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Banishing rodents from your home
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Rats
Rats are notorious for spreading diseases, causing property damage, and contaminating food and animal feed. If rats infiltrate your home or business, they can introduce disease-carrying parasites such as fleas, lice, and ticks.
Since they’re most active between dusk and dawn, it’s often easier to detect signs of a problem rather than spotting an actual rat.
Did you know?
The common Brown Rat (Rattus Norvegicus) has 7 litters of up to 10 offspring every year. That’s 70 babies per rat, per year!
The common Brown Rat can also jump horizontally 120cm from standstill.
The common Brown Rat can move 600-700 meters per day.
Signs of rats
Scratching Noises – black rats in particular are agile climbers, earning them their common name – the roof rat. They can easily gain access into loft spaces and upper floors of buildings, so scratching noises at night may suggest their presence. Brown rats on the other hand, are less adept climbers and more likely to be identified by a grinding or chattering noise they make with their teeth known as bruxing – as they scurry under decking, sheds and floorboards.
Rub Marks – rats use established routes along skirting boards and walls due to their poor eyesight. Grease and dirt on their bodies leave smudges and dark marks on both objects and surfaces they repeatedly brush against. These marks may indicate rodent activity, but as smears may remain for a long period of time, they are not a good gauge of an active infestation.
Mice
Discovering mice in your residence or workplace can be highly distressing. Mice are notorious for spreading diseases as they seek out food and shelter, posing significant health risks, especially in areas like kitchens or where children frequent. Their natural inclination to gnaw incessantly can also lead to damage to your property, furnishings, and equipment. Implementing simple measures like rodent-proofing your premises can aid in safeguarding against these pests.
Have you detected scratching noises or noticed an unusual odor? If so, you may have mice in your vicinity. Typically nocturnal, mice can remain concealed for extended periods before their presence becomes evident.
Did you know?
A mouse can jump down 12 feet without hurting itself.
A mouse produces between 40-100 droppings per day.
A female house mouse can give birth to up to a dozen babies after a 3 week pregnancy, and then come straight back on heat again. In a year, you’ve got potentially thousands of mice.
Signs of mice
Droppings – 50-80 droppings a night, small and dark (approx. 3 – 8 mm in length), scattered randomly, check inside or on cupboard tops or along skirting.
Grease marks – Caused by their bodies brushing against walls, floors and skirting on regular routes, dark smears around holes or around corners.
Scratching noises – Often at night when mice are most active. Listen for noises between partition walls, under floorboards, in false ceilings, basements and lofts.
Nests – Using easy to shred materials, mice then line the nest with other soft materials. Check lofts, suspended ceilings, cavity walls, under floorboards and behind fridges, under stoves and in airing cupboards.
Live or dead mice – Spotting a mouse during the daytime can be an indication of a heavy infestation.
Strong smell – Mice urinate frequently and their wee has a strong ammonia-like smell. The stronger the smell the closer you are to mice activity. This smell can linger for a long time (even after an infestation has been removed).
Grey Squirrels
In the UK we are lucky to have a varied environment, rich in wildlife. There are however times when elements of our wildlife, such as squirrels, can come into conflict with people and property. When this does occur the problems that squirrels can pose vary from damage to the fabric and structure of buildings, to harming crops and plants. On rare occasions they can pose a health risk.
Larger than the UK’s native red squirrel, grey squirrels have grey fur with touches of russet-brown and white underparts. Unlike the red squirrel, this species never has ear tufts, and the sexes are similar in appearance.
Did you know?
Squirrels have excellent peripheral vision enabling them to remain motionless but clearly see a potential predator above, below, or to the side.
They reach maturity at 10-12 months and can have 3-4 litters a year with usually 3 young per litter.
The grey squirrel can leap more than 6 metres!
More on squirrels
Breeding takes place in December to January and again in May to June. If conditions are favourable, females reproduce 1 – 2 times a year producing 1 – 5 offspring per litter. The average life-span of female grey squirrels is 4 – 6 years while their male counterparts have a shorter life expectancy of 2 – 3 years.
It is important to note that it is a criminal offence to re-release a captured grey squirrel back into the wild as responsible pest and predator control is an integral part of conservation and wildlife management.
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