Pest Control Myths and FAQs

Of Mice and Myths

MYTH — After eating rodenticides, mice will go outside looking for water.
Truth — Mice seldom if ever consume free water. They get all the moisture they need from their food. There is not now, nor has there EVER been any truth to the line about “going looking for water”. It is, quite simply, a lie that exterminators have been telling for many years in order to get jobs.

MYTH — Because they die outside you will never smell them.
TRUTH — We have no control over where mice die from rodenticides. But keep in mind: mice only live about 90 days. They breed six at a time every six weeks. Do the math: they have been dying inside your house right along! However, since the body fluids in a mouse amount to only about 2cc (half a teaspoon) there just isn’t much to a dead mouse to create an odor. And THAT is why you seldom smell them.

MYTH — The poor things bleed to death!
TRUTH — Rodenticides, for the most part, are anticoagulants. A/Cs thin blood. Blood carries oxygen to muscles, heart and brain. Thin blood doesn’t do a very good job of this. What happens when your muscles, heart and brain don’t get enough oxygen? Asphyxiation. That is what kills the rodent. Other products do the opposite… they thicken the blood. The heart can’t pump mud. Same result.

MYTH — We spray for mice.
TRUTH — There has never been a liquid spray for rodent control. If someone tells you he will “spray your house for mice” you should get that in writing then call DEM’s Division of Agriculture and ask for Pesticide Enforcement. 222-2781 There are fines for lying to customers about pesticides. I am sure the Department of Business Regulation would like to hear this story too!

MYTH — Cats control mice.
TRUTH — Cats that grow up wild MAY kill mice. Hungry cats MAY eat mice. Many house cats catch them and play with them and some ignore them altogether.

MYTH — Rodenticides are hazardous to cats. If my cat eats a mouse he will get sick from the pesticide.
TRUTH — Rodenticides are formulated to mitigate secondary toxicity. In other words: Cats eating mice are not likely to become sick from eating a poisoned mouse. At least not any more sick than they should get from eating a mouse to begin with!

Ant Tales

MYTH — Carpenter Ants eat wood.
TRUTH — Carpenter ants DO NOT eat wood. They chew it up to make voids that they can nest and travel in. Soft, wet and rotten wood is easier to chew, so it’s their favorite target.

MYTH — You can’t have Carpenter Ants and Termites
TRUTH — Ummm… yes, you can. In fact carpenter ants will move into termite infested wood, enlarge the holes for their own uses and dine very happily on termites.

MYTH — If my neighbor’s house was treated for termites the treatment is going to push them to my house.
TRUTH — Termite colonies are huge. Several houses in a neighborhood may, indeed, share a termite colony and treating one house among them, thereby making it off limits to the termites, will doubtless make them more active in the other infested homes. But you can’t cause a termite infestation in one house by treating another. You can, however, SOLVE a termite problem in one house by treating another, usually with a baiting system. Termites feeding at both the Jones house and the Smith house are affected by bait brought into the colony from the Smith’s and activity suddenly dies off at the Jones’s. It could happen.

MYTH — You can’t get rid of Carpenter Ants.
TRUTH — This is another story created by some pest control people. Generally BAD pest control people. It is much easier to blame ones failure on the problem at hand than on one’s own ability or lack thereof. What they should really be saying is, “I don’t know HOW to solve your problem. You need to call Coventry Pest Control!”