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BIOLOGY OF RODENTS

Rats and mice cause a huge loss of food worldwide. We will mostly be discussing the type of rodents called commensal rodents. The word commensal means sharing one's table. The word rodent means to to gnaw. Rodents will gnaw through many types of materials in order to reach a location including lead sheathing, cinder block, aluminum siding and some concrete. Besides eating our food, they spoil it by contamination with their feces, urine, or fur. They can be found not only in our homes, but supermarkets, restaurants, warehouses, food processing facilities, livestock facilities, and farm fields.

Under stable conditions, rodent movement for both rats and mice is limited. A Norway or Roof rat will move within a diameter of 98 to 164 ft. and a house mouse,10 to 33 ft. If conditions are unstable or there are changes such as new building, they may expand the diameter. They may also expand their range in protected areas such as in sewers, in passages between buildings, and under groundcovers.

Rodents reproduce rapidly with major activity at night. Rats tend to be cautious and mice are more curious. Rats tend to eat most of their food at one time, where mice will nibble a little at a time. It is important to remove rodents food sources, but do not disturb the rodent habitat. You will want a complete rodent elimination to occur before they could move to another area. A successful rodent control program includes a combination of baiting and trapping for the highest rate of success. You may also want to consider integrating your program, with exclusion techniques and a general cleanup, removal of their hiding places (harbor aging areas.)

If the rodent population is large, you will want to begin with a high quality rodent bait, to quickly knock down a population and prevent rapid growth. Their are different types of baits to choose from: blocks, pellets, seeds ; each rodent population is different in their preferences, so a little of each is a good choice in bait selections. When baiting initially , try not to disturb their original habitats or they may run to another area. After baiting has begun, continue with sanitation procedures, food source removal, and harborage removal to ensure additional rodents from nearby areas are not attracted to your location.

They also cause damage to our buildings by their burrowing and gnawing activity. They are able to squeeze through very small openings:1/4 inch for mice and 1/2 inch for rats.

APPEARANCE OF RODENTS

House mice are gray or brown rodents with relatively large ears and small eyes. An adult weighs about 1/2 ounce and is about 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 inches long, including the 3 to 4 inch tail.

As an adult the Norway Rat can weigh between 12-16 oz. with a body length of 6-8 inches long. The nose is blunt with small ears, and small eyes. The fur is shaggy and coarse with variation in colors. The tail is shorter than the head and body combined, and scaly.

Table I Characteristics of commensal rodents
Characteristic	Norway Rat	Roof Rat	House Mouse
General Appearance	Large, robust	Sleek, graceful	Small, Slender
Adult size weight(oz/g) length(nose to tip of tail) head and body(mm) tail(mm)	7-18oz/200-500g 7-9.5in/18-25cm 6-8 in/15-21cm	5-9oz/150-250g 6-8 in/16-20cm 7-10in/19-25cm	0.4-1 oz/12-30 g 2-3.5 in/6-9cm 3-4in/7-10cm
Snout	Blunt	Pointed	Pointed
Ears	Small, covered with short hairs;do not reach eyes	Large, nearly naked;can be pulled over eyes	Large, some hair
Eyes	Small	Large, prominent	Small
Tail	Dark above, pale beneath	Uniformly dark	Uniformly dark
Fur	Brown with scattered black; abdomen -gray to yellow-white;shaggy	Gray to black ; abdomen, gray, or black;smooth	Light brown, light gray; smooth
Droppings	Capsule shaped, 2cm/3/4-1 inch	Spindle shaped, 1 cm/0.5 inch	Rod shaped, 3-6 mm/0.5 inch
Senses sight smell, tast, touch, hearing	Poor, color blind Excellent	Poor, color blind Excellent	Poor, color blind Excellent
Food	Omnivorous(22-30grams/day) 0.8-1 oz.	Omnivourous, especially fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetable (15-30 grams/day) 0.5-1.0 oz/day	Omnivourous, prefers cereal grains(3 grams/day) 0.1 oz. day
Water	15-30 ml/day	15-30 ml/day	3-9 ml/day;can subsist without water
Feeding habits	Shy(new object reaction);steady eater	Shy(new object reaction);steady eater	Inquisitive, nibbler
Climbing	Readily climbslimited agility	Very agile, active climber	Good climber
Nests	Usually burrows	Walls, attics, vines, trees; sometimes burrows	Within structures, stored food; burrows
Swimming	Excellent swimmer	Can swim	Can Swim
Home range radius	30-50 m/98-164 ft.	30-50 m/98-164 ft.	3-10m/10-33 ft.
Age at mating(months)	2-3	2-3	2-3
Breeding season	Spring and fall peaks	Spring and fall peaks	Year long
Gestation period(days)	22	22	19
Young per litter	8-12	4-8	4-7
Litters per year	4-7	4-6	8
Young weaned/female/year	20	20	30-35
Length of life	1 year	1 year	1 year

RODENT CONTROL

For the best result use traps for in and outside Victor Holdfast Traps for Mice and Victor Holdfast Traps for Rats. We also have Trapper T-Rax Snap Traps/ Rats and Trapper T-Rax Snap Traps/ Mice. We have Rat Kits and Mice Kits as well.

Another way is using poison and baits Fastrac Blox rats and mice posion, Final Blox Rodenticide, Final Bulk Rodenticide, Detex Blox, etc. When using poisons or baits the rodents will take it back to their colonies which will end up killing other members of the family not just them. When the baits are taken that mean that there are rodents present in your house, there is also a non chemical bait Detex Blox, this will not kill any rodents but will let you know if there are any rodents.

With rodents there are so many different types of devices and chemicals that can be used pleased be sure you check and see with one fits your situation the best.

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MICE AND RAT BAITING

SANITATIONS AND RODENT EXCLUSION

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