Rats and mice are, next to man, the most successful animals on earth in terms of abundance and diversity. Billions of dollars each year is lost by contamination of food by rodent droppings, urine and hair. Rodents destroy much more food than they could possibly eat, and their chewing habits have been responsible for causing fires.

Rodents’ instincts make them difficult to control, and they present a serious menace to your home. If you’re in need of rodent control services, here’s what you should know about these pests:

• Instincts: Rats are instinctively wary of rat control measures such as traps and bait, and colonise in attics, burrows, under concrete and porches, in wall voids and other hard to reach places.
• Disease: Rats can harbor and transmit a number of serious diseases. They can also introduce disease-carrying parasites such as fleas, lice and ticks into your home.
• Breeding: Within a year a rat can have between thirty and eighty offspring, depending on the species -one pair could generate fifteen thousand rats in their life span.
• Rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a 20 cent piece, fall 20 metres with no injury, tread water for 3 days, eat all sorts of food and survive an atomic bomb test.

• Access: They invade your home seeking food, water and warmth.
• Breeding: Without mouse control intervention, one pair of mice may produce 200 offspring in four months.
• Contamination: Each mouse can contaminate much more food than it eats.
• Mice are generally active at night as they search for food. They can squeeze through cracks as small as 5mm