About Rats and Mice

Rats and mice are, next to man, the most successful animals on earth in terms of abundance and diversity. Man has unwittingly help their spread throughout the word by exploration and his own success. However, they have in some circumstances become his worst enemy.
Billions of pounds each year is lost by contamination of food by rodent droppings, urine and hair. Rodents destroy much more food than they could possibly eat, and their chewing habits have been responsible for causing fires.

Rodents’ instincts make them difficult to control, and they present a serious menace to your home. If you’re in need of rodent control services, here’s what you should know about these pests:

Rats

  • Instincts: Rats are instinctively wary of rat control measures such as traps and bait, and colonise in attics, burrows, under concrete and porches, in wall voids and other hard to reach places.
  • Disease: Rats can harbour and transmit a number of serious diseases. They can also introduce disease-carrying parasites such as fleas, lice and ticks into your home.
  • Breeding: Within a year a rat can have between thirty and eighty offspring, depending on the species -one pair could generate fifteen thousand rats in their life span.
  • Rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a 10 pence coin, fall 20 metres with no injury, tread water for 3 days, eat all sorts of food and survive an atomic bomb test.

Mice

  • Access: They invade your home seeking food, water and warmth. Without mouse control intervention, one pair of mice may produce 200 offspring in four months.
  • Contamination: Each mouse can contaminate much more food than it eats.
  • Rodent infestations in or surrounding a home can prove extremely destructive. Different species are known for different nesting and feeding behaviors, but infestations cause damage to gardens, yards as well as to the home and the contents.
     
  • Baits may be used to lure rats into traps. However, rats are highly suspicious of anything new that comes into their established foraging paths. Glue and classic snap traps are available for purchase, but rats are capable of escaping from glue traps and mice often jump over them.  Classic snap traps tend to make unsightly messes and must be reset after each use. Although poisons are commercially available, they are toxic to humans and pets so care must be exercised with their use.
     
  • Rodents multiple swiftly and infestations may be extremely difficult to exterminate. It is advised that anyone experiencing a rodent infestation contact their local pest control professional for an inspection and consultation.