The restaurant business can be a very rewarding business to be in. You find people at their happiest, enjoying a meal or a night out on the town. Keeping your customers happy is your number one priority. Serving great food, having a great atmosphere and providing entertainment can take up most of the time people spend working on their restaurant business. But in addition to this, health inspectors want to make sure that you are doing everything you need to do in order to have a safe place for people to eat at. Part of their inspection includes dealing with insects and rodents. This article will talk about the ins and outs of dealing with rodents in your restaurant.
THE BASICS OF RODENTS
In the restaurant industry, we predominately see two kinds of rodents. These two kinds of rodents are rats and mice. They are attracted to your restaurant for predominantly three reasons. These three reasons are harborage, food, and water. All through these things are needed for a mouse or a rat to survive, the biggest attractant to your restaurant by far is the food that you keep in your restaurant, pantry and walk in freezer. It is vitally important that sanitation and cleanliness be top priority when it comes to your kitchen and pantry area. Warehouse’s and walk in freezers are also danger areas that must be kept free of clutter and discarded food. It’s important to keep everything off the floor by 6 inches, in order to keep rodents from being able to hide in and around boxes and containers. They will be able to climb up racking, but keeping food stuff off the ground helps to make it more difficult for them to feed off of these things while hiding. This also allows for an easier visual inspection to be able to see if you have a problem.
It’s important to have a monthly pest control program in place. Your Broken Arrow pest control company can implement an integrated pest control management system for you that will work well with your restaurant’s day to day activities while being economical. This pest management plan will include a caveat for rodents. Most pest control companies use rodenticides to control mice and rats eating around a restaurant. This includes outdoor and indoor rodent boxes that house poison that will kill mice and rats. This rodenticide is put inside these boxes in order to keep the rodenticide from affecting or poisoning other non-target animals. If stray cats or dogs were to get a hold of these pest control measures, it would surely injure or kill these animals. Squirrels, chipmunks and other non-target animals such as birds are also susceptible to these poisoned. It is a vital importance to rodent boxes house all rodenticides.
MORE ON RODENT BOXES
Placement of these boxes is also very important. Mice use their whiskers to feel walls as they run around a building. Their poor eyesight makes it so that they must feel their way around things. Because of this they will stay close to walls where they feel safer. Rats will do much the same thing when moving around a building. So in order for rodent boxes to be effective, they must be up against walls, with the box entry and exit points right by the wall.
If a box is accidentally moved or kicked, it must be replaced in the same place that it was originally found. These boxes must be checked on a monthly basis in order to make sure that they are still full of rodenticide. If, after a couple weeks of treatment, you find that rodents are gone but then come back, what has probably happened is the rodenticide has been eaten through. You’ve killed a good portion of mice, but more have come in. The bait boxes need to be checked and refilled. It’s important in these cases to call your Tulsa pest control company to come back and check your bait stations again. Most will do this at no extra charge.
Outdoor boxes are important because they can stop rodents from getting into your building in the first place. If you kill them outside before they get into the heart into the restaurant, then they will never be an issue that will cause a health risk. Traps are also another method of taking care of rodents. These, too, must be put in a box or some other kind of protective measure, in order to keep non-target animals for getting caught in them. Traps must be cleaned once a mouse or rat has been caught them. These are always going to be lethal, therefore if a rodent is left inside a trap, it will deteriorate causing a bad smell and possibly spreading disease. If you are unable to clean the trap by yourself and support that you get contact with your exterminator and have him come by and take care of the issue. Even if you have to throw away the trap and everything, it may be in your best interest in order to keep a clean and sanitary environment for your patrons.
DEALING WITH DEAD RODENTS
When rodents eat rodenticide, there is always a fear that the road will die inside the building. In most cases it takes a few days for the rodenticide to finish its work, and it will cause the rats and mice to be thirsty. In these cases, the animal will likely go outside to find water. If you have leaking faucets or plumbing, rodents may find water in the building. This is yet another thing that rodents need, and can attract them to your restaurant. It’s important to fix these things quickly in order to keep mice and rats out of your home or business.
ELIMINATING RODENTS FOR GOOD
If you’re having an issue with rodents or any other pest contact TermMax Pest Control today. We are the best Broken Arrow exterminator in the state. We service the greater Tulsa area including Owasso, Prattville, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Claremore, Coweta, Catoosa, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Jenks, Turley and much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!