Pest control of external containers
Hi everyone,
I have two external containers in our yard, one we own and one a freezer we hire.
Our pest controller has asked that we cover the gaps on the ends and along the sides of them at ground level to reduce harbourage.
Has anyone encountered a similar problem and how did they solve it. It is the hired container that concerns me for obvious reasons.
Thanks,
Rachel.
We had an external freezer container. It was placed in a trailer well so we had it blocked up on one end to be level. We placed some external pest traps around it. That being said, I think the risk is pretty low because a mouse would have to have jaws of steel (note: they have strong jaws but they're not supermouse) to bite through the side of the freezer shipping container, which is reinforced and insulated. Additionally, the food inside is frozen. It's not likely to be much of an attractant. And a mouse certainly isn't going to be trying to sneak inside the freezer (ours was maintained at 0°F) to cool down or something.
Now your external ambient container may be another matter. I'm not entirely sure what gaps you have but I would certainly cover them as your pest control provider suggests and consider some additional traps.
If your talking about where the trailer meets the ground and the gaps therein, chicken wire run both directions (so it overlaps) should suffice, or you can put in sheets of puckboard that are buried beneath ground level and firmly attached to the trailer and then caulked so rodents can make a home underneath. That plus exterior bait traps and interior mechanical traps should work