Rats and mice can be a problem in urban, suburban and rural areas since these rodents eat practically anything humans eat. Rats create serious problems for business. They eat food and contaminate it with urine and excrement. They gnaw into materials such as paper, books, wood or upholstery which they use as nest material. They also gnaw plastic, cinder blocks, soft metals such as lead and aluminum, and wiring which may cause a fire hazard.

Rats occasionally bite people and may kill small animals. They, or the parasites they carry, (such as fleas, mites and worms) spread many diseases.

A female rat can have up to 84 young in her life span, which averages about a year in the wild. They can burrow long distances from nest to food sources, reducing their exposure to predators. The tunnels may extend 4 vertical feet into the earth. They can scale walls and walk across telephone wires with ease. They are excellent swimmers--capable of navigating a half mile through open water. They are amazingly resilient, easily surviving falls up to 50 feet.

House mice do not pose as serious a problem as rats, but they can be quite a nuisance. They also eat and contaminate food with their urine and droppings; may gnaw on wiring creating a fire hazard, and they can transmit some diseases.