the best mouse trap is prevention

8/3/2019 The Best Mouse Trap is Prevention

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Topics Covered

1. Know Your Opposition2. Infectious Disease Carriers3. What are their habits?

4. What do they eat?5. Where they live and hide?6. Think like a mouse7. Prevention and control methods

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Carry 35 infectious diseases

Can cause allergy attacks

Contaminate food

Damage Property

Live Mouse or Carcass

attract parasites

Rats bite humans if threatened

Babies in cribs are at risk

rats are known to feed on spilled milk.

Serious property damage such as fires

can occur if those chewed wires cause

a spark.

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Mice and rats can be a problem in urban, suburban and rural areas.


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SalmonellaHanta virus Pulmonary

Syndrome

Rickettsial pox

Lymphocytic chiriomeningutus

LestospirosisRat bite fever

Human GranulocyticAnaplasmosis

TapewormsRingworms

Lyme Disease

Swine dysentery

BabesiosisMurine Typhus

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Mice (and rodents) carry various infectiousdiseases as well a parasites:


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Lymphocytic ChiriomeningutusLCMV serious disease-pregnant women

Mice feces/urine can triggerasthma attacks

Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever

Powassan Encephalitis

Scrub Typhus Rickesetta

California Serogroup Viruses

Relapsing Fever

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Sylva tic Typhus

Western Equine Encephalitis

Hemorrhagic Fever with RenalSyndrome

Lassa Fever

Plague South American Arena-viruses

Tularemia

Colorado Tick Fever


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You have to survey areas for evidence. DroppingsUrine in ceiling panel

It doesnt matter what they eat, gnaw or chew, all excrement looks the same.Materials used for nesting: paper, books, wood, upholstery, scrapsThey also gnaw plastic, cinder blocks, soft metals such as lead and aluminum, and

wiring which could cause a fire hazard.They get into food or feed stuffs and urinate and excrement into it.

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Surveying correctly leads to success in control and elimination

Identify correct locations for repairs breaches entry ways

Accurate trap and or bait placement

After identification: repair holes and damage, then trap or baitsimultaneously.

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Have no visual of the rodent?The best way to find out if you have rats or mice is to first rule out rats.

Then again, what if you have both?

Sometimes peoplefind carcasses, andthink its an oldproblem.

But the moreevidence you have themore likely you mayhave to act

Mouse carcassRat carcasses

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All rodents are gnawing animals.

Gnaw to wear down their teeth

Gnaw on wood, wire, and thing

they want to pass or use fornesting.

Very active at night or in darkspaces

Population multiplies quickly

They often travel the samepaths close to walls

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Rats are usually found burrowingoutdoors preferring secludedareas. However, if there is a foodsource they will come insidestructures.

Once inside they tend to travelfurther than mice for food orwater but according to authoritiesthey will stay within 100 feet oftheir burrow.

Unlike mice, rats need to drink

water daily.

One rat is too many, takeaction at the sight of one.

There are two most common types of rats:Roof rats which nest in high places-found in

the south and also along the westcoast

Norway rats live in burrows in ground and arefound through out the United States


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Facts dont aid in the identification, but good to know:

Mice need very little water to survive-

Looks like this mouse (right) was really thirsty!

This homeowner probably checked the toilet

for months after their discovery.

Take action IMMEDIATLEY IF YOU SEE JUST

ONE MOUSE OR THINK YOU HEAR IT.

Unlike rats, mice stay close to their nests, in fact

many nests are less than 35 feet away from

where they are traveling.

House Mouse or Brown rat pup?

Mice are prolific fast breeders one couple can become analmost instant infestation.

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Mice need a hole the size of a dime to enter, rats a quarter,

But mice have been know to get through holes 1/4 inch as well.

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Rats have almost human like "hands" and digits,where mice have more delicate feet and toes
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Sightings often at night

Noise scratching and running in the walls or ceiling

Gnaw marks

Nests Mice nest in walls, stored fabric, cars, boxes, pantries, theceiling, almost anyplace there is a food source they have easy access to.

