This school developed a significant problem with rodents after running a wild bird feeding project for its students (which they of course loved).
Unfortunately, if you have watched wild birds feeding, they throw plenty of food onto the ground below and that creates a great and reliable safe food source for the nocturnal rat and mouse population, who look to nest nearby. They will then hunker down during the day and come out at night to pick off the freely available food on the ground. And when rodents have a freely available and safe food source, they often breed very, very quickly.
A typical female mouse has between five and 10 litters per year and she can mate immediately after giving birth, meaning mice can birth a second litter as little as 25 days after the first. This quick maturation process gives mice immense breeding capabilities.
Female rats typically birth about six litters a year consisting of up to 12 rat pups, although 5-10 pups is more common. Rats reach sexual maturity after 4-5 weeks, meaning that a population can swell from two rats to around 1,250 in one year!
It wasn’t long before the rodents were gnawing through pipes and cables and causing mayhem, as well as introducing a health hazard.
There was also a build-up of rubbish in some areas providing a perfect harbouring environment.
The solution here involved four steps, beginning by cutting out the food source that attracted them in the first place (so the bird feeding project had to sadly come to an end). Phase two involved an external set-up by one of Pest Professionals’ RSPH Level II trained pest control technicians using a rodenticide-based treatment.
Once we were getting bait-take, a clean-up project was implemented, including appropriate cut and breathing protection in case any rats or mice or latrine areas were disturbed.
The last phase of the project was to proof the many access routes into the school buildings that were being used. Proofing needs to be the final phases with rodents, as if you trap them in or out of their nesting areas they can cause untold damage trying to get their way back in or out again.
As you can see, the proofing here was carried out with different types of galvanised steel mesh, cut to size and attached with masonry fittings with steel washers to secure.
