As the holiday season approaches, make sure rodents aren’t “decking your halls”!
This time of year everyone is thinking about turkey and presents, but don’t forget it’s also RODENT season!
DID YOU KNOW?
The two most common invaders this time of year in the South are the House Mouse and Norway Rat.
As you can see from the images above, you can recognize this type of rat by their combined head and body length of 7-9.5 inches and a shaggy, brown body with scattered black hairs.
“What most people don’t know is that rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter, while mice can sneak through a hole the size of a pencil.”
– CHRIS CADDELL, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF EXTERMINATING
Although the name doesn’t sound real, the animal sure is! The “House Mouse” is the most commonly encountered and economically important of the commensal rodents. You can easily recognize a house mouse by their smooth, dusty gray fur and a uniformly dark, scaly, semi-naked tail.
SIGNS OF INFESTATION:
Gnaw Marks
Droppings
Tracks/Footprints
Fresh tracks are clear and sharp while old tracks can be partially obscured by dust
Rub marks & burrows
Runways
They frequently use the same paths, usually along walls, stacked merchandise, etc.
Damaged goods
Mice prefer seeds or cereals
– According to the NPCA Field Guide for structured pests, mice not only damage materials by gnawing, but also eat and contaminate stored food and carry diseases. Talk about a crummy holiday!
– The key to any mouse control program is pest identification, sanitation, harborage elimination, and mouse-proofing the building.
– Although mice tend to favor seeds and cereal, they also nibble on prunes, fresh pineapple, and salted peanuts.
– Reproduction is more seasonal, hitting its low between October and January. Because of the low chance of it, concentrated control efforts should be more effective in eliminating the mice during this low period.
THIS TIME OF YEAR IS CRUCIAL FOR RODENT CONTROL.
Call us today at 866-781-4991 to have one of our well trained technicians keep your home rodent free for the Holidays!
Source: Smith, Eric H., and Richard C. Whitman. NPCA Field Guide to Structural Pests. NPCA, 1992.
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