Rats and mice are important rodent pests entering homes and warehouses for food and harborage. These rodents like food that people eat and this is why Contrac® All-weather Blox® Rodenticide works. They contaminate 10 times as much food as they eat, with urine, droppings and hair. They can carry at least 10 different kinds of diseases including bubonic plague, murine typhus, spirochetal jaundice, Leptospirosis, rabies, ratbite fever, and bacterial food poisoning. Many times rats bite sleeping children while trying to get bits of food on the child that were not washed off before going to bed. Rats and mice also start fires by gnawing matches and electrical wires in homes.
House mice normally live outdoors in fields, occasionally migrating into structures. In houses, they live behind walls and in cabinets and furniture. House mice are brown to gray in color with the tail as long as the body. Adults weigh about 1/2 ounce. Their droppings are 1/8 inch long and rod-shaped. The movement of rats and mice is usually related to food, water, or harborage. Knowing where they are likely to go is important to controlling them.
Rats use any method to get to food, water or harborage. Their excellent sense of balance enables them to run on pipes, narrow ledges, and utility wires. Rats, especially roof rats, will climb anything their claws will hold on to, including wires, pipes, and rough walls. Because rats are excellent swimmers, they often live in sewers and occasionally enter homes through toilets.
Recognizing Rat and Mouse Signs
Since rats and mice are active at night and are rarely seen during the day, it is necessary to recognize signs of their activity.
Droppings and Urine – Most people first recognize rodent problems by finding droppings or urine stains in and around buildings. The urine glows under ultraviolet lights and glows blue-white when fresh.
Sanitation - Good housekeeping or sanitation is a basic factor in rodent control. Eliminating food, water, and harborage for rats and mice can reduce rodent populations rapidly. To implement sanitation practices:
- Clean up garbage and rubbish.
- Properly store garbage (Metal garbage cans should have tight fitting lids).
- Properly store food (store raw or prepared foods and refuse indoors in covered, rat proof containers or in rat proof rooms).
- Store pet food and bird seed in rat proof containers.
- Remove harborages (remove piles of rubbish, trash, junk, boxes, and protected enclosures).
- Dry up sources of water.