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Pest Control 101 > Rats and Mice |
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Rats and MiceFall is the time of year when animals begin to prepare for colder weather. This preparation includes eating more food, hoarding food, and finding appropriate shelter. Among the more common animals to do this are rats and mice!Both Roof rats and Norway rats are found in America. Roof rats are excellent climbers and prefer to live in attics or cabinets. They can scale most surfaces and may get inside by climbing up the outside walls to the roof. Once on the roof, they will find any small route of entry. This includes vents to bathrooms, gable vents, spaces around soffits, exhaust pipe holes, spaces between boards and roofs, and just about any vulnerable spot. If none exists, they will chew a hole. Norway rats prefer to nest in the ground. They dig burrows around railroad ties, gardens, trees, shrubs, and against foundations. These burrows will lead into crawl spaces and through cracks around pipes in slabs. Once inside your house, they prefer to nest low in kitchens and bathrooms. Both species have droppings about the size of a black or red bean. Mice love kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, furniture, and cabinets. They will nest in dresser drawers, closets and garages. Attics provide adequate nest sites, but mice prefer living close to their food. The most common attractant around the outside of the average home is either pet food or bird seed. The smells from these items are so strong it will attract several types of animals to your yard. Once they get a taste of these nutritious foods they will try to feed there daily. If you suspect you have rodent activity around pet food or bird seed, DO NOT REMOVE the food until the animal has been successfully trapped, relocated, or destroyed. If you remove their food source, they will come inside looking for more. Using rodent-proof bird feeders will feed the birds, but not the squirrels and rats. You may want to consider feeding your pets indoors. Having water available outdoors is fine. If you are trying to catch and release rats and mice, you will need to use a trap. Don't waste your time with a basic rat or mouse trap commonly found in hardware stores. Although these traps have been around a long time, they will not work as well as newer designs. The Live Trap is built with small wire mesh and has a sliding rear door. The trap is very easy to use. It allows for quick bait placements and easy animal release. Use a professional attractant, such as Trapper's Lure Paste as the bait. If you decide on using a poison for control, understand that children and pets are also vulnerable to these products. Only when all options fail should you use a poison around your home. Vacation homes, sheds, abandoned lots, and commercial buildings are better suited for the use of rodent poisons. If you decide to use a poison, use a product that has a lethal dose that is consumed in one feeding. Contrac Rodent Cakes are ready to be set out and placed in burrows or hard to reach places. They are weather resistant and designed to be used in moist areas like crawl spaces and water retention ditches. For areas where pets or curious children may find it, we suggest using a tamperproof metal Rat Bait Station. Maki Pellets are more suited for indoor applications. The semi-porous package allows odor to be released so rodents will find them. To protect people, pets, and the bait, we suggest using a plastic tamperproof Mouse Bait Station that can be used for mice. It has many features, including a locking see-through top. It is not uncommon for poisoned rats and mice to die in attics, crawl spaces, and behind walls. Once dead, their bodies decay. Odors will permeate into living areas and persist for weeks. You may want to have some Odor Killer on hand before you use the poisonous baits. |
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