Dr. Bobby Corrigan is a true expert when it comes to rodent control – he’s been consulting on urban pest management for more than 30 years, has published more than 160 articles and is in the Pest Management Hall of Fame.
We caught up with him to discuss the state of the rodent management industry and to talk about common entry points. Corrigan says the demand for rodent control services has grown 25-30 percent over the last few years, proving the strength of the rodent problem.
“Interestingly, there seems to be a tremendous surge in the urban rodent situation the last 10 years, and it shows no signs of letting up. We used to think well there’s a rat in the garage or there’s mice in the house, we need to get something to kill it. But now we know these rats or mice are carrying diseases, serious diseases, and a mouse in the house, if we keep it simple and take an ordinary ranch house in suburbia … that can be a big deal. So, the whole thing is what is your professional service to control rats and mice.
“It’s not as simple as showing up and putting out poisons or baits and say we just baited or trapped like we’ve been doing for 100 years. Why should we be putting out poisons when we should be getting them out of the house to begin with by keeping the house clean. I’m a fanatic about that.”
Dr. Corrigan’s three common entry points:
- Penetrations
- Gaps
- Holes
“Any penetration like a line that enters a home – a utility line, a plumbing line, a cable line, anything that goes through a wall and you do not seal properly the rodents will follow that line where the penetration comes out.
“For gaps or holes, if it’s more than a 6 mm gap it allows a mouse in, if it’s more than a 12 mm gap, it allows a rat in. As you drive down the street you look at people’s garage doors and if you see light leaking from the garage door, that gap – a little gap makes it easy for them to enter.”