Rodents - Rats and Mice

Rats

The Norway rat is the largest of the commensal rodents and the most common in the temperate regions of the world. Similar to mice, rats are a major nuisance due to their gnawing habits. Rats' front teeth grow incredibly fast. They need to gnaw on things to wear their teeth down and keep them at a more manageable length. These gnawing habits can cause considerable damage. Rats defecate indiscriminately within their territories, but mostly where they feed. This means they consistently eat and contaminate stored food, which is of considerable health importance as they also transmit a number of diseases including the plague and murine typhus.

Norway rats reach sexual maturity in 2-5 months. Pregnancy lasts an average of 23 days. The young pups are weaned at about 3-4 weeks and reach sexual maturity at 8-12 weeks. The average umber of litters is 3-6 per year, each containing an average of 7-8 young. Adults live an average of 5-12 months in towns and cities, but much longer in captivity. The key to any rat control program is pest identification, sanitation, harborage elimination, and rat proofing the building. Similar to mice, it is important to take care of your rat problem early because they reproduce fast and can quickly become a major infestation.

Mice

A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (Mus musculus). It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles. They are known to invade homes for food and occasionally shelter.

Although mice may live up to two and a half years in captivity, the average mouse in the wild lives only about four months, primarily owing to heavy predation. Cats, wild dogs, foxes, birds of prey, snakes and even certain kinds of arthropods have been known to prey heavily upon mice. Nevertheless, because of its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, and its ability to live commensally with humans, the mouse is one of the best successful mammalian genus living on Earth today. 

Mice can at times be harmful rodents, damaging and eating crops, causing structural damages and spreading diseases through their parasites and feces. In North America, breathing dust that has come in contact with mouse excrements has been linked to hantavirus, which may lead to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). The original motivation for the domestication of cats is thought to have been for their predation of mice and their relatives, the rats.  Primarily nocturnal animals, mice compensate for their poor eyesight with a keen sense of hearing, and rely especially on their sense of smell to locate food and avoid predators.