Rodents and Rodent-Proofing Your Home

Here are the FACTS!!!

Rats multiply quickly, with as many as 6-7 litters per year and up to 12 offspring per litter. Two rats under ideal conditions can multiply to 30,000 in one year. How, you ask? I guess I should mention rats reach sexual maturity in as little as 2 months. 

Balance and climbing? Rats and mice are agile climbers. They can climb up surfaces such as brick walls and other rough surfaces that offer footholds. They can balance on power lines, ropes, phone lines and clotheslines. With their exceptional balance skills, they can enter your home through entry points on the side of your home, on your roof and even an open window! Rats have the ability to squeeze through openings as small as a ½ inch and mice can squeeze through ¼ of an inch. Rats are constantly gnawing anything softer than their teeth. Items include aluminum sheeting, improperly cured concrete, brick, and wood. 

Burrowing…Rats can burrow to a depth of 4 feet. How about this…Rats can swim up to half a mile, travel through sewer lines go through water plumbing traps, and oh yes don’t be surprised if one appears in your toilet! Mice can swim well when they need to. Rats and mice are both excellent jumpers, rats can jump vertically 36 inches and horizontally 48 inches. Also, a 50-foot drop will not kill or seriously injure rats. Mice can leap 12 inches vertically and can fall from a height of 12 feet without injury.  Listed above are excellent reasons to be vigilant and inspect your residence, whether it’s an apartment or a private house. You should look for any cracks or holes in the foundation, exterior walls, burrows around your home and rodent droppings in your home. All of these are signs of potential problems, letting you know you either have or will have a rodent dilemma in the very near future. These areas that I listed as entry or access points should be sealed, repaired and treated by a trustworthy pest professional. You should always address any rodent trouble or potential problem quickly because they carry disease and you risk future problems that are more serious than the actual rodent itself. Rats and mice spread over 35 diseases worldwide. These diseases can spread to humans directly, through handling of rodents, through contact with feces, urine, or saliva, or through rodent bites. Diseases carried by rodents can also spread indirectly, through ticks, mites or fleas that have fed on the infected rodent. can also be spread to humans indirectly, through ticks, mites or fleas that have fed on the infected rodent. Here are just a few diseases that rodents can spread.

-          Hantavirus

-          Murine Typhus

-          Rat Bite Fever (RBF)

-          Salmonella

-          Eosinophilic Meningitis

As you can see by these diseases they are nothing to play with. They are very serious, and besides getting very sick they can be lethal.

I just want to add that in addition to the various items a rodent will gnaw on, you might want to add electrical wiring to the list. This, as we all know is a fire hazard! So do yourself a favor and do periodic checks of your home, and if you see any signs, contact a reputable Pest Control Company. Don’t try and handle the issue on your own, you can potentially make the problem worse.