Common Pests

Rodents

Rats and mice are commensal pests; they successfully co-habit with humans, eating whatever food they can find and sharing the shelter of our buildings.

Rodents contaminate more food than they eat and in so doing, many diseases are transmitted.

The three major pest species are the Norway Rat, the Roof Rat and the House Mouse. They are common in the major population centres in Australia and most countries of the world.

As climatic conditions become less favourable during the onset of winter, rodents move indoors for both shelter and food. In commercial premises, rodents can be a year-round problem and mice can attain plague proportions in rural areas.

Nests are made of soft materials such as shredded paper or fabrics, close to areas where they scavenge for food and water. The female is capable of giving birth to 4-6 litters a year, each litter containing 5-10 young, which themselves are capable of reproduction three months after birth. Within a year, the progeny of a single pair of rodents can number 400-700.

Rodents actively forage for food at night using the same routes of movement to and from the food sources. Their diet includes food material of both animal and plant origin and apart from mice, access to water is necessary. Mice can obtain water from foodstuffs providing the food is sufficiently moist.

Although the vision of rodents is poor, they are complemented with other senses which are extremely sensitive. Their sense of smell and taste are so highly developed they can detect minute quantities of chemical in foodstuffs, and this can lead to "bait shyness". They are equipped with whiskers and guard hairs, which enable them to feel their way in darkness with little difficulty.

Rodents deposit their droppings on all surfaces over which they travel and this, together with stains caused by their almost continual urination, provide obvious indications of the presence of rodents. Greasy smear marks also become evident along their main routes of movement where they make contact with obstacles. Rodents are equipped with incisor teeth that continually grow, and it is essential they gnaw at frequent intervals to ensure they are sufficiently short to enable them to feed and fight. Fire can result from the short circuiting caused when rodents gnaw electrical conduiting.

Rodent control is achieved attention to sanitation and hygiene, trapping, proofing of entry points and the use of baiting procedures. All control procedures are preceded by a thorough inspection of the premises to identify the rodent and to define the extent of infestation.