Photo. http://pestcontrolcanada.com/young%20rat.jpgALBERTA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS "RAT FREE".
RODENT CONTROL
http://pestcontrolcanada.com/rodents.htm
http://pestcontrolcanada.com/Rodents/mice.htm
Because of the high risk to human health and potential damage to food, electrical wiring, insulation, clothing and personal effects rodent control should be taken very seriously in the home or business. Prevention is the best method of control.
THE THREE R'S OF RODENT CONTROL:
Eliminate the Reason rodents are in or near your home or place of work:
FOOD:
Rodent populations are always in direct proportion to the amount of food available. Bird feeders are probably the number one attractant for rats and mice around Canadian homes. Pet food, poorly stored human food, garbage and compost are other good food sources for rodents.
SHELTER:
Mice and rats like to stay out of sight, even when feeding if possible to avoid predators. They do most of their food foraging in the dark. Clutter in the home, debris, construction lumber, firewood, wooden sidewalks and decks on the ground all provide a safe shelter for rodents. Once they sense the warmth of a building they will try to find entry points.
ELIMINATE ROUTES.
Skull size is the only thing that restricts rodents entering small holes or cracks. For a mouse this could be as small as a pen. Rats will burrow or chew to make small holes large enough. Mice will often chew wiring where it passes through holes. Holes made for plumbing provide easy access from the basement or crawl space to all levels of a home and the attic.
Steel wool packed around wiring and pipes will help keep mice out of living quarters. Metal flashing should be used for rats. Crawl space vents should be screened with tight fitting 1/4 inch mesh. Exterior doors must fit tight especially at the sill. Keep them closed if you have rodents. Repair foundation cracks with expansion cement.
Get rid of the reason rodents are being attracted. FOOD. The most common rodent attractant in urban locations is wild bird seed. Once a constant food source has been detected, rodents will leave pheromone trails for their family members to follow. This could result in a large populations being attracted to your home or business. An abundant supply of food will also speed up their reproductive cycle. Most people who feed wild birds don't realize they are probably feeding more rodents than birds. Pet food, grass seed and poorly stored human food are other attractants.
Eliminate the route rodents are taking to enter living and working space. Once inside a building, rodents will follow plumbing and wiring to access all levels and many rooms. Gaps around pipes should be blocked. Pay special attention to pipes under the kitchen sink, bathrooms, laundry room and hot water tank.
3. ELIMINATE THE RODENT
Once you have stopped attracting them and blocked off their entry points, you can focus attention on eliminating the rodent population. You will have a hard time attracting rodents to bait on a trap or poison bait, if you have not eliminated their usual source of food.
Snap traps are the most common and safest way to eliminate rodents in a building, if used properly. They should never be placed where other animals or children may come in contact. Poison baits are the most effective method of control when there are numerous rodents present. When bait is used, the directions on the packaging must be adhered to strictly.
Proper tamper resistant bait boxes are much safer and more effective than open space placement. Live trapping rodents is not effective and not recommended. ( Mice and rats are cannibals ) Rodents carrying disease and it is best not to help spread it to other locations.
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MOUSE FACTS
Mice travel over their entire territory daily, investigating each change or new object that may be placed there.
Mice have poor vision, hence their activity patterns rely heavily on smell, taste, touch, and hearing.
Mice use the long sensitive whiskers near the nose and hairs on the body as tactile sensors. The whiskers and hairs enable the mouse to travel in the dark, adjacent to walls in burrows.
Mice also have an excellent sense of balance, enabling them to walk along telephone wires, ropes and similar thin objects.
Mice are excellent jumpers, capable of leaping at least 12 inches vertically.
Mice can jump against a flat vertical surface using it as a spring board to gain additional height.
They can run up almost any vertical surface; wood, brick, weathered sheet metal, cables, etc.
They can easily travel for some distance hanging upside down.
Although they are good swimmers, mice tend to take to water only if left with no other alternative.
Mice are basically nocturnal in nature.
House mice breed throughout the year and can become pregnant within 48 hours of producing a litter.
There are usually about 6 mice to a litter and females may produce as many as ten litters (about 50 young) per year.
It takes 18 to 21 days for gestation, and 35 days for a mouse to mature. Most mice live anywhere from 15 to 18 months.
They make their nests out of the same types of soft materials as rats, and as many as 3 females may use the same nest.
They commonly nest in insulation in attics, also in stoves and under refrigerators.
Mice do not travel far from their nest, about 12 to 20 feet.
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FEEDING HABITS
Mice normally feed 15 to 20 times per day and will eat pretty much anything a human will eat.
Food preference is cereal or seed, but also gnaw through insulation or wires, sheet rock, storage boxes, etc.
Mice are nibblers. They do small amounts of damage to many food items in "home range", rather than doing extensive damage to any one item.
While mice are nibblers and feed many times in many places, they have two main feeding periods, at dusk and just before dawn.
They have to consume about 10% to 15% of their body weight every 24 hours and require extremely small amounts of water.
