Several human diseases are associated with rodent infestations. Rodents can carry more than 200 human pathogens. Salmonellosis is a serious intestinal disorder that can be transmitted to people who ingest food contaminated by salmonella bacteria in rat urine or feces. Murine typhus, leptospirosis, listeriosis and trichinosis are other rat-transmitted diseases. The tropical rat mite, an external parasite of rats, causes severe itching and skin irritation in people. Rats have occasionally been known to bite sleeping people; these bites can result in an infection known as rat bite fever. Plague bacteria can be transmitted from rats to people through the bite of rat fleas. Over $120 million is spent in the U. S. alone each year on rodent "control" programs.

1. Sanitation: Institute good daily cleaning procedures, food storage and garbage removal. Use 1 - 2 oz. per gallon of water Safe Solutions, Inc. Enzyme Cleaner with Peppermint and borax (½ cup per gallon of water) to clean and help remove urine, excrement and food particles in all infested or suspect areas on a routine basis. All fiberglass insulation should be removed from around refrigerator and freezer condensers and motors. Keep exterior areas clean, close mown and trimmed. Glue traps should be checked daily and any trapped mice removed and disposed of in a dumpster. Live traps should be checked daily and mice drowned in a pail then disposed of in a dumpster. All trash bags should be removed as soon as possible. Doubled trash bags should be used to prevent leakage. Also, it is important that both of these bags be securely tied shut to prevent leakage into the dumpster. Dumpsters should be cleaned with diluted Safe Solutions, Inc. Enzyme Cleaner with Peppermint and/or borax (at the above-mentioned rates) twice per month in winter and weekly in summer to remove any food residue. All equipment, floors and walls also need to be routinely sanitized to remove food residue and mouse urine and/or excrement.

2. Exclusion: All gaps around plumbing pipes and holes in walls and floors should be repaired or at least plugged with steel wool and/or aerosol foam insulation. Remove all exterior debris.

3. Eating Areas: All eating must be in clearly designated areas only so that custodial staff can ensure it is cleaned up.

4. Food Storage: It is extremely important that all food (and garbage) be properly stored in heavy duty plastic, glass or metal containers. Items such as noodles, flour and grain products that are open must be stored in these containers to prevent contamination. Storage pallets must be 18+" away from walls so inspections can be made. Please remember that proper sanitation, exclusion and food storage are the key elements to successfully combating any rodent problems. Trapping or baits will not eliminate the reason for the mice being present anywhere.

5. Set live multiple catch traps or glue boards baited with a Cheerio or little piece of cookie wherever you see any droppings.

6. Other Rodents Controls: Make a "Walk-the-Plank®" trap (see inset) by putting 7" of water in the bottom of a 5- gallon pail covered with a 3" of floating oats or sunflower seed and a yard stick or board up to the rim. For rats, use a garbage can filled 2/3's with water. Beer, e.g., Bud Light, or Pepsi that still has its "fizz" will kill rats and other rodents. (They can not get rid of the gas.) Mice and voles die when fed baits with vitamin D. Dried pea diets sterilize mice.

7. Repellants: Peppermint will often repel mice, so routinely clean with Safe Solutions, Inc. Enzyme Cleaner with Peppermint.

8. Outside - "Fumigate" active burrows with carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. (You can use lit charcoal briquettes to create the carbon monoxide. You can use dry ice or a cylinder of CO₂ to create the carbon dioxide.)

If you are still seeing rodents &read The Best Control© or The Best Control II© on CD-ROM. Contact Get Set, Inc. @ 1-616-677-1261 or at: www.getipm.com.  Purchase The Best Control© on-line at:  Safe2Use

Note: Fourteen cents is the rattail bounty for the 1997 rat season in Bangladesh. In 1996, Bangladesh bounty hunters killed 2.6 million rats. Anyone who kills 10,000 rats wins a color television.

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