has required new wiring to be installed after rats and mice decided to snack on the tasty plastic encasing the wires. Sometimes they’re unlucky and manage to electrocute themselves in the process. It isn’t difficult to figure out what happened to this machine:

One of the most popular rodent management plans is to put down bait. But it’s debated whether or not that could cause issues of its own.

Why would mouse bait be a problem?

Rat and mouse bait works by causing the animal to bleed internally, which theoretically would make them extra thirsty. Where might they go to find water? Plastic household plumbing or appliance hoses. While rodents instinctively chew everything in sight anyway, some people think that using bait makes it more likely for them to destroy the hoses for your dishwasher or washing machine to slake their thirst.

How to deal with rodents instead

So what can you do instead to reduce rodents?

Firstly, prevention is better than cure. Steps like keeping doors to the outside closed throughout autumn and winter and ensuring there are no holes in your skirting boards go a long way. There are some great guides online for more ways to stop rats and mice lingering on your section or entering your house, such as this one: Keep Rodents Out of Your Home – 8 Tips – Ecomist

Once you’ve tried to keep the critters away in the first place, the safest bet for your plumbing is traps. Here are a few options to look into:

For mice

• For long-term, low-maintenance control: Goodnature automatic traps are ideal.
• For quick, humane disposal: Intruder Better Mouse Trap is effective and hygienic. We’ve found peanut butter to be a highly effective bait in these.
• For commercial or high-volume use: Envirotools traps are efficient and easy to reset.

For rats

• Backyard or garden: Goodnature Smart Trap or Victor Professional Trap in tunnels.
• Indoor or commercial use: Trapper T-Rex or D-RAT PRO for quick, humane kills.
• Long-term, low-maintenance: Goodnature self-resetting traps with app monitoring.

Hopefully by implementing some of these strategies, you avoid any rodent damage this winter.