Restaurant owners have plenty to be concerned about on any given day. They have food orders, shipments coming in and accounting issues that have to be dealt with on a daily basis. In addition to this, one thing that is gets forgotten in many cases are pest control issues. Mice and other rodents are a huge problem for restaurants. It’s important that owners of restaurants be on top of these issues making sure that they have no problems in this area. Let’s talk about rodents, mice and the issues that they present.
THE NEEDS OF MICE
Mice need three things to survive. These three things are harborage, food and water. Harborage is basically a fancy word for a place to stay. Mice can find a place to stay just about anywhere. They simply look for a place to hide and protect themselves from the weather. But the cold can drive them into buildings with heat. That includes your restaurant. When the temperatures drop, rodents will look for places such as your garbage dumpster or inside your building if they can get inside. Small cracks and crevices in the walls are easy for mice to get through. Mice can get through a crack or gap as small as the size of a dime. Their rib cages are flexible so they can maneuver through tight places easily. If they can get their head through a hole, they can get their body through.
Because of this, they can find their way into your building. Once they do, they will set up shop and start multiplying quickly. Mice find themselves at the bottom of the food chain. Because of this, one of the ways that they protect themselves is by reproducing exponentially. This keeps their numbers high even though they are heavily predicated. Female mice can still mate even in the last few weeks of their pregnancy. That means that they could become pregnant again before they’ve had their first litter. They can actually stay pregnant for most of their lives if they find themselves in a place where they flourish. Because of this it’s easy for a restaurant to get overrun quickly if mice find their way in.
FOOD AND CHEWING
The second thing that mice look for is food. Restaurants are full of food. Your pantry, kitchen and dry goods are all places where you could find a mouse infestation. Mice tend to nest close to their food. This keeps them safe because they don’t have a long trip to and from their food source. These rodents are considered omnivores. That means that they can eat either meat or vegetables.
They also have long front teeth that they can use to chew through things. Plastic bags, drywall or wooden boxes can be chewed through by a mouse. In fact, mice actually have to chew on things from time to time. Their front teeth never stop growing, so if they stop chewing on things, they never get the opportunity to trim them back. If their front teeth continue to grow without being trimmed then they will eventually not be able to eat food, and they’ll starve.
RODENTS AND DISEASE
Mice are vectors for many different kinds of diseases. The bubonic plague is one of the most famous diseases that mice and rats carried throughout England. The bubonic plague is still with us. We have it in many parts of southern United States. There are anabiotic’s now to treat it, but it must be treated early. But at the end of the day, there are many diseases like the bubonic plague that are carried by mice. Therefore if a mouse gets inside your food goods, they could spread disease quickly. Because of this, health inspectors are very concerned about mice and other rodents infestations. You have to stay on top of them. It’s important to call your Tulsa exterminator in order to create an integrated pest management system that will Control and maintain these pests.
Lastly mice require water. This is the easiest for them to get. They can find a way back outside if need be, and find water in many places in the great outdoors. But if you have any kind of leaking faucets or standing water, they can also use this. Mice also have the ability to get moisture from the food they eat. So damp food and wet morsels are prime pickings for these rodents. It’s important to keep all food away from them in every case.
CONTROLING MICE
There are a few ways of controlling mice that your Broken Arrow exterminator will use to take care of these pests. Most commonly used measure is rodent bait. This bait is usually food flavored with some sort of poison in it. These poisons will usually fall into two categories. You have anticoagulants, and non-anticoagulants. Anticoagulants make it so that the blood can no longer clot. Mice constantly bleed, as they chew through things and get small cuts inside the mouth. If they have eaten this anticoagulant it will cause them to bleed to death. The non-anticoagulants are poisons that attack some other part of the body. In many cases, these poisons attacked their nervous system and caused a fairly quick death.
Poisons that are found in rat baits and mouse baits are activated by water. Once the rodent eats these baits, they will get thirsty and go outside, drink and die. So in many cases, you don’t necessarily have to worry about a dead mouse or rat dying in a wall and then creating a bad smell.
ELIMINATING MICE FOR GOOD
If you’re having issues with rodents, mice or any other pests, it’s time to call in a professional Broken Arrow pest control company. Here at TermMax Pest Control, we are the best in the business of taking care of rodents, mice, rats and any other restaurant issues that you may have. We serve the greater Tulsa area including Claremore, Catoosa, Sand Springs, Coweta, Sapulpa, Prattville, Owasso, Turley, Bixby, Jenks, Broken Arrow and much more. Call today for a free in home estimated. We’re here to help!