Pest Control of Mice and Rats

Rats and mice are, next to man, the most successful animals on earth in terms of abundance and diversity. Man has unwittingly helped their spread throughout the word by exploration and his own success. However, they have in some circumstances become his worst enemy.

Thousand of Rupees 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 colonies in attics, burrows, under concrete and porches, in wall voids and other hard to reach places.

★ Disease: Rats can harbor 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 20 cent piece, fall 20 meters 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 Control

★ Traps - snap boards and sticky traps should be used as a back-up for baits, or for safety reasons. They should be placed just out from skirting boards, with the bait facing inwards. My favorites is some cocoa sprinkled on some fresh bread. Tie the bread onto the metal with some cotton thread. Tugging will set of the trap.

★ Gassing - Is used in outdoor burrows, in ships and grain silos by the use of fumigants.

★ Proofing - In pest control this means the blocking of entry points by physical means such as bird wire, metal sheeting, steel wool or door seals.

★ Contact Dusts and Gels -Such as Bromatrol dust or Fentrol gel may be used once it is established where the activity is situated. You can determine this by the use of talc as a tracking dust.

★ Prevention - Good hygiene and limited supply of food and water is the best for preventing rodent infestations.Rodents are repelled by the smell of mint, camphor and pint tar. Cats and dogs (especially terriers) are helpful for hunting small numbers of rodents in the early breeding stages