Passaic County, Paterson Rat Control Situation:
I've been searching the web to find a way to get rid of mice that's been running around the house for past couple of weeks. I never thought of a situation where I would actually face a mouse in my living room! I saw it coming from the kitchen so I bought bunch of snap traps that's covered and placed it along the walls but it did not work at all. I bought glue traps and placed it along the walls and under the washer/dryer areas but that didn' t work as well. it left 2 dropping on the countertop and 3 droppings near the fridge this morning. It looks like it knows where all the traps are! it usually comes out from the kitchen area to the living room but it couldn't last night because I placed the glue traps on the kitchen entrance. I have 2 kids so I'm extremely worried about any diseases those things might carry. Can you please suggest any solution that might actually work?
I work for a return center (warehouse) and I saw your site. We are trying to get rid of a mouse problem. We have many pallets of food here. We understand that there may be a few, but we have lots of them right now and customers complaining about their product coming back chewed up. We have glue strips around the facility and traps as well that are maintenanced by the pest control. We have created a "quarantine" built with wood and metal sheeting around our good product to try and keep the mice out and they still get in. We cannot use poison because we have food here.... any thoughts you may have would be appreciated. We are pretty sure that the mice are coming off of inbound trailers. Is there anything we can do before we unload the truck to remove the mice?
Paterson Rat Control Tip of The Week
New York City's Rat Problem
The Norway Rat:
The majority of rats in New York City are Norway rats, otherwise known as brown rats. Brown rats typically weigh 1 pound and they can grow up to 16 inches long. A brown rat needs just 1 ounce of food and water every day to survive.
Agile Creatures:
Brown rats are known for their ability to climb through pipes and get through small spaces. Even though some of the largest brown rats can be up to 20 inches long and weigh more than 2 pounds, it's easy for them to fit through a hole that's the size of a quarter. Rats have some serious superpowers and are capable of falling up to five stories without any injury and leaping up to 4 feet for climbing.
Going Through Any Material:
Rats also have extremely strong jaw muscles and quality teeth. There are rats in New York that are capable of chewing through cinderblocks and sewer pipes.
Where Rats Live:
Most rats will rarely travel more than 600 feet away from the area that they were born. Most rats like to nest and burrow in soft ground as well as below ground to live in colonies. A rat colony is usually between 30 to 50 rats and the number of rats in a burrow or family is usually between 8 to 12. Rats stay close to their food source and they can often be found just a few hundred feet from where they go every day to be fed. Public garbage areas, alleyways, and more can be a hotbed for rats and NYC produces its own information portal on areas where rats are heavily concentrated.
Massive Population:
It's estimated that there are roughly 2,000,000 rats in New York City and this means that the rat population in New York City sits around 25% of the total number of humans.