It’s still pretty cold out there and as a result many animals are brave enough to venture indoors in search of warmth, shelter and food. Though not all these little creatures are welcome as their intrusion brings with them many problems.
Rats and mice especially, are a huge problem once they have “made themselves at home”, as these little rodent squatters cannot be forced to move out with a simple court eviction order and by calling the bailiffs. Although that does sound like the making of an awesome scene out of “Tom and Jerry”.
The most common mice in South Africa are the House Mouse and the Field Mouse ranging in size from 13cm to 19cm including their tails, whilst their Brown Rat counterparts can grow up to 40cm including its tail. Rats and mice are omnivores which means they eat a combination of fruits, vegetables and meat.
Rodents such as these are generally nocturnal, so they will try to avoid human contact and do all their dirty work when you are not around to witness it. With contamination of foodstuffs and surfaces occurring from their feet, fur, saliva and blood and from their feeding habits of just eating, urinating and defecating as they go.
These rodents have the potential to transmit at least 35 diseases, such as the bubonic plaque, asthma, leptospirosis, LCMV Virus, Hantavirus and Lassa fever, some of which can be fatal. And as they are also frequently infected with blood feeding rodent mites that will bite and feed on humans if the opportunity presents itself, they are are associated with the human dermatitis condition known as rat mite dermatitis.
To prevent their incisor teeth from growing too long, rats and mice are continually gnawing on things. This includes gnawing into containers that hold food, gaining access to places to build nesting sites. This leads to damage to your home’s insulation, possibility of causing fires by chewing through electrical cables and even undermining hill sides and retaining walls through their burrowing activity. Just having rats in your yards can present a huge risk to your pets and your children.
The average gestation time for rodents is 21 to 23 days, with both rats and mice being able to start breeding as early as 8 weeks old, living up to a year out in the wild or up to 3 years in captivity. Mice are able to become pregnant immediately after having given birth, so taking on an average of a litter of between 4 to 16 pups every 25 days or so, one can see how quickly this kind of situation can get out of hand.
But never fear – Stutt Trading is here to assist you should you find yourself in this predicament. We supply a wide range or rodent products from pellets, to liquid baits and traps to assist you in the eviction of these little illegal squatters.
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