How to use mouse traps safely with children:kids

How to use mouse traps safely with children/kids

People have been terrified of mice and rats since the 14th century when they caused an epidemic so horrible it was simply named “the Plague”. This disease was so encompassing and deadly that it killed millions from Asia to Europe. There have, since the discovery of antibiotic fungus, been several breakouts in parts of the world that lack suitable medical care, but the UN controls those types of outbreaks and provides proper medical attention to prevent another plague outbreak.

If you are dealing with a mouse infestation or have suspicions thereof, contact Shuswap Pest Control for a fast and effective complete eradication.

This is very important because with each outbreak the disease gets stronger, being bottlenecked, an evolutionary term meaning the dramatic reduction in a species population resulting in a severe reduction in genetic variation can evolve to be immune to our drugs. This has happened and is happening today with organisms like bacteria that grow in hospitals, resisting all forms of treatment and turning into a “Hospital Super Bug”. The idea of a world health organization stemmed first from the plague where it grew wider and now runs all aspects of world health with a focus on prevention. And it all started with mice and rats. 

 

This is why, if your home is infested you must fully understand the severity of that type of infestation. Mice and rats are not a minor issue and while Hantavirus has not appeared in the western world in almost half a century it is still a real danger and controlling and exterminating mice in your home is a necessity to protect the health of you and your family. Issues arise, however. Some families have pets, small pets are especially in danger during a mouse treatment and if you have children the issues quadruple. Having snap traps in the house could be a huge problem if you have young children like toddlers who cannot understand the danger the device poses. To prevent harm coming to anyone or any animal in your home not targeted for extermination you must either hire a professional or do your research because you cannot put a snap trap just anywhere in the home. They need to be placed carefully in locations that have minimal foot traffic. If this is not possible due to the size of the house then you can cordon off the affected area with childproof gates and treat the mice more easily. 

 

If you are in a desperate situation and the mice have managed to fill the home with nowhere that can be cordoned off then you will need to contact a professional. A trained rodent technician will know and understand the mouse or rat’s movements and their goals in the home, to access water-primarily and then to hunt outside for food. For mice, remain inside at all times and hunt for food often in the kitchen or wherever food is stored. The technician will not use snap traps for mice as they are too dangerous. He will instead make use of a special chemical designed to kill mice in such a way that it tricks their natural nature. Mice do not have a gag reflex and cannot regurgitate food. Instead, they must try a small amount and wait to see if they feel sick. Rodenticide does not cause immediate symptoms so the mouse will think it is fine and edible, however, it works slowly to rapidly dehydrate the mouse and kill it in 2 to seven days. Rather than set up dangerous snap traps to deal with mice, call a professional to deal with it using a safe and responsibly created poison with an easy to access cure in the event of accidental poisoning. 

How to clean reusable mouse traps

How to clean reusable mouse traps

Trapping has been the chosen method of catching rodents for hundreds of years. From the first wood and wire snap traps to the modern-day Zapp trap that kills the rodent through electrocution the broad range of mouse kill or capture devices is innumerable these days. There are two main types of traps on the domestic market. None of them are allowed to use chemicals other than basic domestic products like rat poison or mouse bait.

If you are dealing with a mouse infestation or have suspicions thereof, contact Shuswap Mouse Control for a fast and effective complete eradication.

Generally, these poisons are ineffective so the goal of the killing trap is to entice the rodent with real food. The rodent will go for the food and be killed by the trap. The issue with this process is mice and rats are especially aware of their surroundings. They learn very well and are constantly curious but also questioning. Mice do not have a gag reflex so they taste new food when they find it. The mouse will try the domestic, low potency poison, feel ill and never eat it again. This can also occur when using kill traps. The mice or rats may have seen these traps before and, more importantly, seen other rats or mice caught in them and heard the pain of the trap. This will stay with the rodent and they will even teach their young to avoid them which is why kill traps often fail. 

 

Humane capture traps are different. Because they allow you to release the rodent far from your home the rodents in the house will not have seen it struggle and die in a trap and will not have any reason to be afraid of the capture trap. Some of these human capture traps are mechanical with a spring or lever that closes the trap when the mouse or rat enters. These can also be dangerous as they can cut off the mouses tail or even kill it when the door shuts. A modern electronic version waits for the mouse to enter and then electronically closes the door and sounds an alarm to notify the homeowner that a rodent has been caught. There are all types of traps that can be had but they will all eventually be discovered and avoided if the infestation is large enough. 

 

If you have a severe infestation that domestic products are not effectively controlling then you should call the professionals at The Exterminators. Our skilled technicians can investigate and find areas of high activity and place in those areas tamper-proof bait stations containing powerful commercial-grade rodenticide that tricks the mice into repeated feeding via a slow-acting poison. 

how noise helps to get rid of mice

how noise helps to get rid of mice

The goal of electronic rodent repellent devices that use sound frequencies that rodents don’t like in the hopes of driving them away from food sources and nesting grounds they try to access and create in human homes. 

If you are dealing with a mouse infestation or have suspicions thereof, contact Shuswap Mouse Control for a fast and effective complete eradication.

Sonic and ultrasonic technology has been sold and advertised as the new solution to all pest problems, even claiming they can get rid of cockroaches and other insects. They are often specific to rodents, rats and mice specifically. These devices use ultra-high sonic or ultrasonic sounds to disturb rodents who can hear at that frequency. Dogs and cats can also hear at those frequencies and you will notice the device does not bother them either. There has been no research on this topic, at least not double-blind experimentation. The idea was conceived and then produced without testing, based only on the fact that rodents and other animals and insects can hear, or in some cases, feel vibrations that will disturb them and cause them to leave. 