Burrows- mostly outside rats-but can invade structures

Droppingsin drawers, pantry, behind things

Holes to 1 inch and sometime larger

Rub marks along walls -rodents running along the same path formonths leave oils from their bodies on the floorboards or edges of walls

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Found near grain or bait stored in walls

Found near carcasses and trash

Blow Fly HideBeetle

Grain BeetleIndian Meal Moth

Pests help identify rodent infestations.Rodent bait, made of grains, is often left behindin walls, leaving grain pests to feed off of it.

The grain pests are immune from the posion

Evidence of shiny blue and green flies signify old trashor dead animals. Flies lay eggs in the rot.

Hide beetles feed on dried carcasses or dead insects

Indian Meal Moths - found in stored products.

The presence of them signifies an infestation in thegrain or in the pantry

Moth larvae feed from the grain that mice havebrought into their nests.

Beetles feed on stored grain, however, they must beidentified to be useful indictors.
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When using poisons, mice often die in a corridor of thewalls or ceilings.

Should this occur , the homeowner will smell a stench

that can last for days.Ripping that wall down to rid the odor is costly.

Precautions and Considerations
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Professional exterminators recommend 2 to 3 traps permouse.

How many mice you have is questionable.

Traps are not 100% successful and require resettinguntil the job is complete.

If not done right, the mice will steal the food and notactivate the trap.

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The intended solution provided by more expensivehumane traps many times are not realized.

The captured mouse suffers for hours and is found

dead by the homeowner who was trying to avoid apainful death for the mouse.

If the homeowner finds the humane trap shortly after

the mouse is caught, they then have to find aplace to set the mouse free.
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What is an effective distance to set the mouse free

so it does not find its way back to your home?

Or a neighbors home?

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While mouse traps are similar to rat traps, there are many varieties and theyare not interchangeable.

There are literally dozens of rodent trap devices; mouse traps, in particularwill be more light weight than rat traps.

If you are going to handle the extermination yourself, you must first decide

if you can stomach the idea of killing an animal.

For many people, this is not an acceptable method for them personally.

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Trapping and Bait Methods

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There are Humane traps for those that wish not to violently kill the mouse, but, in many

cases the mice or rats in the traps do die, a long painful death- that the homeowner was

trying to avoid with the snap traps.

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Many people would rather catch the mouse or rat and set it freeoutside.

But this is also not a resolution that will rid you of the infestation.

Glue traps, yet another method, can be harmful to petsand other wildlife if not regularly monitored.


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You can choose to call an IPM pro or exterminator but agood reference would be helpful.

Home dwellers may be able do it yourself for smallerinfestations

analyze the situation buy only what you need properly get rid of any further rodent damage and

hazards

Keep an eye out for possible breaches

Last Points


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Apartment renters or other multi housing units

Your building manager may already have a solutionthat they use for all tenants.

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There is not a single answer. As you have learned

it depends on they type of rodent you thinkexists on the premises; mice or rats.

How you handle it depends on the type of

establishment you are tying to exterminate.

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Photo via Flickr by just1page


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First find out:

Rat or mouse?

How many?

Where?

Then use solutions that provide: Most effective prevention and control

Compatibility with people, pets, and other control measures

Limit rodents access to food

Recall their feeding habits when setting traps and bait

Put traps in those paths and areas

Use bait similar to what they were feeding on

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Remember


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24Copyright 2011 Thebestmousetrap.com


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Flickr pictures are noted individually,and additionally combined here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leedman/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mugley/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twoshortplanks/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eraphernalia_vintage/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/diff_sky/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilt/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/rileyroxx/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alan_cressler/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/genista/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougbeckers/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfsullivan_1056/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anemoneprojectors/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjb2332/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarihuella/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreyjm529/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/just1page/2617716131/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eraphernalia_vintage/3397748739/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uherrmann/2918269078/

Lawrence

http://www.fotopedia.com/items/vYkSoW6BM38-_k8MX0m9300

Images are sharealike licesnse

Information from USGovernment Resources

Rewritten in its entiretybyThebestmousetrap.com

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the best mouse trap is prevention

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