Denver County, Denver Rat Control Situation:
Wanted to first thank you for the information on your site. A couple of days ago we started to house sit for someone for a couple of weeks. We noticed some evidence of mice the first night we were here and set some traps. Within 15 minutes we caught a mouse behind the stove. We hoped that was the end of it but had our doubts. Sure enough the next morning we heard some running around below the floor boards of the attic which we were sleeping in. We had eight traps set throughout the house but for a couple of days there was no signs or catchings other than a little pitter patter in the morning under the floor boards in the attic. Well just tonight we came back from a day long excursion and sure enough we had another mouse in the trap. We had our concerns though that we may have killed the parents to an unknown number of little mice. Sure enough a few hours later we are hearing little squeeks coming from beneath the floor of the attic. We are not sure how young these little kid mice are but we are curious about what your experiences is in the responses little mice would have when their parents no longer are available to them. We figure the younger they are the more dependent they are on their parents for survival, but what does that mean? We suppose if they are very young they won't survive very long and it may be difficult to get to them before or after their demise. If they are older though, hunger may overcome them and they will start to work their way out of the safe envirenment they have been accostomed to. How long could this process take and even if they do come out would they be up to feasting on the traps? Looking forward to your response Thanks
My response: Jeez, I have no clue. There are probably several adults. The young may starve then die. They'll be so small that they won't cause an odor. You need to seal your house shut to stop the mouse problem entirely.
Denver Rat Control Tip of The Week
What Can I Do About A Trap-Shy Rat?
There are instances where rats tend to be trap-shy by trying as much as possible not to get too close to the trap to avoid getting caught. This particular situation can be a result of several reasons. The first and most common reason is that the rats have witnessed other rats getting trapped. Another reason is that the rats might be scared of the newly introduced object along their route.
Whatever the reason might be, getting the rats to put aside their fears and go for the bait requires a whole lot of planning and patience. Right here, we will be taking you through what you can do to stop the rats in your home from being trap-shy.
Aside from being a very common household pest, rats are habitual and will study their environment as much as they can in other to easily detect when something goes wrong or differs from the way it used to be. This naturally prompts them into being trap-shy when they notice the unusual new trap in their environment.
To stop this and make the rats in your home attracted to baits, you are going to have to take your time and repeat the following process continuously. The first thing you have to do is to make the rats in your home feel comfortable around the traps. To achieve this, all you have to do is place unset traps along their route and let them move around it without getting trapped. Naturally, rats like to move around on sawdust. You can also place sawdust on and around the traps to make it more appealing to them and make them feel comfortable and safe around the trap.
After doing that for a while, you can then go ahead and set the traps with bait. To increase your chances of trapping them, you can choose to place sawdust on and around the traps.