Rodents

HOUSE MOUSE
APPEARANCE: The adult house mouse is small and slender and about 1-2 inches long, excluding tail. It has large ears, pointed nose and small eyes. The tail is as long as the head and body combined. The fur color varies, but it is usually a light grey or brown, but could be darker shades.
DIET: Mice will eat almost anything, but prefer cereal grains, seeds, or sweet material. They require very little water, obtaining most of their water needs from their food.
HABITS AND BIOLOGY: If there are good living conditions(food, water, and shelter),they can multiply rapidly. They sexually mature in two months, producing about 8 litters in a one year life time. Each litter has 4-7 pups. A house mouse in a city environment may spend it's entire life in buildings. In rural and suburban settings, it may not only live inside, but be found outside near foundations, in the shrubbery, weeds, crawl spaces, basements, or in garages. They survive well on weeds, seeds, or insects, but when their food supply is shortened by the colder months they move inside nesting closer to a food supply. They make their nest from soft material like paper, insulation, or furniture stuffing. These nests are found in many places including: in walls, ceiling voids, storage boxes, drawers, under major appliances, or within the upholstery of furniture. Outside the nests are found in debris or in ground burrows. Mice are "nibblers" eating many times at different places, they do have two main meal times...just before dawn and at dusk...they simply "snack" at other times at intervals or every 1-2 hours. They can eat about 10 to 15% of their body weight every day, the adults weighing about 5/8-1 oz. They get much of there water from food products.
HOUSE MOUSE INSPECTION: Their droppings (feces) are usually black, about 1/8-1/4 inch long, rod shaped. They gnaw small, clean holes about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Many times in kitchens you will find gnawing damage on the corner of boxes and paper, shredded for their nest. They will gnaw at bar soaps.

ROOF RAT
Order/Family: Rodentia/Muridae
Scientific Name: Rattus rattus Linnaeus
Description: The roof rat is a commensal (i.e., living in close association with humans) rodent. The head and body are six to eight inches long and the tail is an additional seven to ten inches. It has a slight body which weighs five to nine ounces. The fur is soft, smooth, and brown in color with some black hairs. The muzzle is pointed, eyes and ears are large, and the scaly tail, which is uniformly dark, is longer than the head and body combined. Roof rat droppings are up to 1/2-inch long, and spindle-shaped with pointed ends.
Biology: Adults are sexually mature in two to five months. Females produce four to six litters per year, each averaging to eight young. Adults live from nine to 12 months. They have poor sight but keen senses of smell, taste, hearing, and touch. Habits: Rats are nocturnal. They are shy about new objects and very cautious when things change in their environment and along their established runs. Outdoors, Norway rats prefer to nest in burrows in the soil, e.g., under sidewalks and concrete pads, stream/river banks, railroad track beds, next to buildings, in low ground cover, etc. The burrows typically have one main entry hole and at least one escape hole. The rats easily enter buildings through 1/2-inch and larger gaps. In buildings they prefer to nest in the lower levels of the building, e.g., crawlspace, basement, loading dock and sewers. They prefer foods such as meat, fish and cereals and require a separate non-food water source. Their foraging range is 100 to 150 feet from their nest. Rats are associated with various diseases and occasionally bite. leptospirosis is vectored by rats, and thus, is a disease of great concern. This disease is acquired by eating food and drinking water which are contaminated with infected rat urine. Rats also cause significant structural damage and product destruction.
Control: The keys to a successful program of rodent control are identification, sanitation, elimination of harborage, and rodent-proofing. The inspection should identify signs of infestation, e.g., gnaw marks, droppings, tracks, burrows, rub marks (i.e., dark greasy spots left where the rats rub against surfaces), runaways, damaged goods, etc, Sanitation consists of removing food, water and materials which provide harborage. Stored goods should be at least twelve inches off the floor and eighteen inches away from the wall. Exclusion is a critical aspect of rodent control. Since rats can squeeze through a 1/2-inch gap, anything larger must be sealed. Since they can chew holes, sealing smaller holes should be considered. Sheet metal, cement, 1/4-inch hardware cloth, expandable foams, etc. are the materials of choice which can be used for this service. Door sweeps should be installed around gaps on doors, windows, and other openings.

Norway Rat
Order/Family: Rodentia/Muridae
Scientific Name: Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout)
Description: the Norway rat is the largest of the commensal (i.e., living in close association with humans) rodents. The head and body are seven to ten inches long and the tail is an additional six to eight inches. It has a stocky body and weighs seven to 18 ounces. The fur is coarse, shaggy, and brown with some black hairs. The muzzle is blunt, eyes and ears are small, and the tail, which is bi-colored, is shorter than the head and body combined. Norway rat droppings are up to 3/4-inch long with blunt ends.
Biology: Adults are sexually mature in two to five months. Females produce three to six litters per year, each averaging seven to eight young. Adults live from six to twelve months. They have poor sight but keen senses of smell, taste, hearing, and touch.
Habits: Rats are nocturnal. They are shy about new objects and very cautious when things change in their environment and along their established runs. Outdoors, Norway rats prefer to nest in burrows in the soil, e.g., under sidewalks and concrete pads, stream/river banks, railroad track beds, next to buildings, in low ground cover, etc. The burrows typically have one main entry hole and at least one escape hole. The rats easily enter buildings through 1/2-inch and larger gaps. In buildings they prefer to nest in the lower levels of the building, e.g., crawlspace, basement, loading dock and sewers. They prefer foods such as meat, fish and cereals and require a separate non-food water source. Their foraging range is 100 to 150 feet from their nest. Rats are associated with various diseases and occasionally bite. Leptospirosis is vectored by rats, and thus, is a disease of great concern. This disease is acquired by eating food and drinking water which are contaminated with infected rat urine. Rats also cause significant structural damage and product destruction.