Rodent Control Newcastle
and Hunter Valley
Complete Rodent Control Newcastle and Hunter Valley
For rodent control in homes, business and rural situations, it’s important to use a professional rodent expert, to ensure the problem is eliminated quickly, taking into account safety and environmental consideration…
Rodents aren’t cute furry creatures. Rats and mice are disease carrying pests that cause damage to food and property.
Rats and mice carry diseases such as dysentery, leptospirosis and typhus fever; can introduce fleas, ticks, lice and mites into your home; spoil food with their urine and droppings; and by chewing through electrical cables rodents are known to be a significant cause of house fires.
If you hear the sound of pattering feet in the roof void, find chewed boxes in the cupboard or droppings in the pantry, you probably have a rodent problem… and you need to deal with it quickly!
How we get rid of rats and mice > Professional Rodent Treatments
Our rodent treatment process
Our rodent programs typically include the use of rodent baits, sometimes in combination with traps.
For safety, rodent baits are always placed in secure bait stations (see below for more information)
The bait stations and traps are placed in strategic locations to deliver maximum performance. It is important that we place sufficient bait at all sites of activity, so the number of bait stations used will depend on the size of the infestation.
Typically this means that bait stations are primarily placed in the roof void and sub-floor, as well as other areas of activity.
Although most residential rodent problems can be eliminated in a single visit, for heavy infestations additional visits may be required.
Safety concerns?
We will always discuss any safety concerns you may have before carrying out a treatment. We do this over the phone at the time of booking and also carry out an on-site risk assessment before carrying out a treatment.
This is particularly important for rodent control programs, as the rodent baits can be toxic to pets and humans, and traps can cause injury to inquisitive fingers and paws!
To minimise the risk of accidental poisoning, we place all bait in secure bait stations and place them in locations which cannot be accessed by pets and children.
How rodent baits work…
Rodent baits contain a slow acting rodenticides – once the rodent has eaten the bait, it can take 4-7 days for them to die.
The rodents only need to eat a small amount of bait to get a toxic dose, but they will continue to eat until they die.
The rodenticides are actually anticoagulants which cause internal bleeding – the rodents become sluggish before falling unconscious and dying.
Rodenticides can also affect dogs and humans (as well as other mammals and birds) in the same way, but a dog or child would have to eat a lot of rodent bait for it to have any effect. If a child or dog accidentally ingests some bait, you should seek medical or veterinary attention and they will determine if any treatment is necessary.
What to expect from our rodent treatments?
Although the rodents will die within 4-7 days of eating the bait, the rodents don’t always eat the bait straight away. Although mice are very inquisitive and will often eat a bait at the first visit, rats are neophobic which means they are wary of anything new in their environment. It can take up to a week before rats start to feed on a bait.
Taking into account feeding behaviour, it can take up to 2 weeks to eliminate a rodent problem. However, if there is a significant rodent infestation, follow up visits may be required to top up the baits to make sure all the rodents are eliminated.
It is important that any dead rodents are removed as soon as they are noticed. Put on some gloves, place the rodent in a plastic bag, seal and place in the bin.
Rodent proofing your home
We will advise you of any obvious entry points during our visit and will make recommendations on rodent proofing your home to help prevent rodent problems in the future.
Pest Control Mice
Mice are also very inquisitive animals. So, if you place something new in their environment, they are likely to check it out. This makes baiting relatively straight forward. As long as the bait station is place in the correct location, the mice will readily go inside and eat the bait. This allows the bait to get to work quickly and get fast control.
Pest Control Rats
Rat control is a little bit more involved than mice control. Firstly, there are two species of pest rat – the roof rat and the Norway rat. The two species have very different behaviours. The roof rat tends to live in trees in the wild and in roofs in buildings, and only occasionally comes down to the ground to feed. In contrast, the Norway rat typically lives in burrows outdoors and in enclosed spaces indoors, spending most of its time foraging on the ground. Knowing which type of rat is present has a big impact on the rat control plan.
Rat are also neophobic, which means they are frightened of new things. As such, when a bait station or new food is placed in their environment, they may avoid it for several days until they get used to it. This means it may take longer before they start eating bait, making rat control a longer process than mouse control.
What Our Customers Say
What are the signs of a rodent problem?
As rats and mice are nocturnal animals it is very unlikely you will see one during the day. However, they are very active animals so will leave behind a number of tell-tale signs…
- Sounds in the roof – Rats will make quite a lot of noise moving around the roof. Mice are a lot quieter
- Droppings – Rodents will leave clusters of oblong shaped droppings. Rats droppings are up to 19 mm long, mice dropping are a lot thinner and shorter, up to 7 mm
- Damage – chewed boxes or packets of food are an obvious sign. They will also gnaw hard materials to help file down their teeth
- Footprints – in dusty areas it is quite easy to spot their footprints and tail marks.
- Nests – rats and mice will collect soft materials such as insulation, paper and grass to make their nests
- Burrows – rats and mice will dig burrows outside, preferably in raised banks with vegetation for protection
- Odours – with an establish infestation, with the nest nearby, there can be a strong smell of urine
Rub marks – when rodents have been in place for a while they develop runways which they travel along on a regular basis. Where these runways meet the wall, there will be oil rub marks where their fur has contacted the surfaces.
More on the signs of rats and mice in the house…
How to prevent a rodent problem…
To help prevent rodent problems, it’s a good idea to rodent proof your home with these key actions:
Remove food and water sources Prevent easy access to your home Eliminate potential nesting sites For more detailed information on how to rodent proof your home…
More information on rats and mice…
There are three main pest rodents in Australia, the roof rat, the Norway rat and the house mouse. There are also a number of native rats, as well as other native animals that sometimes get confused with rodents such as antechinus and possums. It’s important to know which are pest animals and which are natives, as harming or killing native animals is illegal. Correctly identifying the pest rodent present is also important as it determines the appropriate treatment program.