In the evenings, someone squeaks often under the floor or behind the walls. In the morning, a litter is found in the kitchen. One squeak can not distinguish what kind of rodents have bred within the dwelling. Is it possible to find out what these rodents are by litter? And how is mouse litter different from rat?
Actions before buying a mousetrap
Before you bother with buying a mousetrap, you really should first establish what kind of rodents settled in your home. This is done so as not to waste money. Not every mouse trap is suitable for catching a rat, just like not every rat trap can catch a mouse.
As it was said, by squeak you won’t immediately know who is raging there in the inter-wall space or behind the baseboard. But the feces of the owners can be determined.
How to identify a mouse
The properties of the mouse litter are as follows. Each individual mouse "turd" rarely reaches sizes over 6 mm. Mostly within 4-5 mm. Mice rarely grow to large sizes. But then they take in numbers. Often close to large, you can find small feces, up to 3 mm long. This means that a brood has already happened in the boundaries of your house and there are both adults and young animals in the family.
What does mouse droppings look like based on geometric data? Most often, these are oval granules, somewhat remotely similar to oats, only with rounded edges. Their color may vary depending on what the mice eat. If it is cereal or bread, then their litter is light gray. It happens a little darker, it is a little lighter, but it is never black. This is the color of rat litter.
Rat droppings
Even in a relatively young rat, the litter will be significantly larger and thicker than in the mouse. What does rat droppings look like in color format? The color of rat feces also depends on the food they consume. But most often it is black with various shades. So the granules of rat litter differ from mouse litter in both color and size. If you find in the morning on the floor feces larger than 6 mm and dark, then you have rats in your house. If light and less than 6 mm, then mice.
Another distinguishing feature
There are never too many rats. Therefore, their feces, although large, but they will be few. But if there are mice in the house, there will be a lot of mouse litter. A rat can leave its stool in one, two places. Mice, on the other hand, "lay" their granules anywhere, and in an exorbitant amount. If there are a lot of granules, this is direct evidence of the presence of a family of mice in the house. Rats, however, may not leave their “stool” at all. A couple of large black feces is a confirmation that rats cohabit with you.
Rules for the destruction of rodents using mousetraps and rat traps
When you managed to recognize who settled in your house by litter, you can go for traps and traps. Spring mousetraps against rats are a very good tool. Remember where you most often saw mouse droppings. This will help to track the path of the rodent from the mink to the place of feeding. Most often, in his role, an open or not tightly closed garbage can is played. But the mice are not averse to gnawing the back wall of the kitchen set.
Do not try to close the gap through which rodents enter the house. This will only make them behave more carefully. In addition, they will gnaw at themselves moves in another place, and this is again the damage to skirting boards and other finishes, and, therefore, an extra waste of money. Therefore, try to catch them through one original slot.
It is best not to place the mousetrap directly near the gap. The mouse will smell the bait in the distance. And if one of the mouse relatives constantly dies near the gap, this will alert the rest of the fraternity. During the night near the slit, you can catch only one mouse, because she simply scares away the rest with her dying screech. If you place mousetraps around the entire perimeter of the room in which they eat (usually this is a kitchen), you can catch up to 3-4 pieces a night. This is also the case with rats.
About the poison
Another effective way to rid your home of mice is mouse poison. It smells good for mice. And they die from her very quickly. The main thing, again, is not to place the poison too close to the gap, from where rodents go hunting for food. Otherwise, the mouse, having consumed arsenic, will have time to crawl somewhere under the floor or into the wall and die there. Do not believe how much their bodies began to decompose. Sometimes you have to disassemble the walls to get rid of their corpses. And if there were a lot of mice, and they all crawled away to die on different sides, you would have to take apart the house.
Therefore, quick-action poisons should be poured away from the treasured gap, so that the mice die before they can crawl to it. If the poisons are weak and the mice creeping away will die somewhere at home, you yourself understand what will happen then.
Cat in the house
This is also an option. But it is not always effective. People are very fond of their pets and, often, they are fed so much that they lose the desire not only to chase mice, but also to move in general. And not all breeds are prone to this occupation. The thirst for catching mice is laid in their genes and is inherited. If the cat’s mother was not inclined to this occupation, her offspring will be the same lazy by 50%.
And even with the fact that your cat will constantly wait for prey by the bin, it is not a fact that he will be able to catch the mouse. Mice are very dodgy and able to clog and crawl through the smallest gaps. Therefore, it is not always possible for a cat to help get rid of mice 100%.
Conclusion
That is why experts advise getting rid of mice in the home with the help of mousetraps. Caught - threw it away. And all things.