Mice & Rats

How to get rid of mice and rats is an age old question. Mice and rats seek food, water, and harborage, so if you can eliminate one of these, they will leave. If you can’t, baiting or traps may be the answer. We deal with this problem almost every day and can work with you to eliminate these pests. Call 972-423-4764 for an estimate.

House Mouse Feeding	House Mouse	Roof Rat	Roof Rat Climbing

Rats and mice can be found in and around every town. It is estimated that there is one rat for every person living in the United States..They have no respect for social class; they are equal opportunity pests.

Rats and mice are so closely linked to man they are called domestic rodents. Man supplies their three basic needs: food, shelter, and water.

Rodents are a threat to health.They are destructive pests and serious safety hazards.

• They start fires by gnawing on electric cables.origin .They eat large amounts of food, and they contaminate even more with their urine, feces, and hair. 
• Worse, they spread disease to humans and other animals through their bite, by transporting fleas, lice, mites and ticks, and by leaving their droppings in food and other materials that humans contact. Rodents are vectors for bubonic plague, rat bite fever, leptospirosis, hantavirus, trichinosis, infectious jaundice, rat mite dermatitis, salmonellosis, pulmonary fever, and typhus. Mice have been linked to asthma.
• Rats will bite babies in their cribs, because the smell of milk or other food on the baby is attractive to a rat looking for food. A clean baby in a clean crib is a lot safer from rat attack. To protect your baby, take the bottle away as soon it`s finished, and wash its hands and face.Rodents can be found in our homes, supermarkets, restaurants, They are active at night. Rats are seldom seen during the day except when populations are exceedingly large. Rats and mice can crawl through very small crevices, which makes it hard to confine their movement. Even if you can`t see them, you may hear them moving after dark. If your pet paws at a wall or cabinet it may be after a lurking rodent. Cats and dogs are not much of a deterrent to rodents, however.

Usually, the first clue of a serious rodent problem is their droppings on the kitchen counter, in kitchen drawers, cabinets, or the pantry ,attic. When one dwelling is infested, it`s likely the immediate neighborhood is, too. That`s why rodents are so difficult for one homeowner to control. Rodents are a community problem. Effective control necessitates that all homeowners in a community work together to eliminate sources of food, water, and shelter. Rodents are persistent in their efforts to invade the home.

The House Mouse

The house mouse is by far the most common mammal on earth.

• They have large, scantily haired ears; small black protruding eyes; a slightly pointed nose.or buff fur underneath.
• Their life span is 9-18 months, although some have lived up to two years in captivity.

The mouse is very adaptable. It`s an excellent swimmer, runner, climber and jumper. It can jump as high as 12 inches. Mice have excellent senses of smell, taste and touch. While they have poor eyesightEach fall, the onset of cold weather causes mice to search for food and shelter. Mice are curious, and will enter any hole or crack as small as ¼-inch. If they like what they find inside better than what they had outside, you will have a mouse problem. Their nests are constructed of rags or paper lined with finely shredded material, and look like a loosely woven ball 4-6 inches in diameter. If food is available, a mouse will normally travel no more than 10-50 feet from their nest. Mice are territorial, and will constantly explore to learn more about their surroundings.Because of their poor eyesight, mice navigate using their whiskers, usually traveling along a wall or other object. If you don`t move, a mouse can`t see you. They will explore when they think they`re alone...usually at night, but any other time when they don`t detect movement. People usually see mice only when they have been sitting stock still, such as when reading or watching television. Unlike rats, the fact that you have seen a mouse does not necessarily mean they have a high population density.

A mouse family will include a dominant male, several females, and their young. Female mice begin breeding at 40-45 days of age.

• Gestation is as short as 18 days, and a litter is 3-12 pups (the average is 5 or 6).
• Female mice produce 12 or more litters per year.
• Newborn mice have no fur and are blind. But they grow rapidly. In 2-3 weeks they are covered with hair and their eyes and ears are open. At 3 weeks, pups begin making short excursions from the nest, and start eating solid food.

It`s easy to see why mouse populations can grow exponentially under the right conditions. Fortunately, breeding slows markedly as mouse populations increase.

While they will drink water when it`s available, mice can live in a dry habitat, getting all the water they need from the food they eat. In the wild, mice eat seeds, roots, leaves and stems, beetle larvae, caterpillars, cockroaches, and carrion, but they prefer seeds and grain. Although mice can live on crumbs, typically they eat 3 grams of food per day or about 8 pounds per year. When human food is available, those foods high in fat, protein, or sugar are often eaten in preference to seeds and grain. They will even eat glue or soap, if the soap contains animal fat.

Mice nibble whatever food is available, eating small portions to find what they like best. In this manner, mice destroy much more food than they eat. In a year, one mouse will produce approximately 18,000 fecal droppings. They will store food, which can lead to insect infestations. Though it is not their preference, mice will live in freezers feeding only on frozen food. This usually occurs in large commercial operations that have walk-in coolers.

The Rat

The Norway rat is strong, very aggressive.

