Professional Rodent Control Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula & Gippsland
To get rid of rats and mice quickly and safely, a professional rodent control treatment is generally the best option.
Rats and mice are not cuddly creatures – they carry a range of diseases and parasites which can be a threat to the health of your family and pets. They also spoil food, cause damage by gnawing hard objects and are a significant cause of house fires by chewing through wiring.
With our understanding of rodent behaviour, we can get on top of rodent problems quickly and with safety our No. 1 priority to ensure there is no accidental contact with pets or wildlife.
When dealing with rat or mice problems, identifying the rodent species present, understanding their behaviour and designing a suitable rodent control program delivers success. Pest control for rats requires a different approach to pest control for mice.
Rat Pest Control
To deliver a successful rat pest control program, it’s important to determine whether the problems is due to a Norway rat (also called sewer rat or brown rat) or a roof rat (also called a ship rat or brown rat). They do have a number of different behaviours, but the key difference is that the Norway rat is mainly a ground dwelling rat, whereas the roof rat is mainly arboreal (lives in the trees). Obviously this makes a difference in where you place baits and determining their entry points into the building.
Rats are also neophobic, which means they are frightened of new things. As a result, when baits or bait stations are placed in their territory, it may take a few days before they get used to them, before they approach these new items and consider eating any bait. As a result, controlling a rat problem tends to take a bit longer than controlling a mouse problem.
Mice Pest Control
Mice are relatively easy to control (as long as it’s not a mouse plague!). Mice are very inquisitive and so will readily eat rodent bait and explore traps. The trick in carrying out pest control for mice, is the placement of the bait or traps. Mice do not travel very far from their hiding places, so it’s important to identify their potential nesting sites and foraging routes, before placing the control products.
Rodent Exterminator Melbourne
When customers have a rodent problem, they will often do a search for a rodent exterminator, either a rat exterminator or mouse exterminator. However, we at Termites VIC, we always view ourselves as pest managers – we don’t carry out house mice extermination programs but put in place a rodent management program. Certainly we get rid of any rodents present, but management is more about the long term protection from rodents – we identify any underlying conditions that may have led to the problem, locate the potential building entry points and recommend the relevant rodent proofing actions. By putting in place the appropriate rodent management plan, after we have eliminated the problem, we can help prevent a problem in the future.
Rodent treatments – FAQ
Do you use baits or traps?
Rodent baits are the principle product we use to get rid of rats and mice. However, we do use traps, especially in situations where there are additional safety considerations or when the rodents present are being particularly fussy with their eating habits and won’t eat the bait.
How do rodent baits work?
The main types of rodent bait we use all have the same mode of action. They contain blood anticoagulents, which take a few days to kill the rodent once the bait has been ingested. They cause the rodent to bleed internally and they get sluggish, fall unconscious and die.
There are no differences between rat baits and mouse baits – they are all rodent baits. However, there are a number of different types of rodent bait, which are used for different situations.
Are rodent baits safe around pets and children?
Rodent baits have the same effect on all mammals and so can therefore impact humans and pets (especially cats and dogs). BUT, a child or pet would have to eat a lot of bait for it to have an adverse effect. However, at Termites VIC there are three key actions we take to avoid accidental poisoning.
Firstly, the rodent baits we use contain bittering agents, which make them distasteful to humans and dogs. Secondly, we place our baits in lockable bait stations and where possible place them out of the reach of children and pets, which minimises accidental contact. Thirdly, in areas where there are additional safety concerns, we will use rat or mouse traps. Even then, we will place them within bait stations to prevent activation by inquisitive fingers or paws.
It’s important to note that cats are very unlikely to eat the bait – cats are carnivores and the baits are made of cereal. However, cats will eat dead rodents, so it is important to pick up any dead rodents as soon as they are spotted (use gloves and seal in a bag before placing in the bin). Also, possums will eat and be affected by rodent bait, which is why it is a bad idea to simply thrown bait into the roof void and why we always use bait stations.
