Our rodent control and prevention program has four important steps:

• A thorough inspection to identify the species, where they’re nesting, and what factors are attracting them.
  
  
• Creating effective sanitation so that rodents are denied both food and hiding places.
  
  
• Eliminating all potential entry points.
  
  
• Reducing the population by applying bait in strategic areas inside and/or outside the structure. Prevention techniques may include perimeter stations that are serviced on a quarterly schedule.

Some rodents, such as the house mouse, Norway rat, and roof rat, are among man’s most serious pests because they eat or contaminate stored foods (at least 20% of the world’s food supply), damage or destroy vast amounts of materials, and transmit or spread diseases. Most are relatively small and very active which requires much food to supply the needed energy. They have the highest mammalian reproductive capacity which may help them compensate for high predation losses.

The house mouse is a prolific breeder. They have an average litter size of 6, with about 8 litters per year. Over a 6-month period, a pair of mice will eat about 4 pounds of food, produce about 18,000 droppings, and void about 12 ounces of urine. The most common way mice transmit disease organisms is by contaminating food with their droppings and/or urine. The most threatening organism spread by mice is Salmonella, a cause of food poisoning, spread via droppings.

The Norway rat is the most common commensal rat found throughout the United States. The number of litters per year is 3-6 with litter sizes averaging 7-8 young. They usually inhabit the lower portions of buildings including crawlspaces and basements in piles of debris as long as it’s not disturbed.