 MICE
& RATS are common types of rodents found in homes and buildings.
They live in the roofs, basements, crawlspaces, and sometimes
in your living area. Rodents cause considerable damage to
personal property, and structures, with their chewing and
gnawing. Seventy percent of home fires each year can be
attributed to rodents chewing on electric wires. In addition,
rodents spread bacteria and life-threatening diseases.
They nibble our food, urinate on countertops and stoves,
are usually active at night when we are unaware of their
activities. Mice can bear about 48 babies in a year. These
begin mating at five weeks old. Rodents can enter buildings
through a small holes and gaps around windows, plumbing,
venting.
Rats, like house mice, are mostly active at night. They
have poor eyesight, but they make up for this with their
keen senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Rats
constantly explore and learn about their environment,
memorizing the locations of pathways, obstacles, food
and water, shelter, and other elements in their domain.
They quickly detect and tend to avoid new objects placed
into a familiar environment. Thus, objects such as traps
and baits often are avoided for several days or more
following their initial placement. While both species
exhibit this avoidance of new objects, it is usually
more pronounced in roof rats than in Norway rats.
Both Norway and roof rats may gain entry to structures
by gnawing, climbing, jumping, or swimming through
sewers and entering through the toilet or broken drains.
While Norway rats are more powerful swimmers, roof rats
are more agile and are better climbers.
Norway and roof rats do not get along. The Norway rat is
larger and the more dominant species; it will kill a
roof rat in a fight. When the two species occupy the
same building, Norway rats will dominate the basement
and ground floors, with roof rats occupying the attic or
second and third floors. Contrary to some conceptions,
the two species cannot interbreed. Both species may
share some of the same food resources but do not feed
side-by-side. Rats may grab food and carry it off to
feed elsewhere.
Rats of either species, especially young rats, can
squeeze beneath a door with only a 1/2-inch gap. If the
door is made of wood, the rat may gnaw to enlarge the
gap, but this may not be necessary.
Norway Rats. Norway rats eat a wide
variety of foods but mostly prefer cereal grains, meats,
fish, nuts, and some fruits. When searching for food and
water, Norway rats usually travel an area of about 100
to 150 feet in diameter; seldom do they travel any
further than 300 feet from their burrows or nests. The
average female Norway rat has four to six litters per
year and may successfully wean 20 or more offspring
annually.
Roof Rats. Like Norway rats, roof rats
eat a wide variety of foods, but their food preferences
are primarily fruits, nuts, berries, slugs, and snails.
Roof rats are especially fond of avocados and citrus and
often eat fruit that is still on the tree. When feeding
on a mature orange, they make a small hole through which
they completely remove the contents of the fruit,
leaving only the hollowed out rind hanging on the tree.
The rind of a lemon is often eaten, leaving the flesh of
the sour fruit still hanging. Their favorite habitats
are attics, trees, and overgrown shrubbery or vines.
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