Rodents can cause diseases such as plague, leptospirosis, murine typhus, rat bite fever and salmonellosis. Diseases like leptospirosis is deadly as it causes failure of major organs, which leads to death. In addition, their constant gnawing causes serious damage to household item, equipment, machinery parts, wires and cables causing breakdowns and short circuits resulting in fires.
Rats and mice have adapted themselves well to an intimate relationship with man in his own environment and are very successful in terms of their survival abilities. They are responsible for causing enormous financial losses by consuming and contaminating vast quantities of food. Nevertheless, they are probably the most medically important vertebrates to human health too.
In Singapore, the 4 common rodent species are:
Rats and mice are omnivorous and will eat any human food.
There are several indicators of a rat infestation, including holes, gnaw marks, tracks, urine trails, fresh droppings, tail smear marks, damaged items and even nests. Rodent urine will show up with UV light while most other marks and signs will be visible to the naked eye. You may also hear noises in the walls if your pest population have found their home there.
The quick detection guide below will help you to determine if you have these unwanted guests in your home or business premises.
Their droppings are also an indicator, and rat infestation levels or population can be gauged based on the amount of droppings. Dark brown in colour and shaped like a grain of rice.
Though rats are commonly known as dirty creatures, they actually groom themselves by licking their bodies, just like cats. However, their fur is usually oily, which makes them easy to detect when they leave smear marks.
Rats themselves are quite clean animals but the urine they leave can cause a build-up of odour if not cleaned up. This has often been described as smelling of ammonia.
Well known for chewing through anything from wood to electrical wire, if you find something that looks like it’s been chewed then you are likely to have rats nearby.
Amateur use of poison and traditional mouse traps is no longer the most effective, nor the safest form of rat control. They take more effort to continuously check, can pose a threat to children and pets, and poisoned carcasses can begin to rot in unreachable locations. The smell of a rotting rat carcass is something to be avoided at all costs, especially if rodents die and decay in hard to reach places which resulting an offensive odour, meaning you have to put up with a lingering and highly unpleasant smell for weeks. Difficult to stomach in your own home, this could be a commercial nightmare in a shop or food outlet where customers would be justifiably put off.
The guaranteed method of rat control is to enlist the professional services of a pest control expert, like us. Our solutions are not only proven to be effective, but they are also safe and carried out to the highest professional standard. We also offer advice when it comes to other measures of rat control, such as how to best rat-proof your property; domestic or commercial.
Tracking powder would be one very effective approach in bringing rodents under control. This odourless powder will place at the entry point & along their regular travelling passageway and will stick on their fur without any notice when they pass by and consume it when they clean their fur and body.
Baiting method cause them to haemorrhage and die between 4-10 days after consumption. The modern rodenticides are more persistent and may give rise to secondary poisoning.
Mechanical traps and glue boards may also be used strategically in combination with baiting especially for places where baiting is not recommended or cannot be carried out.
By securing structures and preventing possible rodent intruders, you can avoid the need to deal with an entire population. Proofing of building structures should be carried out such as gaps under the door, window and holes in the ceiling must be sealed to prevent rats’ entry as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) program.
Good housekeeping and sanitation practices is important to help protect your home and work environment against rodent infestation. This is important and should be done to deprive the rodents of food and water.
Get in touch with PESTSHIELD and let us investigate your rat infestation and advise you accordingly. Our assessments include detailed reports of the site, bait plans, monitoring reports and reviews, as well as recommendations for hygiene, housekeeping and rat-proofing.
