Mouse and rats in the USA are very common and here we will identify its different species and discuss five effective ways of getting rid of rats and mice. After reading this article you would not want to see any rats and mice roaming in your house as they are dangerous and carry feces that can do greater damage not only to your health but also can be destructive to your place and property. Well, before we get into the ways of getting rid of rats and mice, lets first know the different types of rats and mice so that it can be easier for you to inspect and choose the best possible way of getting rid of rats and mice.
Types Of Rats
There are two different types of rats, Norway Rats, and Roof Rats. Both of them are equally filthy and reason to spread infections like salmonellosis, Hantavirus, leptospirosis, tularemia, Lassa fever or even plague if you touch their saliva, urine or feces. Not only this but you can also catch a disease by the fleas, mites, and ticks who feed on the diseased rodent. If these insects bite you after they feed on to them, you can fall sick and catch diseases like Colorado tick fever, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, typhus, etc.
Norway Rats
Norway Rats are also known as a Sewer rat, Brown rat, House rat, Wharf rat, Water rat, and Gray rat. They are healthy, strong and bigger in size than the Roof Rats weighing between 12 to 16 oz. They have a furry body and are of a reddish and brownish color with a usually gray colored belly. They have small ears above their heads that can not reach their small eyes if folded and have a blunt nose. They live in colonies usually nested in burrows. Norway Rats are excellent swimmers and climbers.
Roof Rats
Roof Rats are also known as Black rats and Ship rats. They are covered in grayish-black or deep black, sleek and shiny fur with a gray or white-colored belly. They are smaller in size than Norway Rats weighing between 5 to 9 oz. They have long ears that can reach their big prominent eyes if folded with a pointed head and a pointed nose. They can swim as well and are excellent climbers too. They have their nestings by Walls, attics, vines, on trees and may extend to burrows too.
Types Of Mice
Just like rats, there are also two types of mice that you can find around your house. These are House Mouse and Deer/White Footed Mice. Mice are quite smaller in size than of rats but are equally annoying. Both of the species of mice have similar qualities and features. Let’s look into both of them briefly.
House Mouse
House Mouses are very common in the USA and are 2 to 3.5 inches long and weigh between 0.4 to 1 oz. They are less than half the weight of the Roof Rat. They have a blunt nose, large ears and small eyes like Norway Rats. The color varies from brown to grayish. They nest usually in rural and suburban areas and inside the building where the human filth is found the most.
Deer/White Footed Mice
Both Deer and White Footed Mice resemble each other with their average length of 6 inches twice the length of House Mouse. They have darker colored bodies from the upper side while lighter from the belly. They usually nest outside the houses and buildings like in garages and are found in rural areas. Sometimes they move inside houses when it is cold. There urine and feces can spread diseases like hantavirus and Lyme disease.
Before we start to discuss the ways to get rid of rats and mice, lets first know why it is important to eliminate rats and mice from your life.
Why it’s important getting rid of rats and mice?
- They are destruction for your belonging as they own sharp teeth that grow up to 5 inches a year continuously. They gnaw on almost everything to make their teeth sharp. So if you see holes on your sofas or bitten wires, they are the little creepy reasons behind the damage. They can bring quite a greater amount of damage if not controlled and this is why you need to know the ways of getting rid of rats and mice.
- The second reason why you should get rid of rats and mice is that they are the root cause of some life-threatening diseases and infections as discussed above. Their feces, urine and even saliva fulfill the purpose of transmitting diseases other than their own bite. The pet rats and mice, however, are most attracted to their owners but the wild ones would attack and bite you in their defense if bothered. Their teeth are extremely sharp and strong that they can cling and shred the metal sheets and electrified wires causing hazardous accidents.
Now that you know how dangerous the rats and mice can be, you probably are now curious to know the ways of getting rid of rats and mice. Well, the wait is over and you are ready to know the ways of getting rid of rats and mice.
