Mistakes with Mouse Control
Ask someone about trapping mice and they will tell you about their experiences trapping the vermin. Mice are so common that everyone has likely encountered them. The problem with this sort of familiarity is that people overlook how easy it is to make mistake with mouse control. This blog posts lists the common mistakes with mouse control. I do this in the hopes that you won’t make these mistakes yourself.
Mistakes with Mouse Control
The following mistakes are not in any particular order. All of them are important. Have a look and see how many you have made.
- Failure to confirm the problem is mice. Mice often make their presence known by scratching sounds on the ceiling or in the walls. Pets spending close attention to walls or heating vents is another common sign of mice. The problem is that sometimes these noises are caused by flying squirrels. So if you didn’t confirm that the problem was mice, you may have poisoned flying squirrels which is an illegal use of poison. In addition, some states have legal protections for flying squirrels. So before you control, be sure the problem is actually caused by mice.
- Failure to thoroughly inspect. Cutting corners on inspecting structures for the presence of mice is a significant error. Too many pest control operators assume scratches on the ceiling must be mice. While the sounds could be mice, they could also be caused by flying squirrels, a species protected in some states and a species for which no toxicants may be legally used.
- Failure to use enough traps. I suggest using 24 traps for a 1,200 square foot home. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But you have to use enough traps or you end up harvesting mice rather than controlling them.
- Failure to pre-bait. Don’t set traps immediately. Instead, place them unset but baited. Condition the mice to interact with the trap. Then when you have you good action at the traps, then set them with the goal to catch all the mice at once.
- Reliance on glueboards. Do glueboards catch mice? Yes. But they often catch juvenile mice. Glueboards should only be used when other techniques are not working.
- Failure to perform exclusion. You must close holes and gaps in a home to prevent and reduce the likelihood of mouse entry.
- Failure to modify the habitat at the structure. This requires modifying bird feeders, removing cover, and removing food sources.
Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACE, is the owner of Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. He helps people restore their balance with nature through publishing, training, consulting, and the internet. He has published numerous articles in trade and academic publications available at {Stephen’s Academia.edu Page} along with several books {WCC Store}). Listen to his podcast “Living the Wild Life” at {Pest Geek Podcast}. Click the links for past {shows} and {interviews}. Please subscribe to {Stephen’s YouTube Channel} He is a sought after speaker and trainer. If you would like to have Stephen speak at your event or use his consultation services, send an e-mail to [email protected] Copyright All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.
Release a Trapped Opossum
Do you know how to release a trapped opossum (Didelphis virginianus)? Many people think that cage trapping is easy. Frankly, it is. But it is easy in the sense that following a recipe is easy. Everything is great if you follow the steps but the situation can turn badly if you fail to follow the steps. Of course, many people cut corners and the results can show. But there is a way that releasing a trapped opossum is different. Opossums, unlike cake ingredients, have minds of their own.
The following YouTube video explains how to properly release a trapped opossum. The reason for the instruction is two-fold. First, it’s important to understand the safety and animal welfare issues related to using cage traps and dealing with cage-trapped animals. I discuss these issues more fully in my book, Being Kind to Animal Pest rev ed. The second reason is that opossums are different than most animals. Most cage-trapped animals leave the trap almost immediately when the cage door opens. Opossums are different. They frequently just stay in the cage letting you wonder why the opossum hasn’t left. I explain how to handle that situation.
Keep in mind, that the release in the video was an on-site release. Do not translocate (often misnamed relocation) animals unless your state’s wildlife laws permit translocation. Translocation can be quite cruel and can endanger the translocated animal or other animals. To learn more visit Translocation.
Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACE, is the owner of Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. He helps people restore their balance with nature through publishing, training, consulting, and the internet. He has published numerous articles in trade and academic publications available at {Stephen’s Academia.edu Page} along with several books {WCC Store}). Listen to his podcast “Living the Wild Life” at {Pest Geek Podcast}. Click the links for past {shows} and {interviews}. Please subscribe to {Stephen’s YouTube Channel} He is a sought after speaker and trainer. If you would like to have Stephen speak at your event or use his consultation services, send an e-mail to [email protected] Copyright All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.
29th Vertebrate Pest Conference
In early March, I was privileged to be in attendance at the 29th Vertebrate Pest Conference in Santa Barbara, California, March 3-5, 2020. This was my fourth or fifth time attending a VPC. The Vertebrate Pest Conference is the oldest and longest continuing running conference on wildlife damage management and wildlife control topics in the United States and possibly the world. It is truly the grand daddy of wildlife control training. It discusses structural vertebrate control as well as agricultural and public health vertebrate control.
