Rodents are not cute, fuzzy animals when they’ve invaded your home, eaten your food, left “surprises” on the kitchen counter and generally caused mayhem, destruction and the potential spread of disease. You want to make sure these creatures get the message — get out and stay out! Here are a few helpful hints regarding how to keep rodents out of the house.

Keeping Rodents Out of the Interior

Rodents can crawl into spaces as tiny as a quarter of an inch. Therefore, it’s crucial that you seal up any possible entryways and exits to keep them from coming in. Buy some heavy gauge steel wool and encircle the pipes entering and exiting home.

Stuff the wool around all pipes and inside cracks exposed to the outside, especially those larger than an eighth of an inch. Look at exits and entryways for the plumbing, heating and electric, as well as inside the crawl space.

Secure screens and doors to make sure there’s no opening where the rodents can squeeze through undetected. Check the attic for rodent activity. Set up simple traps, line them up along the walls and reset traps frequently with new bait.

Before you set them up, try “unsetting” the traps, known as prebaiting, to get the rats used to them. This way, they will be less suspicious and more likely to take the bait. Slather on some peanut butter or place a candy or dried fruit in the center of the trap. Remember to check the traps frequently, since standard mousetraps kill rodents instantaneously.

Keeping Rodents Out of the Exterior

Go up to the roof and fill holes where vents and rooflines intersect. Be very careful — you may need to hire someone for this job. It’s necessary that you make sure the roof is secure because some rats will jump onto the house from trees and move in. Trim back trees to prevent rats from jumping onto the roof.

Trim trees, bushes and gardens so you can look for burrowing or signs of nesting. Keep ground cover and ivy down to discourage rodents from nesting and cut back on places where they can hide.

When it comes to food, your house is a haven for rodents. Keep food, including pet food, in sealed, airtight bags and containers. Bring in pet food bowls from the outside after feeding. Collect fruit that has fallen from trees or other foods that could attract rodents, such as a vegetable garden or bird feeder. The less food available for them to munch on, the less likely rodents will want to stick around your place.

When Rodents Are in the House

If it’s a bad infestation, leave a few exit points alone so they don’t die in the walls. The last thing you want to deal with is the odor of dead rodents.

If there’s a major infestation, you need to call an exterminator or rodent control company. Once they’re gone, seal up the holes and see if you need to replace the insulation in the house. Make sure you and the exterminator disinfect any area that could have been contaminated with rodent droppings. Keeping rodents out of the house is easy when you prevent them from getting in.