Rodent pest control involves discouraging infestations of mice and rats as well as avoiding contact with rodents
. This generally involves removing shelter, water, and food sources. This is done by first sealing holes around the home to prevent invasion. This may involve inserting barriers in the holes to actually making changes to the physical structure. Also, strategically trapping rodents outside the home is included in the overall strategy. Then it is important to clean up the potential nesting areas and food sources.
In more minor rodent infestations, the actual animals may never be sighted. Instead home or business owners may find bags or boxes of food chewed through or find areas of droppings cluing them to the rodents' presence. Droppings will be found areas where mice and rats travel and eat. Also a strong smell of urine and feces may be present. In some cases the presence of rodents is in spite of initial efforts to prevent them from coming in. This means that combined with the preventive measures, extermination will be necessary.
To exterminate rodents yourself, you will have the choice of traps, poison bait or both. Most people don't have much affinity for rats or mice that have invaded their house so they opt for kill traps that snap shut or glue strips that trap the critters in order to allow the home or business owner to dispose of them appropriately. This is pretty distasteful but sometimes necessary to eradicate the bulk of pests that have invaded some area of a building.
Traps are designed to catch the most active and brazen animals as they forage for food. Baiting with some type of pungent food will almost always catch foraging mice or rats if it is anywhere near their traffic paths. The downside of this is that you will have to dispose of the dead animal after it is trapped. But they work to remove a good number of rodents in an extermination plan. The other side of the attack is with poison bait. These baits are formulated to initiate dehydration causing the animals to seek water sources outside before they succumb to the poison. This keeps many of the animals from dying in the house causing what can be a nauseating odor. All poison bait should be used with extreme caution and put in areas where pets cannot access them. Dogs will readily eat rat or mouse poison which can readily kill a small or medium size animal.
For more serious infestations of rodents, a licensed professional exterminator may be required. When using a pest control company be careful not to go by price alone. Be sure exterminators are licensed, bonded and have all necessary regulatory compliance in place before allowing them to tackle your rodent pest control job. The National Pesticide Information Center has a call number for the public (1-800-858-7378). They can confirm the credentials and recommend a pest control company in your area.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the CDC are the two primary agencies that monitor the use of pesticides and their effects on humans and the environment. Your licensed exterminator should be properly licensed and aware of the regulations enforced by these agencies.