Rats or Mice in your home? Let's keep them out!
It's November! As the season shifts towards cooler temperatures, it appears that the rodent activity around our home and garden is ramping up. I understand that this isn't a pleasant topic, thus the illustration I chose to insert above rather than a photo, however rodents seem to be the #1 pest issue that I see folks having. In fact, last week was Rodent Awareness week. Are you faced with a rodent situation too? Here are a few steps you can take to address a current rodent situation and prevent rodents from invading your home.
1) Proper identification is important.
I've mentioned this before, and even with rodents, it is important to know what you are up against. Is it a common house mouse, a roof rat or a norway rat? Here are a few differentiating factors:
House Mouse: are tiny, weighing a 1/2 ounce, about 5-7" long including their 3-4" tail, with a small head, pointy snout, large ears, and small feet. Are usually light brownish to grey in color. Their droppings are small, about the size of a sesame seed.
Roof Rats: have a somewhat slender, sleek body, weighting about 5-10 ounces, a pointed snout, a long tail and large ears. Dropping will be larger than a mouse's, similar to the size of a grain of rice
Norway Rats: have a thicker, larger body, weighing 7-18 ounces, a shorter tail, a shorter snout and smaller ears. Their droppings are a bit larger than a grain of rice.
Here is more information about identification.
2) Sanitation
Clean up food and store in secure jars & containers, secure compost bins, secure garbage cans, remover food sources, fix any water leaks, store pet food into galvanized cans with lids.
3) Exclusion
Keep them out! A mouse and a young rat can fit through a hole 3/8th of an inch in size. That is small! Go room by room and look for any points of entry. Search behind appliances, inside cupboards, under cabinets to find ways they are getting in. Walk around the perimeter of your home to seal any points of entry. Use 1/4" hardware cloth, sheet metal roof flashing (cut to fit around pipes) or copper wool to close off points of entry. These are the only materials that rats can not chew through. Check door sweeps, weather stripping, foundation vents and address accordingly if there is any evidence of rodents finding their way in.
4) Population control
The best, most effective way to manage rodents is with kill traps; snap traps, electric traps, and CO2 style traps. When used properly, these are also the most humane way to manage rodent populations. When using kill traps, keep in mind that rodents are suspicious of new things and won't automatically feed off of the trap just because you set it out. It is recommended to pre-bait the snap & electric traps without setting them. Allow the rodent to become familiar with this feeding station. After they have fed off of it a few times, then set the trap. By doing this you will have the success you were looking for. Once you have trapped a rodent, dispose of it in a sealed bag placed into the garbage, bait and set your trap, repeat.
Experts say that if you think you have one rat or mouse, you actually have many. It is advised to 'saturate' an area with traps, placing 12-16 traps out. I see that this is a bit challenging for the average person, so I recommend to place as many as you can, with no less than 2 to 4 traps in an area.
As for best baits to use, well many people swear by peanut butter. This isn't my first choice as it dehydrates, shrinks and then the rodent can lift that bead of peanut butter up off the trigger without setting it. Successful for it and not for me. I like to use a tiny piece of a chewy granola bar, or a fig newton type of bar, kitty kibble, dog kibble, or whatever they were already getting into. Rats love a little piece of a meat stick, such as a Slim Jim and since it Halloween, a tiny piece of any chocolatey nutty chew candy works perfectly. I even hear that Nutella works great! The idea is to be open to changing it up if you find that one isn't working. Trust me, when I had a mouse infestation in my San Francisco flat, it took me 4 days to find a bait the mice would go for. I tried everything! They ended up going for the herbed tofu cream cheese that my roommate at the time had. Who know that the mice in SF were vegans! LOL! I ended up catching 22 mice that night, once I found the right bait. No joke! The minute I heard the trap snap, I would dispose of it and repeat. I had no idea the magnitude of the situation. I then found the point of entry and sealed it up. No more rodent problems.
A note about rodenticide/poison baits. Something that isn't explained to the consumer is that these rodenticides are not as effective as the kill traps, are very dangerous, and even lethal to non-rodents. Understand that it can take 2-14 days for the baits to kill the rodent, meanwhile the rodent can still reproduce, and if a dog, a cat, or a rapture eats that rodent, there is enough bait to kill that animal, this is called secondary kill. Also, these baits are intended for the rodent to feed off of it multiple times and for it to be it's only food source. If there is other food around for it to feed off of, this other food can dilute the bait making it less effective. So though this may seem like an easy solution, it is actually the least effective way to manage the problem. Then if the rodent dies in the wall of your home, you are faced with a worst situation.
Having a rodent problem is not easy and can be extremely frustrating. Sadly there isn't an easy one step process, however I hope I have offered you a helpful strategy to achieve success. If you have any additional question about rodent management, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Or better yet, join one of my upcoming gardening & pest webinars where you can ask your question live. Hope you can join!
In the meantime, take good care and stay well!
~Suzanne