Rodent Control

Transcript of Gene’s video about how to get rid of mice.

Hi. Gene, here. I would like to invite you to take a few minutes with me so we can talk about what I considered to be the most important pest control issue for you and your family and that is rodent control, specifically the white-footed mouse. And why this little guy, even though he might look cute, is much more dangerous than most of us think.

Meet Peromyscus leucopus, the white-footed mouse. The white-footed mouse is a native and very common in our area.

The female mouse can have babies beginning at 6 to 10 weeks of age and the gestation period for pregnancy is only around 22 days. Females can also breed with any available male including their own offspring. In short, one pregnant female can produce a lot of mice and left unchecked it can quickly turn into a serious problem.

You know, we don’t mind if mice live and stay away from the house, they’re actually very beneficial in some regards. They provide a food source for a lot of wild animals and they help move seeds of native plants. The problem is when they get close to our house and I’m talking, you know, from the foundation up to about 50 feet, they can be very problematic primarily in two areas.

One, they’re very destructive to property, both automobiles, vehicles, and your home. And number two, they transmit horrible diseases. ♪ [music] ♪Annually, rodents cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage. Rodents can cause damage in many ways.

Their urine and feces can ruin personal items and it can totally contaminate the insulation in the walls and attic. Gnawing is another large problem. Rodent teeth never stop growing and because of this, mice are constantly chewing on everything. This need to constantly be gnawing becomes a real problem when rodents encounter human property.

Even though mice are destructive by nature, the number one risk to you and your family is the very real threat of disease. White-footed mice are the main source of transmitting Lyme disease to ticks. Those ticks then, in turn, bite us and infect us with Lyme disease.

The CDC says 75% of the people who will contract Lyme disease this year will get it around their home through being outside gardening, landscaping, children playing. The risk is very real and it makes a large difference when we can reduce the amount of rodents directly against the house.

We are not looking to create a sterile environment where there are no mice anywhere, our focus is very specific from the foundation out to about 50 feet. ♪ When we show up at your home to do a rodent and treatment, the very first thing we do is an inspection, we want to understand three things, access points, food sources and areas of habitat.

If we can solve or work on those things, we can go a long way to helping solve a problem without the use of trapping or other devices. For an interior rodent problem, some of our clients like to do their own trapping, others don’t, so we can work with you, show you how to set up a trapping program, we can do the trapping program for you. The bottom line is we will help you get the mice out of your house.

The main focus is on the exterior, we don’t want the mice to get in, to begin with. So the number one tool we use is the rodent bait station. Okay, this is the station we use, it’s animal proof and it’s childproof. It’s anchored with a 12-pound concrete block on the bottom.

You need a special key to get in. When we open it, the chambers contained within here is very specific. So it happens to access the bait, which is contained in this chamber here. The animal has to come in here or they can come in here and then they need to make a series of 90-degree turns.

So they come in, you have to make a 90-degree turn, 90-degree turn, and then another 90-degree turn to get into the bait chamber. So then the other point is these ridges right here on the edge and then on the lid are very specific because when this is closed, the ceiling to the pathway to get to the bait is very low.

These ridges shrink the ceiling. So the only animal that’s going to get in here is anything the size of the Norway rat or smaller. The bait is put on these metal rods. They get fed on, put in here. The animal comes in, they feed off of this. They cannot take the bait and drag it out, very effective. Remember, we are not trying to create a sterile environment where there’s no rodents anywhere out here in the environment, our focus is very specific, we don’t want mice or rodents against the foundation out to about 50 feet.

And correctly using bait stations can be very effective in accomplishing this. Is possible to do it yourself. If you’re not comfortable using rodenticides, it’s best to leave it to a professional. We have some information on our website, there’s tons of information on the internet.

Reducing rodent populations goes a long way to keeping you and your family safe and protected.