Five ways of getting rid of rats and mice
Well, it is quite a difficult job to get rid of rats and mice as they are tough survivors to different survival conditions like as mentioned above, they are good swimmers but what is more interesting is that they can swim for days without drowning. Moreover, they can breed just after three months of their birth and can give birth to 12 pups at a time, not only this but also that they can give birth six times in a year that makes it 2,000 descendants in just 12 months. So even if they have a very short life span that is a year, they leave behind their next generation for us to deal with. Do not stress out because here are the five effective ways of getting rid of rats and mice:
Note: Before you use any of these ways of getting rid of rats and mice, be sure to inspect their location. You can Inspect their locations by the rodent stains on walls or any surface that comes from the oil present of their body, their feces/ filth or urine and you may also find the gnaw clues. Once you find them, you can easily track their location and start the mission to eliminate them by using these ways of getting rid of rats and mice.
One: Close the gateways to entrance
Rats and mice have flexible cartilages and bones that give them the ability to squeeze and pass through a small opening. To avoid their arrival, you need to cover up all the openings that might be the reason for rats and mice invasion. Mice can easily slide through ⅜ inch of the opening while rats need ¼ inch of an opening, so make sure to find the gaps and holes and secure them with heavy-gauge, hardware cloth or copper mesh finishing it with foam insulation and caulk.
Two: Keep the tree branches and shrubs away from the house
As the title itself is self-explanatory, this way of getting rid of rats and mice will help avoid them jumping or climbing into your house. Make sure the branches of trees or shrubs are not touching the exterior of your home as this may result in mouses crawling in your house.
Three: Clean up the food residue
Rats and mice nest themselves not farther than 400 feet from the primary food source. They might be close to food supplies you have like near the kitchen area or food cabinets or anywhere near food. Make sure you clean up all the crumbs of food and pack your leftovers, bird seeds, pet foods into airtight containers or rodent resistant containers to avoid rats and mice invading and chewing on your food supplies. If you will snatch or remove their source of food, rats and mice will leave the place due to scarce resources. Moreover, throw your trash away from your home or keep that in rodent resistant garbage boxes to avoid rats and mice into or around your house as they love human filth. Also, check for water leakage if any as rats and mice also nest near water supplies.
Four: Use the trapping method
You probably have seen Tom and Jerry, it is a cartoon based on a cat and a mouse. The trapping method is most seen in this cartoon. The traditional trapping or old school trapping method can be the best solution to trap rats and mice if you want any evidence of their presence in the house. But it is investigated that mouse is not fond of cheese but peanut butter so get the peanut butter on the trap to catch some rats and mice. It might take several trials to catch rats as you might have to adjust and strategize to get to the right locations of their nesting. To make the trapping method more effective, keep the traps against the walls and draw the illusion hole with black paint as when rats try to escape, they search for the holes instead of running towards the open area.
The disadvantage of this way of getting rid of rats and mice is that it would not kill the rat or mice but instead, they set free to invade other areas.
Five: Getting rid of rats and mice with Rodent Bait
Out of all of the ways of getting rid of rats and mice, this is the best and most effective method. Rodent baits are poisonous baits that are left for the rats and mice to feed on. It might take a few days to see the results as it takes 1 to 2 days to kill rats and mice. Rats do not start feeding on to new foods suddenly, they check if the food suits them and then they start feeding on it otherwise none of the rats feed on that food if it does not suit one of them. That is the reason rodents baits purposely made to take time to kill the rats and mice otherwise if killed on the spot, no other rat or mice will feed on it.
The disadvantage of Rodent baits is that the rats and mice will return to their nest and you will only know they are dead when the dead odor will start spreading and you will have to search the actual location of the dead rodent for cleanup.
Note: If none of these methods works for you then you need to call the professional rats and mice control to take care of it and help eliminate them from your location.
These are five ways of getting rid of rats and mice. Hopefully, you found this article helpful so do share your feedback. Also, do not forget to share this piece of the information who might be struggling with getting rid of rats and mice.
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