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The term rodent refers to rats and mice. Rodents are a type of mammal. Mammals are characterised by being warm blooded, covered with fur or hair and by their habit of suckling their young. What distinguishes rodents from other mammals is their gnawing habit, which is necessary to control the size of their front incisor teeth. There are three major pest species of rodents in Australia: the Norway Rat, the Roof Rat and the House Mouse. |
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The presence of rodents is often detected from their damage, odour, faecal droppings, urine stains on surfaces of floors and cupboards, disappearance of food, sounds such as squeaking at night and nests behind cupboards and lounges. Pets are sensitive to other animals and often bark when rodents enter houses or are active. |
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In autumn and winter rodents will enter buildings in search of food, shelter and warmer nesting conditions. Rodents may live and nest within buildings indefinitely, provided they have access to food, shelter, and in the case of rats, water. Commercial premises can experience rodent problems year round. Once inside the building rodents will make their nest, usually close to where they scavenge for food and water. They often make their nests in wall cavities, roof voids or in the subfloor. They construct their nests from paper, fabric or other soft material. The Norway Rat will usually create a burrow in soil near a building or other source of food such as garbage disposal areas. |
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The presence of rodents can result in the loss of food. This may happen as a result of their directly eating it and/or due to having to dispose of the food because they have contaminated it with their droppings, urine or hairs. In order to control the size of their front incisor teeth, rodents will gnaw at a range of materials. Commonly, they may damage furniture, timber, doors and skirtings. The gnawing of electrical wires has also caused many problems, including house fires. Probably of most concern is the role that rodents play in the transmission of diseases. Rats and mice can transmit the following diseases to humans: Obviously it is very important to know whether you have rodents due to the health problems and physical damage they can cause. As rodents are nocturnal they will rarely be seen during daylight hours, so it is important to be able to recognise the signs of their presence. |
Being nocturnal, rodents are mostly active at night. This is when they forage for food. Rodents eat most foods of animal or plant origin. Rats require constant access to water. Mice are able to survive on the water found in the foods they eat provided the food is sufficiently moist. As with all pest management programs, an Integrated Pest Management (I.P.M.) approach is the best way to achieve and maintain rodent control. I.P.M. involves the implementation of a variety of control procedures including: |
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