The Battle Against the Mouse

The legendary Mus musculus. Pest controllers all have stories of epic battles and have certainly lost sleep over the nuisance that these animals cause.

As pest management professionals, we deal with them in any place, and in any location, where human activities have created structures. The purposes of these structures vary dramatically covering every aspect of human endeavour: the handling of food, housing needs, manufacturing, storage of products, transportation requirements, sale of goods, and even medical operations.

In all cases, mice introduced into these environments will cause economic hardships and health / safety issues for the people involved. Commercial structures are particularly crucial because their very nature allows extensive potential for contact – directly and indirectly.

Use your senses

It falls to the pest control officer and their ability to understand what has happened to unravel rodent issues, then present solutions. A strong partnership must be established with the client so that the mice can be dealt with and the site secured from future concerns.

Dealing professionally with a mouse infestation is not just a matter of saturating an account with traps and bait. The first task is to identify the distribution of the mice. This is done by assessing the site for the resources mice need to survive. They are: access, food, water and harbourage. This short list has been discussed many times, but, for some reason, is often forgotten.

Knowing where to look is the next step. You need to identify mouse resources as well as signs of the mice themselves. Remember: underneath, around, behind and on top of – but it has to be more than just looking.

In addition, we have five senses to bring into play: sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Four of them can be used very effectively. The fifth, taste, we can probably leave out of this discussion for obvious reasons. Always remember the famous question: "Where was the last place you saw (heard, smelled) any sign of the pest?"

All of this helps a client, be they residential or commercial, focus and form a working partnership with you. Unless the client is part of the solution, you will fail in your efforts.

The value of our senses, beyond the obvious sighting of the signs of mice, cannot be over emphasized. When a properly trained pest control technician is making an assessment, they learn, over time, to use all the right senses to completely gather the information needed. Sometimes you just can't readily see the signs of mice – but you can smell them and that will lead to a deeper investigation and reveal more of the concern. Hearing is also very important.

An assessment might be best conducted when human activities have ceased for the work day. It's the after-hours investigation that may show the pest controller what is really happening. You can hear the mice moving around, focus on where the sounds are coming from, and then investigate. Touch can come into play when you feel the gnaw marks, droppings, or sticky deposits where the mice have been.

As always, wear appropriate protective equipment.

Article provided by SDA Pest Control