Many consumers insist on self-diagnosing their own pest problems in an attempt to play WebPMP (Web Pest Management Professional). Before your search the internet for do-it-yourself ideas and solutions, be informed and learn common rodent myths and misconceptions. Let's face it, there is a lot of misinformation on the web.

Fiction: Mice and rats have no bones – that’s why they can squeeze into tight spaces.

Fact: Mice and rats are vertebrae rodents, but are muscularly flexible as an adaptation that affords them the ability to squeeze into tight spaces. This allows them to harbor and breed effectively.

Fiction: Rats can grow the size of domestic household cats, especially in urban areas where food is abundant.

Fact: Rats can grow abnormally large but not the size of an average household cat, which weighs about 10 lbs.

Fiction: Place peanut butter on a glue board catch more rodents. Glue traps without something on them don’t work.

Fact: Peanut weakens the stickiness of glue boards. It’s best to reserve this tactic for snap traps.

Fiction: For every human in an urban city, there’s one rat.

Fact: Reproduction of rodents doesn't depend on how many human sexist, but on conditions conducive to breeding and harboring.

Fiction: Catching a rat is the solution to a rat problem.

Fact: Rats become pregnant five times a year and average 14 offspring. Catching one rat won’t solve a rat problem.

Fiction: Rodents are a sign of poor sanitation. Rodents will feed only on filth.

Fact: Rodents prefer fresh food and clean surrounding but will infest any place at any time if given the opportunity and the right conditions for them to reproduce.

Fiction: Rats and mice are never seen during the day.

Fact: Rodents generally adapt to any environment if the conditions are correct. They’ll breed and harbor day or night, which is true especially in an urban environment for rats and mice.

Fiction: Mice and rats don’t have bladders and are urinating constantly.

Fact: They have bladders. The misconception lies in the fact they use their urine as a form of communication, which causes them to mark their territory constantly.

Fiction: Mice will become rats; so throw a lot of poison fast before they grow up.

Fact: Rats and mice are two different species and their control is equally different. They key to effective rodent control is to perform proper inspections and then provide a tailored, integrated treatment plan, not tossing around poison and hoping for the best.

Fiction: Rats are always aggressive, never shy.

Fact: Rats can become aggressive if cornered, but normally they’re shy and will try to run into an established burrow if they sense danger.

Thomas Pest Services has been solving rodent and insect problems for those that live, work and play in the Capital Region and surrounding towns like Chatham, Schenectady, Latham, Saratoga Springs and Queensbury with third generation experience. Rodent removal is serious, Thomas Pest Services is licensed in getting rid of rodents, contact us via phone at 1-877-518-2847, via web inquiry, Facebook or Twitter!

Thank you to Pest Management Professional Magazine for this information.