Why do I have mice or rats in my Home?
Both mice and rats come from a long history of nearly 100 types of families and sub-categories. Often, immigrating, traveling, or migrating throughout various locations across the United States. While typically these migrations take years and years to develop, this does not take away from the very real threat and reproductive habits of current mice and rats local to you and your home.
Often, seeing as little as one rat or mouse in your home can mean there is either a likely infestation taking place, or that it already has and you are only seeing the few that have made themselves available or come out when the others are elsewhere.
What are the most effective measures of rodent control?
While different people experience pest infestations for different reasons, there are several common patterns that are associated with a rodent infestation. Some of these might include:
* Trash, garbage, and other rotten food or crumbs being left on the floor, sink area, and other easy to access locations – including trashcans that are not changed on a regular basis.
* Your home has many holes or vulnerable, potential entrances for rodents and in turn is experiencing a rush of these creatures during the cold-winters or other periods throughout the year.
* Leaving your doors and windows open frequently, without keeping an eye on them or leaving accessible holes, nooks, and “cranny’s” for outside rodents to exit and enter as they please.
* Structural defects or failure of household foundation such as wood and other soft-materials that are easy to chew through for mice or rats.
* Treating a pest control problem in your home can be approached several ways:
* Purchase professional caulking and fill any and all unnecessary or unnatural holes located throughout your house, specifically lower to the ground but not limited to ceilings, corners, and other hard-to-reach places.
* Requesting the service of a professional exterminator to evaluate your rodent infestation, and determine the necessary steps or measures to remove and exterminate any colonies or rodents in your home.
* Removing and throwing away any unnecessary cardboard boxes and other foam materials, they rodents thrive on these to build-nests and cause further destruction to your home.
* Setting traps throughout your house such as glue-traps, snap-traps, and poisoned-food traps or dangerous poisons that will kill rodents and their colonies when brought back to their hiding place or nest.
Threats and Development of Rodent Infestation
Both mice and rats commonly have up to 8 or more litters per year, often including at least 8-10 “pups” per litter. This can be extremely frustrating in applying efforts of pest control. Without traps, caulking up structural vulnerabilities in your home, a cat, or a rodent control expert, the situation can get out of hand very quickly. Rats and mice are notorious for destroying homes, polluting foods, and other household items by leaving harmful and toxic waste, feces, and saliva in places you may not know about or be expecting.
If you believe you have a serious rodent infestation, consider your options, and avoid using poisons and other potentially dangerous traps if you have children or pets at home, as they can be extremely toxic. Take steps to secure your food items in glass or plastic tupperware to deter rodents, and consult with a professional rodent control professional (exterminator) as quickly as possible to nip your pest control troubles in the bud’ before it’s too late.
Image credit: Michael Lane