Greenville County, Greenville Rat Control Situation:
Hi, David: We are recent home owners with an infant at home, and found ourselves with a squirrel and mice in our attic. I came across your web site which was extremely helpful; thank you so much for putting that together. We followed your advice and hired a company from the web site you listed. I wanted to get your advice about what that company did. We still have mice and wanted to get a sense of what we can ask for, in the way of continuing the work. The attic is large and has the rolled insulation as well as the blown kind. The company did use poison. Should the poison cease or at this point continue? They've been trapping and poisoning for 2 weeks now --even though they've only caught one mouse. We're the middle townhouse in a row of three. Both town homes in either side of us have mice as well. The neighbor on the right has a bigger infestation that the neighbor on the left. According to the company guy, there's not a lot of feces in our attic, which indicates that we don't have too big a problem. However, even if only one mouse, that's a big problem --to me. When the company came to do repairs, they did some work in the front and back of the house (they put critter guards, and fixed a small hole in the A-frame on the roof). We still have mice, though. They've got to be going from house to house via the attic --it's the only thing that makes sense. It seems rather crazy that the mice are going out of our roof and then going to the neighbors via the roof, and back. We've had a bitterly cold winter; I can't imagine they're going to go out of one house and into the other. Logic would tell me that they've carved themselves a path from attic to attic. The company person claims that he can't seem to find a hole in between the houses, though his time in the attic has not been long at all. And, we still have mice. Also, they sterifabbed the attic, but shouldn't they have waited until the mice were caught? If there's more there, they're going to have to sterilize again, no? What are your thoughts? Thank you!
Greenville 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.