 

Rodents communicate on the ultrasonic spectrum. That is a spectrum of sound just above and somewhat merging with the human hearing spectrum. The human spectrum is 20 to 20,000 Hz while ultrasonic sits above that. Humans can hear some of the same sounds mice can but are generally unable to if hearing loss has been suffered at all. While the device should be working science has not learned a great deal about hearing outside of humans. It’s difficult to test because most animals do not respond to sounds like humans, some will make no response at all. Until we can see inside an animal’s brain we will not know how it hears. 

 

This device is famously used to rid city areas of pigeons, after their installation, however, it was discovered that many of the birds would not only remain but that some would happily perch on top of the ultrasonic sound unit. If this is not proof enough that the device is ineffective simply ask anyone who has tried to use one to get rid of rodents. 

 

The goal of the machine is to irritate rodents with a sound humans cannot hear but we know very little of what mice and other rodents can hear so the entire device is wholly theoretical and doomed to fail. Maybe someday in the future, we will learn how rodent hearing works and create a device that will send them packing. Until then: Call the exterminators. 

How Do I Get Rid Of Cockroaches in a Microwave?

How Do I Get Rid Of Cockroaches in a Microwave?

The microwave is filled with oil and vaporized food particles that have penetrated it entirely. This is a very enjoyable place for cockroaches to live as it has an excellent food source, they do not live in the part of the microwave that food goes into, they live in the back, away from the microwaves themselves and in the warmth of the electronics. While it tends not to have water it is generally in the kitchen and the kitchen is where most cockroaches go to find water. Any leaky pipes or drains, faucets, and anything else that can provide a large amount of water to cockroaches. They will often live under the base of the bottom cupboards and access the kitchen’s various utilities late in the night.  

If you are dealing with a cockroach infestation or have suspicions thereof, contact Shuswap Cockroach Control for a fast and effective complete eradication.

The best thing you can do is throw the microwave away and buy a new one. That will get rid of the cockroaches living inside of it. You can try cleaning it with bleach but opening the microwave from the back is illegal in most countries. If you have cockroaches in your microwave you likely have them everywhere else as well. In this case, trying to clean with bleach will have little effect. Cleaning does not get rid of cockroaches. They hide in cracks during the day and are not bothered by most cleaning chemicals aside from boric acid or silica. There are methods of killing them off but it will take months and you will never truly be free of them. 

 

There are domestic options for a small cockroach infestation, they are not effective for a full infestation but can help limit and control the infestation. Some baits can draw cockroaches into eating them and getting poisoned, there are sprays you can buy that will kill them when you spray them directly and many other kinds of traps and baits that can work in a small scale infestation. However, if you are seeing cockroaches daily and more than the one you have a large infestation and domestic products will not do. 

 

The best way to get rid of cockroaches is to call a professional and licensed exterminator who can come to your home and perform a commercial cockroach treatment that will effectively end your cockroach issue. They will do a crack and crevice treatment to poison the opening they like to live in, a baseboard spray treatment to limit their mobility, and something called a ULV or an ultra-low volume mist that will fill hard to reach areas.

Do We Really Get Sick From Rat Feces Laying Around?

Do We Really Get Sick From Rat Feces Laying Around?

What can rat poop do to you? Rats shed fur constantly for most of the year and that dander is covered in feces and bacterial that can cause Hantavirus and even sepsis. You can get very serious lung infection from having a rat infestation and people with asthma and other breathing issues will be affected dramatically with rapidly worsening symptoms. Rat feces can also be deposited on your food, in bags of grain and on cooked food left out.

If you are dealing with a rat infestation or have suspicions thereof, contact Shusswap Rat Control for a fast and effective complete eradication.

Leaving a pizza out on a coffee table is a fast way to get it coated in rat feces. The best way to avoid rat feces is to avoid rats. If you have bird feeders remove them, they are not worth the headache. Do not make a mess with food when eating outside, use a table and clean up very well after. Do not feed dogs, or children, outside unless you want insects and rodents on your property searching for more food. They come to your property looking for food, they have been to half a dozen already, no food. If they find it on your property they will stop, call their family and friends and begin work on burrows and accessing the interior of your home. If they get inside the real danger starts with feces and respiratory issues and possible sepsis infections. While there has not been a case of Hantavirus in Ontario for some time now it is still a very possible and easy illness to get.

 

 

The most likely way to inhale rat feces is not looking at or having it in your home. It’s trying to clean it. Cleaning rat feces can be extremely dangerous as if it is at all dry it will flake and turn to dust and rise into the air filling your lungs. Even a face mask is not enough to block the dust and it can cause severe illness. Cleaning rat feces is a dangerous process that should be left to professionals with a shop vac and a fogging machine that can sterilize the whole basement in minutes. 

 

If you have rats on your property, in your home and on your property or simply think you may have them call a professional exterminator for an inspection. They can find feces in hard to reach places and can inspect for dander and other signs of rat occupancy. In the back yard, he can inspect for burrows, footprints and fur locks in bushes. There are many places rats can hide, and a professional exterminator will know them all. When areas of high activity are found the exterminator would lay down large weighted bait stations on the exterior of the property and snap traps with bait on the inside of the home to prevent rats from dying in the walls.