The Department of Health’s Environmental Health Section advises that if you have noticed increased rodent activity on your property, to please contact Vector Control for assistance at 278-5397. Vector Inspectors will conduct a property assessment, provide rodent-proofing advice, and recommend required bait boxes.
“Rodents can cause considerable damage to personal property and structures and carry disease,” commented Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP. “They breed every three months,and a mouse can produce up to 48 babies per year, and one rat can produce approximately 25 babies yearly. Rodents are excellent climbers and swimmers and can enter structures through tiny holes or gaps around windows, doors, plumbing venting and roofs”.
Here are some tips that can assist with controlling the population of rodents in your neighborhood:
Proper Waste Management
·Adequate garbage disposal containers with lids
·Only placing garbage outside on scheduled trash collection days
·Direct disposal of garbage at the Tynes Bay Facility
·Reduce harborage that provides breeding conditions such as paper boxes, lawn debris, trash and old equipment
Pets, Pet Food, and Composting
·Ensure that pet food spillage and excess is cleaned up or secured (e.g. pet birds, rabbits, cats, dogs)
·Do not feed feral/wild animals
·Only use rodent-proof composting boxes
·Discard lawn clippings and vegetation appropriately at Marsh Folly Composting Facility
Rodent bait boxes are used as a safe way to distribute poisons which protect domestic animals. They can be purchased for $15 each from Vector Control / Environmental Health. The servicing and monitoring of bait boxes by Vector Inspectors is free of charge. For more information about rodent control, visit https://www.gov.bm/rodent-control.