rodents Archives - Page 11 of 17 - Arizona Pest Control - Pest Management Services

All posts in “rodents”

Its baby time, are rodents looking for ways to protect themselves?

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Just like us pests and rodents need 3 things: #1 Food #2 Water and #3 Shelter.

Whether its warm or cold. opportunity is opportunity and pests will take every chance to push the edge. This could be your home and you need to be aware of the places where pest can set up a home for themselves.

Check your home for exterior and interior holes.
Trim trees and bushes away from home.
Pick up fruit and/or encourage your neighbors to do the same. Give the fruit to St. Mary’s Food Bank.
Remember rodents will gnaw on wires and pipes, you don’t need a headache like this.

Call ProBest Pest Management for help in dealing with pests.

House rodents in the toilet a myth?

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House Rodents – Rats and Mice?

House rodents are an issue. How are they getting in? During my my almost 25 years of servicing homes, I have only on one occasion found 1 rat in a toilet. But a guy in England has invented a flapper device to help keep them out. “MultiFlap helps special needs teacher left terrified by rat in her toilet”

To be honest I’m not exactly sure how it got there, 2nd story shared bathroom. That would have been one big climb, to get to a toilet 20 feet up but I suppose anything is possible. Here is the link to that device http://www.multiflap.com – I think this one is to fit US toilets is MultiFlap 2 (MF-2) and nobody needs to be half asleep and find something in the toilet in the dark. What a way to be jolted from asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds.

House Rodents Rats Photo provided by Univar

The biggest issue with me is that once in and you have a issue with urine and feces being left everywhere. Rats and mice continue to urinate while running and often the first signs of rodents are their feces. It’s bad enough with flies and that whole regurgitation thing, but rodents will walk over and then walk over your stuff. So whatever they just walked over is going to pass to your food. Often times it isn’t the bug/pest that is the cause but what they do may cause the trigger to a bigger issue. Rats can carry diseases on their fur/hair and transmit that to us, so side on the side of caution. Always the safe bet, keep the pests out. They have a place and that is outside.

Door sweeps and guards.

Keep window screens in place.

Fix any holes.

If you can’t fix an issue call ProBest Pest Management and we can evaluate and come up with a plan. 602-249-7378

Antique mousetrap

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Not sure how old this might be – it might also be a Victor model. The choker trap similar to this with a wooden base and only 4 holes is more common. There is also a plastic or Bakelite version that is also very similar to this that is pretty common as well.

Have you ever seen a device like this?

Truly an IPM fix to a problem.

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I love this story “Cats recruited to solve rodent problem at LAPD farm“, it really focuses on using all those tools available before we use pesticides. To refresh your memory “Whats all the fuss about pest control and IPM” – one of my favorite sites is “What is IPM”

So what is IPM?

IPM is an abbreviation for Integrated Pest Management.

Integrated Pest Management is a process involving common sense and sound solutions for treating and controlling pests. These solutions incorporate three basic steps: 1) inspection, 2) identification and 3) treatment. Treatment options vary from sealing cracks and removing food and water sources to pesticide treatments when necessary.

Customer cat by Candi

Local cat Muffin by Bonny

Catching rats could be easier real soon, why you ask?

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“Op-Ed: Rats bigger than cows? Could be.” Evolution may be adjusting to fill areas and some species may go the way of the dinosaurs. I don’t think this will be happening right away, but think about the ramifications if rodents did become bigger. I might have to arm the technicians with rifles, no – not going to happen. I didn’t realize that the largest rodent was the size of a bull and weighed over 2000 pounds. Can you just imagine that?

What the hell is wrong with people?

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So just the other day I wrote about frivolous lawsuits and this story is another of the absolute “what the hell is wrong with people stories” maybe with people going to hell for their acts? In my business we often have to dispatch things, the methods used are not always the nicest but I also don’t get a thrill out of just killing things. If given the chance I would rather move the critter to another location, we move snakes and critters, its not always their fault that they thought your home was a nice tree.

This FaceBook thing also has gotten out of hand, people are posting things that I really don’t want to see. My postings are relative to what I do and I don’t want to see some girl standing at a river throwing puppies in, I think God will get her back for that (Karma) sending her to Hell. “Chicago man tortured, killed rodents, posted the videos to Youtube.”

So again I ask, lets think before we post – the key word here is THINK please. I do realize that I may be somewhat hypothetical, I do kill things but I’m also not showing pictures of my work. I did an article awhile back on hunting and trapping – “Wildlife trapping” and I truly believe hunting and trapping is better for the animals then dieing a slow death from hunger or over population. But torture for torture sake of any living thing is wrong, again my opinion.

Photo by Univar

Marijuana & rodents eating evidence

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Marijuana, what a story?

This story comes to you from India, where the police had a little issue with some stealing. The rats or so they say, absconded with the seized drugs. “Rodents ’empty’ cannibis stored in Bargi Police Station“, I guess not even the Judge was amused as he let the alleged suspects go free. You go to all that trouble to track down the smugglers and the rats eat the evidence.

marijuana

The picture above is from rats bringing cactus into a bait station, I didn’t have any pictures of marijuana – sorry. Rats and mice are able to enter buildings by any hole between a dime and quarter size, they will also eat almost anything. So as I always say, home seal and prevention = IPM Integrated Pest Management. Prevent them from getting in and no worries.

What can you do to prevent rodents?

Check your yard and home monthly for bugs and rodents. Keep food out of their reach, pick up fruit that has fallen to the ground. Keep your yard clean, trim bushes from next to your home. Don’t keep stuff in your yard, rats will next in anything that might be stored. If you store firewood keep it high, dry and away from the house. Keep water from collecting in the yard or any containers, they need water just like we do. If you have a shed, keep things rat-proof stored and on shelves and of course check things often.

If you see rat bait stations in your neighborhood, check things out. If there is one rat there are probably more. If your going to clean sheds wear a mask and follow the recommendations from the CDC. Don’t just sweep up dust without checking for droppings. If you notice something strange, investigate it or call in a Pest Management Professional such as ProBest Pest Management 602-249-7378.

America’s Rodent Problem

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Infographic by PPMA

I don’t understand Pack Rats, do you?

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So yesterday I mentioned that you needed to understand your enemy, often times I think I do and then this happens. See these pictures below, I just don’t understand why rodents like to gather cactus, I would think it would be harmful.

The “jumping cholla” name comes from the ease with which the stems detach when brushed, giving the impression that the stem jumped. Often the merest touch will leave a person with bits of cactus hanging on their clothes or imbedding itself into your skin or to be discovered later when either sitting or leaning on them. The ground around a mature plant will often be covered with dead stems, and young plants are started from stems that have fallen from the adult. They attach themselves to desert animals and are dispersed for short distances. (Wikepedia)

Do you understand mice/rats/rodents?

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You have heard me say this many times, I don’t work on my vehicle brakes because I don’t know anything about brakes but I know pests.

You must understand rodents; you must know their biology and their quirks. Do you know how far mice or rats travel from their home that is might be important in control?

How will you attack the situation, are you using traps or repeat devices or outside stations?

Have you purchased enough and what are you using?

Have you thought about consequences in using this equipment, is anybody at risk?

So before you decide to tackle this by yourself, maybe it might be inportant to call a Pro.

Rodent loved the bait so mush he never left.