Can Artificial Grass Help Protect Your Home From Rodents?
Artificial grass has become increasingly common in places where it can be hard to maintain a regular lawn. In Arizona, temperatures remain sky-high throughout the year and this combined with intermittent rainfall can lead to some serious damage. To make matters worse, Arizona is beholden to a wide range of pests that love to seek out healthy lawns. This is where artificial grass steps into the equation.
Installing artificial grass can provide a number of direct benefits to homeowners throughout the state of Arizona. In addition to eliminating the need to mow, seed, and fertilize your lawn, artificial grass also does a great job at preventing rodent infestations from manifesting.
Let’s explore the yard-changing benefits of artificial grass as well as how synthetic grass can help to prevent rodent infestations from becoming a problem. By the end of our lesson, we will have learned about the most common rodents in Arizona and how artificial turf can help to hold them at bay.
Common Lawn Rodents of Arizona
It is necessary to have an appropriate understanding of the rodents that many folks throughout Arizona will face. As we can quickly tell, Arizona is home to its fair share of lawn-invading rodents and that means solutions are more important than ever.
Let’s take a short walk through the common lawn rodents of Arizona to better understand them.
- Pack Rat — Also known as the wood rat, this is the most common rat found throughout Arizona’s desert regions. Known for their furry long tails and white feet, these rats are dangerous to humans and tend to leave behind urine and feces wherever they live.
- House Mouse — Depending on the size of your home as well as the food within it, a house mouse can become a common sight. They typically have gray coats with an off-white belly and are likely most known for creating enormous amounts of droppings every day.
- Deer Mouse — The Deer Mouse can carry the hantavirus which is spread through the inhalation of particles that have been infected by droppings. Deer mice are often found in trees or along nesting locations outdoors, such as old boxes or an animal burrow.
- Moles — Brown-black coats cover stocky bodies with big feet and long claws. These animals love to tunnel underground, and they can reach nearly 7 inches in length. Moles can be spotted based on visible tunnel holes appearing on your yard, most likely reminiscent of a volcano-type mound of dirt. Raised tunnels may also manifest alongside dying or dead grass.
- Voles — Similar to moles, voles grow up to 8 inches in length. Short and stocky with brownish-black fur, Voles are extremely skittish and would prefer to be left alone. That being said, Voles will chew through your lawn in a heartbeat if they have the opportunity. Voles are attracted to trees, as well, due to their love of bark.
- Gophers — Growing up to 13 inches long, gophers are likely to be the largest of lawn rodents to watch out for. Pocket gophers leave behind mounds of dirt as well as tunnel entrances to show that they’ve been nearby.
While there are many more rodents than contained on our list, this is a relatively solid foundation for what artificial grass can help to protect a lawn against. For individuals who are installing artificial grass for the first time, it can be important to understand how the medium will prevent rodent infestations.
Let’s dig into the meat and potatoes of the rodent-reducing benefits behind artificial grass.
Limit Access to Food Sources
One of the primary reasons that rodents and pests are attracted to healthy vibrant lawns is that they provide sources of life! Food sources come in many shapes and forms for pests and rodents. A conventional lawn with grass will be beholden to debris and detritus such as grass, leaves, dirt, and other insect pests that live in the area.
Without traditional sources of organic clutter, such as those emboldened above, pests will have no reason to call your lawn their home. Synthetic yards do not offer the same access to or quality of food source, thus sending them elsewhere for their nutrition. Without these pests in the yard, rodents won’t seek to take hold, either.
Even though synthetic grass will prevent most conventional rodents or pests from infesting your yard, you still have to keep an eye out for ants and other hardier pests. However, rats, voles, snakes, and moles will likely pass your place without stopping. It is important to frequently check and assess your lawn for potential food resources. Any resources will allow an infestation to prevail, particularly when dealing with burrowing rodents or hardy animals like rats and mice.
Key Takeaway: While you won’t have to mow your lawn, make sure to prevent leaves and sticks from building up on your synthetic grass.
Create a Cleaner Living Environment
Take a few steps into the Rainforest, and you’ll quickly come to understand why nature loves chaos. An untended lawn can quickly become a true breeding ground for insect eggs, rodents, bugs, and other problematic pests. An overgrown yard can quickly become a problem that keeps multiplying itself.
Switching to synthetic or artificial grass can allow homeowners to better control the state of their lawn. The rainy season in Arizona wouldn’t be as harmful to a synthetic lawn as it will conventional grass, thus making your home less attractive to rodents and pests throughout the year.
When combined with constant cleaning practices, such as raking leaves and removing debris, it is easy to take back complete control over your yard. Get into the habit of regularly raking your yard and removing excess detritus from the environment. It doesn’t take much to make a huge difference and the team at Buzz Tech Pest Control can help!
Key Takeaway: Artificial grass provides a cleaner and easier-to-manage environment. With little in the way of maintenance, keeping your lawn clean can help to prevent rodents and other problematic pests from appearing.
Eliminate Threat of Digging Rodents
In Arizona, residents will quickly find that rodents, moles, voles, rabbits, and groundhogs will quickly claim a yard for their own. One of the easiest ways to offset these potential infestations is through the installation of a synthetic lawn. Voles and moles require a yard that is conducive to quickly burrowing and re-emerging. Synthetic lawns make it too difficult for moles and voles to live the life that they are used to, thus leading these pests to move onto greener (and more natural) pastures.
In addition to pushing away the potential of a mole or vole infestation, artificial turf will also turn away other smaller rodents, such as field mice or rats. Anytime that natural habitat is altered, mice and rats will look to another place to call their home. This can often lead to rodents and mice attempting to infiltrate nearby buildings, including the household of the lawn-owner in question!
Anytime that we need to make an adjustment to our lawn for rodent control purposes, it is important to prepare the household as well. Proper rodent prevention techniques can go a long way toward preventing any annual or seasonal rodent infestations.
Key Takeaway: Voles and moles can’t dig or thrive when synthetic grass has been installed in place of natural grass. Mice and rats also hate to live in areas where their habitats are disrupted, so artificial turf can make a ton of sense for preventing these infestations, as well.
Call Buzz Tech Best Control For Your Rodent Removal Needs
Buzz Tech Pest Control is a family-owned and operated business with more than 20 years of combined rodent control experience. Proud to offer quick services with a focus on attention to detail, Buzz Tech Pest Control is staffed by highly trained technicians skilled with commercial warehouses, residential homes, and everything in between.
When customers call on Buzz Tech Pest Control they can count on the following:
- 24/7 Emergency Services Available
- Response Within the Hour — NO NEED TO WAIT FOR SERVICE
- All Technicians are Licensed and Insured
- Free In-Home Inspection
To learn more about affordable rodent control services, make sure to contact Buzz Tech Pest Control at your convenience for a 100% free in-home inspection. Don’t let your next rodent control problem become a danger, let Buzz Tech Pest Control solve your rodent problems, today!