How long does it take to get rid of rats and mice?
Once a rodent eats a bait, it typically takes 4-7 days for the rodent to die. So the limiting factors in determining how quick it takes to get rid of rats or mice is firstly, how long it takes for them to eat the bait and secondly, how long it takes for all the rodents present to each some of the bait (the bigger the infestation, the longer it will take).
For the small infestations found in most homes, control make be achieved in as little as a week for mice, but may take 2 weeks or more for rats. Typically, we can control the rodent problem after a single treatment but for larger infestations, it can take longer and may require a follow up visit.
Is there a warranty with our rodent treatments?
We guarantee to get rid of your rodent problem and with standard rodent infestations we provide a 3 month warranty post treatment, as long as the recommended rodent proofing actions are carried out, to prevent rodent re-entry. For large infestations, a management plan rather than a one-off treatment may necessary depending on the nature of the problem.
In Melbourne the most common types of rodents are the house mouse and roof rat (sometimes called the black rat, but actually comes in a range of colours).
House mouse
Norway rat or sewer rat
Roof rat or black rat
Signs of a rodent problem
Droppings
Rats and mice droppings are oblong in shape. Rat droppings can be up to 20mm long and mice droppings can be 5-10mm long. Other animals have similar shaped droppings (such as possums) so it can take some expertise to identify the droppings correctly.
Damage
The teeth of rats and mice grow continuously and so they need to gnaw hard objects to wear them down. Teeth marks on the edges of cupboards, plastic boxes and pipes are common items targeted fo gnawing. Of course, rodents will chew through boxes and bags to get to food.
Nests
Mice will nest in or behind cupboards, in boxes and even in furniture. Outside they will dig burrows.
Norway rats typically live in drains, sewers and under houses, digging burrows outside.
Roof rats will often nest it roof voids, a good alternative to nesting in trees as they would in their natural environment.
Rats and mice will collect nesting materials such as insulation, paper, grass and leaves. So if you spot these materials in strange places around your home, it may indicate you have a rodent problem.
Sounds in the roof and walls
Rats and mice tend to be nocturnal, so if there are rodents nesting in the house, you may hear scurrying noises or squeaking in the roof void or wall cavities.
Rub marks
When rodents have been established for a while, they develop regular runways (foraging routes). As their fur is very oily, it leaves rub marks (brown stains) against surfaces they regularly contact.
Urine odours
Rodent urine is very smelly and they urinate all the time (including over your food and food preparation surfaces!). If you have an infestation or have a nest nearby, you may smell their characteristic urine odour.
Outside – burrows
Norway rats and mice will dig burrows in well drained soil outdoors, often amongst vegetation. When we carry out our inspection before design our rodent treatment, we will have a look around the perimeter of the building to see if we can spot any rodent burrows.
Rodent proofing tips
Eliminate rodent entry points
Blocking up all potential entry points is the best way to prevent a rodent problem as it stops the rats and mice accessing the building for food or to nest. With rats able to squeeze through a gap as small as the end of your thumb and mice through a gap as small as the end of your little figure, this can be a challenge. But block any such entry points with a rodent proof material (that they can’t gnaw or pull out) is worth the effort.
To prevent rood rats access the roof to enter the roof void, trim back any over hanging branches and place barriers around any vertical supports that could allow the rats to climb up to the roof.
Remove potential food sources
Clear away dirty dishes
Clean up any food spills
Store open food in “rodent proof” containers
Store pet food / bird food in “rodent proof” containers
Make sure garbage is placed in containers with tight fitting lids
Eliminate potential nesting sites and hiding spots
Rodents are shy and like lots of places to hide, and will typically run around the edges of rooms rather than run across an open space. Keep rooms in the home and areas under the home clutter free eliminates many rodent hiding places. Removing vegetation from the area immediately adjacent to the building is strongly recommended (good for reducing a wide range of pests) and a tidy, open garden (rather than overgrown yard), will make it less attractive to rats.
More information on mice proofing and how to rodent proof your home…
