San Bernardino County, San Bernardino Rat Control Situation:
Hi. I hired a Pest Control Company in San Bernardino on Feb 14, 2012 to come out and find what was going on in my walls behind my pillows where I sleep. I mentioned it first to my neighbor and told her that it sounded like birds making a nest and this awful chirping/screeching noise at night when I went to bed. It was very hard to sleep and after speaking with her, and her telling me that it might be roof rats, I called the Pest Control. They came out and inspected the property, went in the garage, walked the perimeter of the house, went into the attic, went into the walk in basement and found no droppings anywhere. He put 6 bags of poison in the basement and 6 bags in the attic. He hope that this would get them as he told me that they eat the poison and then go out to get water and they will die. This cost me $125.00 which I felt was fair as he was here over an hour. He said he would be back in on March 5th to see what had transpired as it takes that long for the rats to feel comfortable eating the bags of poison and go out and die. While waiting this period of 3 weeks, the noise never stopped and the rats were still alive and had eaten none of the bags of poison in either the attic or basement.. I called to tell him this and he took some of the poison and put it in a hole in the roof line where the gutter is and hoped for the best. He said he would be back to put all screening on anything that looked specious on March 19 and did so. He deodorized the attic and crawl space and sealed the structure/holes vents, wherever he thought they might be getting in...............He then put 2 live traps in the basement and the attic and would be back in a week. He charged me $460.00 more for this service. One week later, March 26th he sent another man to check out the live traps.................NOT TOUCHED. He put 2 sticky traps in the garage up high so the dog wouldn't get to them. It is now April 10 and they have travelled from my bedroom wall to the office wall that backs up to my bedroom wall. I hear them in the morning and even in the early evening. It is like they are on some kind of treadmill, right above the heater vent on the bottom of the wall. It isn't as noisy as it was, but then they are in the office wall now and not above where I am sleeping. He gave me a 24 month guarantee................but, I don't know what to do as I really didn't want my walls ripped apart to get to them...............and there are no droppings anywhere. He tells me they have to go out to get water.........but he screened any holes he saw, and was on the roof also. SO HOW ARE THEY GETTING WATER?? CAN YOU HELP ME? Thanks Sandy
San Bernardino Rat Control Tip of The Week
Can Rats Kill Mice?
Before providing an answer to this question, first of all, you need to be able to differentiate between a rat and mouse. As you must already know, they are both rodents and are quite identical. Without precisely knowing the differences between these two rodents, it will be quite difficult to know how they relate with each other and if rats do kill mice or it's just another myth.
To help you understand this in the best possible way, we will be taking a look at some of the qualities possessed by both rodents. After which we will address the main topic which is whether rats are capable of killing mice or not.
Rats
Rats are medium sized rodents with sizes bigger than that of mice. They have long tails and are very active compared to mice. The most common household rat is the black rat and this particular specie of rat is bigger than mice and also very active.
Mice
On the other hand, mice are smaller rodents with a pointed snout and small round eyes. These rodents have uniform traits; hence they often tend to look very identical. They are very docile when compared to their rat counterparts.
Having shared all these, by now you should categorically be able to differentiate between rats and mice. Coming back to the question above, the fact is rats are capable of killing mice. This habit is only exhibited when rats are faced with starvation and the only option left is to kill and feed on them.
Also, a change in environmental conditions can trigger their hunting senses and make them kill mice. Apart from any of these conditions, rats killing mice doesn't usually occur. You might have rats and mice in your home at the same time causing a nuisance.