Mice and Rats

The house mouse, with the exception of humans, is the most wide spread animal on the face of the earth. They build their nests near their food source, which can be in the wall near the food storage areas. This can be cereal products, dog food, bird seed, etc. They are capable of significant damage due to their habit of chewing holes in walls, chewing on wires, and contaminating food with their urine and fecal droppings. They can cause major damage if they get into computer centers. Mice can survive without liquid water, but will drink it if it is available. House mice are restricted to buildings, but in the fall, field mice, such as the deer mouse, will enter buildings for the winter. The mouse is the usual culprit when someone in sububia starts hearing scratching in the walls or seeing droppings around that resemble black grains of rice. Deer mouse droppings have been associated with Hantavirus, a potentially fatal respiratory disease. Cleanup of their droppings, if significant, should be left to professionals.

The Norway rat can infest buildings, or have burrows outside in the ground. The burrows have a main entrance and several "bolt holes" which are used for escape. Like mice they can cause significant damage from their urine, droppings, and chewing habits. Rats need liquid water in order to survive. They feed on cereal grains, meats, fish, livestock feed, and fresh fruit. Never put meat leftovers on a compost pile because it will attract rats. Rats are "neophobic", meaning they are extremely wary of anything new in their environment, which makes it difficult to trap or poison them. They approach new food with caution and taste it. If it doesn't taste good or makes them sick they will not touch it again.