11 Tips for Mice and Rat Control

Mice and rats can be a joy to have as pets. Choosing a pet is a personal decision that everyone has to make for themselves. The situation is different with uninvited guests that we classify as pests and that we absolutely do not want to live with. How does a layperson go about pest control? What do you need to know? What do you need to consider?

We would like to share our experience with you so that you know how to use rat poison and bait stations. Here are 11 tips from our many years of practice.

1. Know the enemy and its needs. Before you can make a plan to control rats, you need to know who you are dealing with. Be strategic and ask yourself: "Where do the rodents get their food and water?", "Where can they hide?". Think about where in your house the rats or mice have found a source of heat, where it is dark and quiet. Only then can you set up the mouse traps or bait stations.
2. Rats and mice are active at night. To navigate in the darkness, they use their sense of smell, their hearing and the whiskers on their snouts. At night, they like to move along walls. The long whiskers pick up tactile stimuli and are translated into information that allows the rodents to move along the wall as if they were holding on to a railing. A scary thought.
3. The next step is to look for traces of the pests. Where were they active? Look for droppings, traces of urine, possibly shed fur, abandoned nests and a strong smell of mice. Make a note of these findings or mark them on a simple sketch, because you will want to set up the rat traps or bait stations here and lay out rat and mouse poison.
4. You will have the most success in pest control if you place the traps near paths that the rodents actively use. If you miss a key path in your strategy, then rat control will be less successful.
5. Rats and mice are very suspicious and do not like changes in their environment. If you have set up a bait box or put out rat poison, your job is done. Do not change the location. The pests need time to gain trust.
6. Be flexible. It may be that the rats or mice do not fall for a classic bait box. In that case, you can try other bait stations that are shaped like a stone, for example.
7. Create a safe environment and gain the pests' trust. Start by putting normal food scraps in the bait box, i.e. those that the rats find and know in their environment. Only when you see that the food scraps disappear, put out rat or mouse poison. You can buy rat and mouse baits that look like grains of wheat, are made of wax and are cube-shaped, or are applied as a paste. A good example of this is the rat baits from Ratimor.
8. Stay alert. The pests will look for new places to hide and you should always keep an eye on where new droppings etc. can be found. When you have found a new place to hide, set up a bait station and proceed as in the last step. You need to be patient.
9. There is another trick that will lure rats into the bait box. Put on gloves and collect the droppings. Then place them in front of the entrance to the bait station. This will encourage the pests to enter the bait box.
10. If you are dealing with wandering rats and know where the entrance to their burrow is, you can also use the soil in front of the burrow while wearing gloves. This smells strongly of rat urine and can be placed in front of the bait box.
11. When rats know the food source is safe, they often eat in groups, leaving scent trails. Use this behavior to your advantage and lure as many rats as possible into the bait box at the same time so that they eat the rat poison together. The more rats you catch at once, the better. Look for any food scraps, packaging or pieces of wood with visible signs of rodent activity and use them. Place them inside and near the bait station. It is important that the rats think this is their familiar territory. Make it easier for them.

Summary

You are dealing with a clever enemy and should not underestimate them. The best rat poison and the most sophisticated rat control methods will not be successful if the animals sense danger. Proceed slowly and strategically. Learn the habits of the pests as best you can and do not change their environment too much. Do not become suspicious. It may sound complicated, but the time you invest at the beginning will pay off later in a rat-free house, garage, basement, etc. We hope that our experience in rat control will help you and wish you much success and lots of patience.