Pest Control - Rodents
The Pest Control Team offers a service for the treatment of rats and mice.
How to tell you have a rodent problem
You may hear rodents or find droppings. Mouse droppings are approximately 2-5mm long pellet shaped, and brown rat droppings are approximately 2 cm long capsule shaped.
You may also find damage to food stuffs, furniture or wires. Smear marks can be found around heavily used entry points and pipe work.
The word 'Rodent' means 'To Gnaw'; they have to do this to keep their incisors short as they do not stop growing. Mice and rats can gnaw through electric cables which could spark and set fire to flammable material.
They also urinate and lay droppings very often as they have no control over their bladder or bowels and can contaminated surfaces. They will damage most materials to collect nesting i.e shredding dish clothes, boxes, plastic packets. Their life span in the wild is approximately a year.
How to contact us if you want help
If you think you have a problem and would like us to help, call Customer Services on 01730 234360.
Please see our Fees and Charges page for more information on how much it could cost (in some circumstances the treatment is free).
Your responsibilities if you have an infestation
Rats and mice can carry disease and damage property. If an infestation is left untreated it may affect other neighbouring properties too. You have a responsibility as an owner or occupier to take effective action to keep your land free from rats and mice.
If there is a rodent infestation and a resident fails to take effective action, we can take legal action against them.
Rodents on someone else's land or property
If there is a rat or mouse infestation and you believe it may be affecting your property and your neighbour is not taking effective action to treat the pest you can make a complaint to the council.
You need to provide details on the type of infestation, the accurate location of the problem and if possible, the details of the landowner. We will then investigate the problem and if appropriate ensure that your neighbour takes effective steps to treat the infestation.
We may need to come back to you to ask for more details, so we will also need your name, address and contact telephone number.
What we will do
The Pest Control Officers will visit your home and where possible, establish where the rodents are coming from, what routes they are taking or where they are nesting. They may suggest that you stop feeding the birds whilst the treatment is ongoing, as rodents often eat fallen bird food. They may also suggest ways to proof your home against rodents.
Additionally, appropriate baits will be laid and these will need to be checked, usually on a weekly basis, to add further bait or remove the bait if there is no further evidence of rodent activity.
Safety precautions for bait
Baits are usually left in inaccessible positions (such as in lofts) or in locked boxes. We obviously ask you to ensure that no member of your house moves, touches or removes any of the baits laid by our officers. However, if you suspect that a pet has consumed any or part of the bait, you should take the animal to a vet, who can give the antidote which is Vitamin K1.
Please do not worry that your cat may eat a poisoned rodent and become ill, the poisons we use to treat for rodents are not considered to be "secondary killer" poisons - this means that if your cat were to eat a dead poisoned rodent, it would not be harmed.
Where a treatment for rodents is ongoing but the householder does not follow any advice we give to try to enable the treatment to either be effective or prevent future infestations, the Council reserves the right to withdraw this service.
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