• Rats are 12-18 inches long, and weigh up to 16 ounces.
• Rat muzzles are blunt, and their bodies look thick and heavy.
• They have small eyes, naked ears, and coarse fur.
• Rat tails are 6-9 inches longThey have brown to dark gray fur
• A rat will shed over 500,000 body hairs each year. Left untouched, a rat`s incisor teeth would grow 4 inches in a year. So rats must chew continuously to wear down their incisors. Rats will chew on wood, aluminum siding, wallboard, plaster, paneling, frozen ground, concrete...anything but glass and most metals.
• Their life expectancy is 9-12 months
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• They are good swimmers, jumpers and climbers, and they have keen senses of hearing, smell, taste and touch.
• They are largely nocturnal, leaving their nests to forage at dusk.

Because they are so adept at hiding and scurrying, rats can exist in large numbers unbeknownst to their human neighbors.People see rats more often from April through June (spring breeding), and again in October and November as the season changes. But rats are active year-round. Outdoors, rats burrow in earth banks, along walls, under rubbish or concrete slabs, but they always locate close to sources of food and water. Rats follow the same routes as they make their rounds foraging for food each night, so they leave obvious runways in the grass. Rats often travel under objects like bales, planks, granaries and machinery to conceal their movement. A rat will normally travel no more than 150 feet from its nestOutdoors or indoors, rats leave obvious oil stains on their trails and entrance holes. They can enter any opening larger than ½-inch in diameter, which means they can squeeze into your home through

• the space around a pipe or conduit,
• under the doorthrough a hole in the screen or floor,
• or through a gap between a window and its frame.

Rats will make holes in walls or floors soon after invasion. Rat holes are circular, average 2-3 inches in diameter, and are usually just inches off the floor. Holes in floors are generally close to walls. Rats leave behind a distinctive musk odor, particularly if they are confined to a small space.

Like the mouse, rats establish territories and colonies.  Their nests are constructed from leaves, paper, rags, twigs, or anything else they can find. Rats are nocturnal, but in areas having large rat populations some low ranked rats will forage during the day, because other rats have denied them access to food at night.

Rats are also profoundly prolific. If food and shelter are adequate, rats will breed throughout the year, although fewer litters are produced in winter.

• Breeding occurs mostly in the spring and fall.
• A female rat will begin breeding at 40-45 days of age.
• Females often mate within 18 hours of giving birth.
• Gestation is as short as 21 days, and a litter is 2-14 pups .
• Rats continue to breed until 18 to 24 months of age.
• Newborn rats have no fur and are blind. But they grow rapidly.
• In 2-3 weeks their eyes and ears are open.
• Pups are weaned in 3 weeks, and are sexually mature in 3 months.Rats have voracious appetites. A rat can eat a third of its body weight each day. The rat is a true omnivore. It will eat anything, including soap, leather, furs, candy, milk, meat, vegetables, poultry, eggs, grain, seeds, fruit, nuts, snails and other rodents. Rats will catch fish, and they readily eat carrion. Near homes, rats thrive on pet food, birdseed, grass seed, garbage, dog feces, and the uneaten or spoiled food we discard. While rats will eat nearly anything, they prefer grain, livestock feed, and meat. Unlike the mouse, which nibbles a little at a time, rats will fill up at one sitting, if possible.The number and behavior of rats change throughout the year. Many rats die during winter, as outdoor foods become hard to find. Breeding in winter is comparatively low, so rat populations are at their lowest. A mild winter means fewer rats will die of natural causes, so more can be expected in the spring. But if rats are controlled in winter, fewer will be available to resume the breeding cycle in spring. Heavy breeding begins in March when the weather turns. Spring rains spur vegetation which provides cover and additional food. So rats are more abundant in late spring. Getting rid of rats is difficult. Capturing or poisoning a few rats in the neighborhood makes little impact. To defeat them, a community has to cooperate in capturing or killing them, at the same time starving them, denying them shelter, and cutting off their sources of water. Denied a source of food, rats will turn to killing and eating each other, which further reduces the infestation.

Recognizing a Rodent Infestation

There are twelve indicators of rodent activity:

• Droppings - Usually, the first clue of a serious rodent problem . Look for mouse droppings in utility closets, attics, garages and basements. Mouse droppings are smooth with pointed ends, and are 1/8-inch to ¼-inch long. Rat droppings are pellet-shaped, blunt at both ends, about the size of an olive pit, and shiny black. They soon fade to gray-white. Droppings are randomly scattered, but normally close to rodent runways, feeding areas, or near shelter.
• Tracks - Rodent tracks can be observed in mud, dust or bare dirt.
• Gnawing - Rats must chew continuously to wear down their incisor teeth. Look for holes in walls or ceilings, and trails in crawl spaces, behind or under cupboards, counters, bathtubs, shower stalls, or near hot water heaters or furnaces.
• Burrows - Burrows can be found along ditches, walls, or fences, and under buildings, rubbish, low vegetation, woodpiles or concrete slabs.
• Runways - Rats follow the same routes as they make their rounds foraging for food each night. In doing so, they leave 2-inch wide runways in the dirt or grass, usually next to buildings or fences.
• Grease marks - Greasy rub marks are caused by a rat`s oily fur repeatedly coming in contact with walls or entrance holes.
• Urine stains - Urine stains are more easily observable under a black light.
• Nests - Mouse nests can be found in utility closets, attics, garages, and basements.
• Partially eaten food - Mice leave behind partially eaten food. While rats eat most of the food they find, even they leave telltale signs, like shells or other inedibles.
• Live or dead rodents -
• Odors - Often you can smell rodent urine or their musky odor,
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