Mercer County, Trenton Rat Control Situation:
David, I was looking at your website about mice/rat dropping cleanup. We bought our house from a previous owner and the house has a crawl space. The crawl space is insulated in white plastic. The crawl space has a lot of mice droppings, easy to see on the white insulation, and I would like to get them cleaned up but I'm having a difficult time finding someone in the Trenton NJ area that will cleanup the mouse droppings--many services will provide rate control but they don't do the cleanup. Any suggestions in this regard? Couple of other questions: I was thinking about cleaning it up myself but I'm concerned about the virus you can catch by doing so. The CDC has some different suggestions than what you state including: 1) They recommend not vacumming as it can cause the disease in the feces/urine to be airborne. 2) They recommend spraying with a bleech solution but you recommend using Dawn dish detergent first. How would you apply the Dawn to the feces--do you spray a dawn/water mixture first with a pump sprayer? Then, do you spray with a bleach/water mixture after the Dawn? 3) After you use the Dawn and then a bleech mixture, how should you clean it up since it will be wet--wipe up with a rag? Thanks for you help.
Trenton Rat Control Tip of The Week
Are Mice or Rats Easier to Trap?
Intelligence:
Mice can often be much easier to trap because they are naturally curious creatures. It often takes just one or two days to capture a mouse after setting up a mousetrap. If you're having difficulty trapping a mouse you could consider moving it to a different location. Rats can be extremely intelligent and they communicate with each other meaning that any new objects will often bring about suspicion.
Reproduction:
Rats often reproduce at a much faster rate and this can make it difficult to control a rat problem if it's been going on for a long time. Most mice have around eight litters per year with around 5 to 6 pups in each litter. Rats can have between 6 to 12 pups in their litter.
Diet:
Rats can often be ravenous eaters and often require meat or a more substantial food source in order to remain satisfied. This can often make rats very difficult to trap because they can be so fussy about their food.
Size:
Rats have a definite size advantage over mice and this often means using much larger traps and some extra measures when it comes to keeping them in a trap. Because of the extra costs of these larger traps and the need to be more careful with where you set them, the requirements to trap a rat can be considerably higher than what it takes to trap the average mouse. Most rats can reach a length of between 7-10 inches and weigh up to a pound whereas the typical house mouse maxes out around 8 inches including its tail.
Tracking:
It's often easier to track rats because they leave larger footprints and they can cause a bit more destruction with their added size and strength. This can make finding rats throughout your home a bit easier.
