Rodents

Rodents

Mouse

Rats and Mice have been in Australia ever since Colonisation in 1788.

They are found in every part of Australia and, most likely, out number the amount of people inhabiting the country.

As they have constantly growing teeth, they are always looking for things to eat and chew.  They are not fussy and will chew on anything and everything.

Things they love to chew most….

• your home or businesses insulation
• your home or businesses wiring, potentially creating a fire hazard
• your furniture

The tunnels they create can de-stabilise structures, like retaining walls, causing substantial repair costs.

Not only will they eat through your food in your home but they will contaminate much more with urine,  faeces and hair.

Did you know?

One rat can produce around 20,000 droppings per year…….gross!

That said, even if a rodent doesn’t make it inside your home, they are still cause for concern.

Through bites, they can spread diseases such as leptospirosis, hantavirus, trichinosis, salmonellosis and typhus.

They have also been linked to asthma…..probably due to the fact that they can shed thousands of hair per year.

Rodents also transport fleas, lice, mites and ticks to your home and pets again causing extra cost to you to rid yourselves of these pests.

The House Mouse

This is the most common mammal on earth.   It is a great swimmer, fast runner and its climbing abilities are second to none.  It has been known to climb vertical house walls as well as horizontal ceilings.  Nothing stops them from getting to that lovely food in your kitchen, or warm insulation in your attic.

Whilst mice do not have the best eyesight, they do have great peripheral vision that allows them to detect movement.  You are most likely to spot a mouse at night time when sitting watching the television or reading.  Their other senses, smell, taste and touch, are also excellent.  They will find their way around using their whiskers to navigate and will usually follow the walls around.

As they do not usually travel too far from their nest, they quickly build a “road map” of whats around them.

With the onset of colder weather, mice will look for warmer places to take shelter, ideally within your home.  They will try and place themselves within easy reach of a food source.

Even if the mice can’t find their way indoors, they are more than happy to set up home in your rubbish, weeds or they will make a nice network of tunnels under your property.

Female mice start breeding at around 40-45 days of age and can have 12 or more litters a year with an average of 5-6 in a litter.  This means in 12 months one female mouse can easily produce around 70 babies…..yikes!!

Mice can live quite happily in a dry habitat, taking all the water they need from the food they eat.

Did you know?

A group of mice is, quite aptly, called “a mischief”.

The Common Rat

Rat

The Common Rat occupies a wide range of different habitats, usually ones associated with human sites like farms, rubbish tips, industrial sites and sewers.  As you can see, these sites all reflect a  preference for an abundance of food.

The Common Rat will consume almost anything as part of its diet.  Cereals are a main source of sustenance and will therefore be attracted to fallout from bird feeders, chicken feed etc. but it will also forage for foods and has even been known to eat birds or molluscs.

They are not territorial and hierarchy comes mainly from size and age.  Females will start breeding from around 3-4 months of age and will breed continuously if the food source permits.  Litter size will depend on the size of the female and on average will be anywhere between 5 and 10 BUT, as many as 22 has been recorded in one litter.  Multiply that by, say 5 litters per year, and thats a lot of destructive, disease carrying, pooping vermin potentially occupying your home.

Did you know?

Rats’ front teeth grow 4½ to 5½ inches each year. Rats wear them down by continuously gnawing on everything around them, including cement, brick, wood, lead pipes, and other small animals.

WHAT TREATMENT DOES ARK PROVIDE FOR RODENT CONTROL?

ARK has a variety of ways of treating for rodents depending on the area that needs treatment, the extent of the problem and whether commercial or residential.

Most of the time we get calls from residents who hear something moving around in their roof.

When we come to do the treatment, we will firstly confirm what it is that you have on your premises, i.e. rodents, possums etc.  This will be either be by sighting the animal or looking at the droppings left behind.

If rodents are confirmed,  bait will be placed in the areas that the rodents appear to be visiting. Mice can be harder to control due to their erratic feeding patterns which is why our technician will ensure that the bait stations are placed in areas where droppings are most evident. 

In locations where other animals or children could get to the baits, ARK will use plastic, lockable, bait stations that cannot be opened without the key and have an opening large enough only for mice/rats to enter.  These stations are supplied at an extra cost but are yours to keep.

It can take up to 7 days for the rodent to die from when they ingest the bait.  Rodents are very wary of new foreign objects around them so it may even take them a few days to accept the bait in the first place so please keep this in mind if you continue to see evidence of rodents within a couple of weeks after treatment.

New rodents can also move in to your property through the gaps already existing but they too will eat the bait and die within that 7 day period.

Our technician will put down enough bait to kill a lot of rodents but it may be that they need to be topped up if you have a bigger infestation.

Other methods we can use are traps (including humane) and also glue board.  If either of these methods are used then the technician will revisit to check them after a week and dispose of any dead rodents found.