Rats and Mice.
As per normal these tips and advice pages are put on here to help the DIYer and newbies to the pest control industry learn about the pests and what to do, based upon my findings over the years I have been a pest controller. I hope the tips can be of some use to you.
Also please remember that these pages are not a training package just a short tutorial about the treatments and what to look for.
Professional pest controllers must adhere to the new EU restrictions on the use of rodenticide outdoors where wildlife can be present, a 40-60% increase in rodent infestations indoors has been noticed over the past few months. This could increase public health risks because of the contamination associated with rodent urine or droppings. However, the new regulations allow constant use indoors where there is no risk to wildlife. But at the same time, there are major risks to human health.
Why do we have more rodent infestations, especially indoors? this winter's heavy rain could be one contributing factor as it would drive the rodents out of their burrows and indoors but the new rules around pest control are significantly adding to the problem.
The rules have been developed following some new directives which are aimed to help save non target species being poisoned.
According to the new rules, previously used tamper-proof boxes containing rodenticide poison would be laid to prevent an infestation from happening. Pest controllers are not allowed to carry out this practice anymore until there is evidence of an infestation.
The obvious increase in rat numbers is where there are restaurants and food takeaways, and anywhere else where there is a constant supply of food such as bird feeders. decking, poultry kept without proper control on feed, pet food left out, holes in the walls, broken or breached sewer pipes, poor property maintenance, rubbish bins not having lids that close, if indeed they are closed at all, rubbish left lying around, food waste and food containers thrown out of cars instead of being placed in a bin.
In an ideal world you would use nothing, but you cannot live with rats and mice. They are too dangerous.
What can be done to help solve the problem. First find out if you have a mouse or a rat problem, obviously most people only realise they have a problem because they see nibbles in food containers or food packets in the cupboard. This is where panic sets in. Look at the size of the pooh, if it is small the chances are it’s a mouse, if they are larger then its likely to be a rat. Look on google to see pictures of the difference. If the pooh is larger than a mouse and in the attic, there is a good chance it could be a squirrel. I shall cover squirrel control on another page.
Once you have decided on what the pest is, you then have to locate the entry point into the property, in the case of house mice they will follow a wall edge or along something solid and normally straight, they will follow a skirting board around the room rather than walk across the floor. The giveaway with mice is they walk and poop at the same time and so it is easy to discover where they come from. A mouse will get through a hole the thickness of a pencil, and a rat through a hole the thickness of a man’s thumb. Rats will walk anywhere and will not normally walk and poop, they tend to stop and poop.
By far the easiest method of control is with traps. In the case of a mouse the trap is smaller and can be set off by a lighter critter, whereas a rat trap is larger and stronger sprung than a mouse trap.
Depending on the trap you use a house mouse can sometimes set off a rat trap and be killed, whereas a rat will set off the mouse trap and will drag it around behind itself, if it cant shake off the trap a rat will often chew off its own limbs to escape. And so, the correct trap is essential.
The next thing to learn is how to set the trap, ideally you need to find the run and place the set trap at right angles and across the run, so the pressure plate can easily be walked over, this is important especially with mice.
The life cycle of rats are that she will mate up to a hundred times today to ensure she in pregnant, twenty eight days later she gives birth to 6-8 young, and the next day she mates again, twenty eight days later she gives birth and the young that was on the teat are sent packing and they have to fend for themselves, a few weeks later they mate and the numbers grow rapidly, mice are fast maters as well but not quite as fast as rats.
If you have one rat or mouse you certainly will have more, always keep the traps working and set and keep them out of the way of pets and children. Ideally keep the in a tunnel type area i.e. put a trap near the wall and put a board or similar at an angle above it but not touching the trap, by doing this you will be more likely to catch the rodent than pets, if you can place the trap in a cupboard then that is better.
As for a lure on the trap it is better to use something like chocolate sauce on the pressure plate.
Once you are sure there is no more rodents in the area you are treating or if you are sure they are outside then block the entry point with something hard like rapid drying cement or expanding foam with wire wool in the hole first. Never use foam on its own as this is as much use a chocolate fireguard, rats and mice will chew through it in seconds.
As a tip do not keep visiting or moving the set traps, rats are neophobic and will not go near anything new or moved around until they are sure it is safe to do so.
If you use rodenticide there is a completely different set of rules to apply. The ............. For more information about the treatment procedure etc. please purchase one of my DIY Pest control books.