Ermones^® Pest Management
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Rodents

Rats and mice have been the subject of considerable public fear and loathing for centuries and the notion that they are carriers of disease is embedded in our culture.

There are only a few rodent species of significant pest status, however, three species alone are responsible
for the main vertebrate pest threat to public health:

	The House Mouse
	The Common Rat
	The Black Rat

Mice

Mice can enter a house through a crack as small as ¼ inch. The House mouse is light brown to gray and reaches 3 ½ inches in length; its tail is as long as its body. The House mouse has a pointed nose and large ears.

The damage done by mice is far out of proportion to their small size since they like to “nibble” on numerous items. When feeding, a single mouse can contaminate many packages of food by gnawing, and also by depositing urine and fecal droppings on them.

Rats

Wild rats live off man and give nothing beneficial in return. Rats spread disease, damage structures and contaminate food and feed. Rats damage one-fifth of the world's food crop each year. The real damage is in contamination. One pair of rats shed more than one million body hairs each year and a single rat leaves 25,000 droppings in a year.

Rats transmit Murine typhus fever, rat bite fever, salmonellosis or bacterial food poisoning, Weils disease or leptospirosis and trichinosis, melioidosid, brucellosis, tuberculosis, pasteurellosis, rickettsial diseases, and viral diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease. Norway rats can also carry the rabies virus

Rats memorize their environment by body and muscle movement alone. They become so engrained by body movements that when objects are removed from their territory, rats will continue to move around them as if the objects where still there.

Successful control depends on proper identification of the different species. Norway and Roof rats differ in size, habits, food preferences and regions. Techniques that eliminate one species may not eliminate the other.

Many times roof rats live in the upper stories of buildings, while Norway rats occupy the basement and first floor of the same building.

Rats visit fewer food sites than mice. However, rats eat much more at each site than mice.

Rats constantly leave droppings. Fresh droppings are dark in colour and soft in texture, but after three days they harden and lose the dark colour.

Rats always travel the same runways and leave "smudge marks" - a build-up of dirt and oil from their fur - along walls, pipes, gnawed openings and beams and rafters.

Rats keep indoor runways, or well-used paths free of cobwebs, debris and dust. Outside, runways appear as narrow paths through vegetation.

Rats make sounds when climbing, clawing and moving.

Disposal of Dead Rodents

Always wear intact rubber or plastic gloves when removing dead rodents and when cleaning or disinfecting items contaminated by rodents. Put the dead rodent in a plastic bag; the bag should be placed in a second bag and tightly sealed. Dispose of rodents in trash containers with tight fitting lids. Traps can be disinfected by soaking them in a solution of three tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water or a commercial disinfectant containing phenol (such as LysolR). After handling rodents, resetting traps and cleaning contaminated objects, thoroughly wash gloved hands in a general household disinfectant or in soap and warm water. Then remove gloves and thoroughly wash your hands with soap and warm water.