Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach Rat Control Situation:
Hi there! I am your neighbor in West Palm Beach! We live in a historical neighborhood here and have just dicovered we had rats coming into the house and eating from some birdfood I put next to the washer (whooops! ) Prior to this I have never seen any rats and I immediately removed this food source...yuck! My landlord has hired a company to get rid of them they come and set traps but they didn't seal up the house for 3 weeks..it's been 2 more weeks and we can still hear them gnawing under the cupboards! HOW can we get them to go away? I have been calling the rat guy constantly and he says "it's a long process" but it's been a month and a half now and they seem to be getting more determined! I have removed all food and garbage from the house but I am going nuts will they give up eventually if theres no food?!? Any light you can shed on this would be great I cannot believe that the landlord paid for this IN FULL the first week now this lazy rat guy just comes once a week to set a few traps and disappears the rest of the time...I could have gone to home depot and done this!! HELP!!
David, I have enjoyed reading your articles on rat control. I found some droppings in my attic this past fall and immediately set some snap traps and bait stations. I caught one rat and they ate almost all of the bait. I thought I had the problem under control and then recently found dome droppings in another part of the attic. I have set more traps there today and they have already eaten some of the bait. There has been no other activity as far as droppings in the original area they were seen. Do rats move from one area to the next in a house? Do you have any more suggestions. I am getting 2 trees removed that hang over my roof. I am also getting a new roof in the next month. Hopefully this will help in the situation. Thanks, Mike
West Palm Beach 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.
