04/09/2022
Rodents in Niagara
Thought I’d share my 2 cents on the situation, and hopefully this helps any of my fellow Beamsville’rs…
Rodent Control
Rodent activity is common year round.
There really is no “season”.
And it exists everywhere, and becoming increasingly more common.
My thinking is when Covid affected the food industry, and garbage dumpsters around restaurants and grocery stores, etc were no longer a viable or regular food source, these very adaptable creatures simply spread, in search of alternative food sources.
It is very important to keep your yard as clean as possible, from unnecessary clutter (creates easy travel routes, harbourages), foliage growth should be kept down, and DONT FEED THE BIRDS.
They can survive just fine without our help.
Although sometimes difficult, reducing/removing food, water, shelter is always the best preventative rodent control.
The concept of “lawns” was initially purely functional to discourage unwanted pests, long before it became something of aesthetic appeal.
This also promotes bait acceptance. Whether you intend to trap or poison.
Mice travel regularly 75’
Rats 150’.
So, your neighbours doing their part helps too.
Sealing up any holes large as, or larger than a dime will help to keep them out of your house.
Those weep holes along the bottom course of your brick wall is a common access point. They serve a purpose of drainage and ventilation. Don’t seal them up with caulking, or anything like it.
Another common access point is where your utilities lead into your home. Hydro, A/C or gas lines, where a much larger hole was drilled, then simply caulked afterwards. Within a year, that caulking has shrunk, creating an inviting access for shelter seeking rodents.
Copper wool works best (copper doesn’t rust) therefore avoiding rust stains running down your wall.
The easiest place to find copper wool is at your local Dollar Store, or Hardware store in the cleaning products section. Those copper scouring pads you find there are kind of like tubes of copper wool rolled into a ball, like a roll of socks. Simply unroll, and cut with scissors.
Rodent bait stations around your perimeter is a safe control measure. Rodenticide baits are secured inside, preventing non-target animals (pets and other wildlife like skunks, raccoons) from being poisoned.
The use of multiple feeding baits (which should always be used) as opposed to single feeding baits prevents secondary poisoning (an animal eating a dead rodent).
Single feeding rodenticides are not legal to use outside, even within bait stations positioned outside a structure.
Single feeding baits are rarely effective in controlling rats as they learn fast that if they feed once and die, something is wrong. And they avoid it.
Most, if not all rodenticides being used nowadays involve some type of anticoagulant.
This is NOT painful to rodents, rather they become weak, disoriented.
Rodents are considered vermin.
It is not legal to relocate vermin.
Licensed exterminators are required to dispatch vermin. Aside from being time consuming, it is just not practical or effective.
Birds of prey, foxes, coyotes, snakes, cats and dogs all help in keeping populations lower, but are not considered effective control methods.
There are various types of rodents.
The ones we are concerned about are the “commensal rodents”.
Those rodents that live with us. Eat our food.
Most common ones are Norway Rats, and House Mouse. There are also Roof Rats, although I have rarely encountered these.
House mice are curious, and get into everything. They don’t eat a slice of bread, but feed on a bit of the whole loaf.
In a convenience store or grocery, they ruin all the chocolate bars.
House mice are relatively easy to catch, with your good old snap trap.
Put traps against the wall “snap end first” for best results.
The old nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice, is relatively true.
Most rodents have poor vision. They use walls as guidance.
You wonder why you’re sitting there, sipping your tea reading the morning news when suddenly a mouse runs out from beneath your stove. It’s because it didn’t see you. You weren’t moving, until it startled you.
Those long whiskers guide it’s way, along with its sense of smell to find food.
Mice p**p up to 130 times a day.
People quickly think they’re completely infested, when they may have had a mouse around for just a few days.
You don’t need an exterminator to clean up your mice.
The most common problem with people not getting control, is simply not using enough traps, or poor placement.
For those times you’ve seen a mouse, they’ve been running around in the dark corners many times more. Basement ceilings are ideal places for control. Along outside perimeter walls in ceiling voids.
Rats however are a completely different beast.
They are very cautious.
They are very intelligent.
People that set traps can catch a rat. A young juvenile.
Rats behave in a hierarchy. Same way as wolves. There’s an Aplha Rat, like an alpha wolf, and on down the line, just like the nature shows you watched on Sunday evenings.
Constantly competing for dominance, for food and mating rites.
And they’re aggressive.
So, you catch a few, younger hungrier rats more willing to take a chance more for their need to eat.
Those same rats are the ones you see during daylight. Not because they’re comfortable. But because they’re hungry.
You know you have rats in your home. They’re often loud.
Catching those young rats, just taught the adults that traps are dangerous. And they stay away. Leaving you with the only other alternative but to poison it.
Something you really don’t want to do in your home.
Nothing worse than a dead animal rotting somewhere in your wall.
And rats are responsible for millions of human deaths.
The vector of plagues are Rats.
Because rats are very dirty. They don’t groom themselves. They leave grease marks where they frequent from their filthy coat.
I know of some colleagues that just don’t do rats for the difficulty in getting control.
Most of that difficulty is in getting the cooperation of the homeowner in controlling all food and water sources. Underestimating the intelligence, and resourcefulness of a rat.
Everybody would be much better off to maintain rodent control before they ever get inside.
Hope this is useful…
