How do I keep rats and mice from nesting under my hot tub?

Posted by on . 3 comments.


I bought a used hot tub from my neighbor. It's a good one, and in good condition. It does not however - have a drainage basin underneath it, as a floor of it's own. Rats and mice love the mild warmth and protection underneath hot tubs.
My covered patio, where it is placed, is concrete and is flat, but not quite perfectly flat. I can see a quarter inch gap or so along some of the lower edge. Unless I do something I'm a sitting duck for rodent damage on this thing.
If I put poison under there, I'm worried that my dogs will get a dying rat and get poisoned as well, while I'm at work. Traps work - kind of, if they stumble into them.
I want to stop them before they get started.



Any ideas?

thanks
Kevin

Comments

  1. llazyiest says:
    July 18, 2009 at 5:17 am

    Buy a can of expandable foam. Spray it into and along that crack. It will harden. After it’s hard, take a sharp knife and trim it even. If your obsessive, paint it to match so it won’t show. I’ve never had mice go thru that stuff.
    I put it aroud the gaps where pipes go thru my homes floors for the same reason.
    Consider jacking up the tub for a peak first to be sure your not sealing anything live in there before you foam it.

  2. Mary B says:
    July 18, 2009 at 5:17 am

    I don’t know how well this will work outside, but if you stuff steelwool in a mouse hole they won’t cross it they hate the feeling. So maybe if you stuff some under your tub in the gap it will stop them from entering and nesting there. Also, rodents hate the smell of moth balls so you could shove a few under there too. Hope this helps.

  3. Stacy C says:
    July 18, 2009 at 5:17 am

    I say get boards that are about the thickness of the space between the concrete and the spa (the quarter of an inch) and cover the empty area with them. Then use caulking sealent to fuse the spa and boards together. Then to make it look nicer you can get decorative molding to run around the base of the spa- make sure you coat the wood with some sort of all weather sealent… and the molding too so that it stays nice looking!

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