Rat and Mouse Control in the House

Every country of the world has rats and mice. Most kinds live in woods and fields, but a few kinds like to live with people. These are the Norway Rat, the Wharf Rat, and the House Mouse. Controlling them can be complicated.

To discover if you have rats or mice, look for droppings, tracks, burrows and gnawings. Mouse droppings are about the size of rice grains. Rat droppings are larger. To find tracks, scatter a small patch of flour or talcum powder on the floor along the wall or in other likely places. Put a cracker or bit of bread spread with peanut butter in the middle of your "tracking patch." Check for tracks the next day. To find burrows, check in weedy places, under boards, under dog houses, and near garbage cans or dumpsters. To find gnawings, check your pantry for chewed packages. Look for shredded paper.

Rats and mice breed fast. A mouse can have several young when she's two months old. Then two months later her young will breed. In the meantime, the mother will produce another litter. So you must keep working to get rid of them.

First, take away their food. Keep garbage in tightly covered cans. Feed dogs and cats in a dish, then take up the food they don't eat. Don't leave it out for rats and mice.

Then destroy their homes. Remove trash, old boards, weeds and junk cars. Rats and mice like to hid in such places. Don't pile wood against the house. Store wood and other materials at least a foot off the ground.

Close rodent holes and entryways. Keep doors closed. Cover Windows with screens. One-fourth inch or smaller mesh will keep rats and mice out. Keep floor drains tightly fastened. Cement or caulk around pipes where they pass through walls. Mice can get through any hole that will admit the tip of your little finger. Seal small holes and cracks by stuffing them with stainless steel scouring pads, then caulk over them. After you kill rats and mice, close burrows with a shovelful of earth. Then stamp it shut. If a burrow is reopened, you know you still have rats and mice.

To kill rats and mice in your home, traps, not poison bait, are best. Poison baits are more dangerous. Also poisoned rats and mice will die and stink in walls and attics. Use plenty of traps in a room. Put them along the wall, in cupboards and drawers, and other places where mice might run. Make it so a mouse won't travel more than five or ten feet to find a trap. Do this because a well-fed mouse likes to stay home. He may live for weeks in one corner of a room. Don't expect him to cross the room to find your trap.

Mice like to run along walls. So set traps with the bait treadle across his path, at a right angle to the wall. Don't set the trap parallel to the wall and make mice go around or over the trap to get the bait. Make it easy for them.

Snap traps are the cheapest, so you can afford to use plenty. Multiple catch traps work fine, but remember to use enough of them. Sticky traps are as good as snap traps and easier to use.

For bait, use peanut butter, bacon, or anything tasty with a strong odor.

Once you've rid your house of mice, can you relax and forget them? No! New mice will find you. Save your traps. Be ready to go to war with mice again.

Give rats the same treatment, but use the larger rat traps. Set them only in places where children won't get into them. For rats you need fewer traps. A dozen for an average house is usually enough. Rats are smarter and harder to catch than mice. Put bait on traps but leave them unset until the rats learn to feed there. Then set them after the rats learn where the lunch is.

If you must use poisons, use them outside the house and only if you can keep them away from pets and children. A locked shed or garage is a suitable place. Poison bait tastes good. It often has sugar in it. So don't be careless with it.

Many good poisons are on the market. Use poisons with warfarin, pival, fumarin, chlorophacinone, or diphacinone. They are as hazardous as the quick kill or single dose poisons. These poisons are available as poison food or poison water. Mice or rats need to eat them each day for about a week before they die.

Set our poison bait stations in places where you see signs of rats. Get a sturdy wood, metal, or cardboard box. Cut three-inch diameter holes in opposite sides at ground level. Fill a small container with a pound of poison bait. Put it inside the bait box. Add bait each day to keep it full. Don't let rats empty the bait container. They must feed from the bait each day or they may not die.

Use the same baiting technique for mice, but you can use a smaller bait box and less bait. Mouse holes in a bait box can be about one inch in diameter.

Use gloves to handle dead rodents you find. Throw them in the garbage or bury them.

If after a few weeks rats and mice are no longer feeding at the bait station, remove the bait. Save it in a clean, sealed container for your next rodent problem. Don't leave bait out for a long time. It will get moldy, spoil, or cause a poisoning accident.

For more information on rat and mouse control in the house, contact your local county Extension office.