The Vertebrate Pest Conference started in the 1960s in response to a perceived need for improved research and transfer of information on managing human-wildlife conflicts. Since that time, the conference occurs every other year, (even years), usually in California but there have been instances where the conference occurred in Nevada and Hawaii. I am told that the next Vertebrate Pest Conference in 2022 will occur in Reno, NV, so start planning.
I not only was an attendee, but I also presented on two topics. The first topic was titled, “M-44 Use Non-USDA Personnel in Montana between 2006-2019.” Montana is one of the few states that licenses private applicators to use M-44s to control coyotes (Canis latrans). I collected the use data and presented on that information as well as discussed implications.
My second topic was titled, “Temperature and Humidity Study in Cage and Box Traps: Implications for Animal Welfare.” This presentation was based on a research trial I did while I was at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Essentially, I placed temperature and humidity loggers in a cage and plasti-catch trap for over a year. A third one was placed between the two traps. The idea was to see what the conditions were in each of the traps. Turns out that the box trap was significantly warmer than the cage trap. Hotter traps can be useful for animals in the winter time, but in the summer can dramatically undermine animal welfare.
Both presentations will be published in the Proceedings of the 29th Vertebrate Pest Conference, which should be out before the end of 2020. I’ll update the publication status in a future blog, or you can visit my Academia.edu page.
Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACE, is the owner of Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. He helps people restore their balance with nature through publishing, training, consulting, and the internet. He has published numerous articles in trade and academic publications available at {Stephen’s Academia.edu Page} along with several books {WCC Store}). Listen to his podcast “Living the Wild Life” at {Pest Geek Podcast}. Click the links for past {shows} and {interviews}. Please subscribe to {Stephen’s YouTube Channel} He is a sought after speaker and trainer. If you would like to have Stephen speak at your event or use his consultation services, send an e-mail to [email protected] Copyright All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.
Bat Trapping
You may not have heard of bat trapping, but bat trapping is sometimes used by wildlife control operators (WCOs) to capture and remove bats from a structure. The concept is quite simple. You locate all the gaps in a structure and close the ones not being used by bats as
exits. Then for the holes bats use as exits, you install a bat trap which captures the bats as they exit the building. Bat trapping is an ingenious idea. It allows the WCO to show the client that the bats have been removed from the structure. As a marketing tool, it was very effective and it worked to remove bats from a structure too.
A couple of types of bat traps exist. The one pictured at the right was developed by Al LaFrance of New York state. He was a pioneer in bat control and used the device successfully for many years in the 1990s.
Problems with Bat Trapping
While bat traps have some key benefits, they also come with several disadvantages. It’s the disadvantages that cause the National Wildlife Control Operators Association and Bat Conservation International to oppose the use of bat traps (except for disease management or scientific research). The first problem with bat traps is that trapped bats can overheat and die. While trappers can make adjustments to make these deaths minimal to almost non-existent, it is hard to completely eliminate deaths in every use. The second problem is that with the emergence of white-nose syndrome, trapping bats could help transmit the fungal infection amongst bats more rapidly. The last problem with bat traps is that they are not needed to evict bats from a structure. Properly installed one-way doors, allow bats to leave but not return without requiring bats to be trapped.
Understand that these comments are not meant to condemn the inventors of bat traps. It is not fair to condemn inventors for problems (e.g. white-nose syndrome) that weren’t around when the traps were created. Bat traps have a role in bat management. It’s just a limited, but valuable role, namely for research and disease control. And for that advancement, we all should be grateful.
Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACE, is the owner of Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. He helps people restore their balance with nature through publishing, training, consulting, and the internet. He has published numerous articles in trade and academic publications available at {Stephen’s Academia.edu Page} along with several books {WCC Store}). Listen to his podcast “Living the Wild Life” at {Pest Geek Podcast}. Click the links for past {shows} and {interviews}. Please subscribe to {Stephen’s YouTube Channel} He is a sought after speaker and trainer. If you would like to have Stephen speak at your event or use his consultation services, send an e-mail to [email protected] Copyright All postings are the property of Stephen M. Vantassel and Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC. Text (not images) may be reprinted in non-profit publications provided that the author and website URL is included. If images wish to be used, explicit and written permission must be obtained from Wildlife Control Consultant, LLC.
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