Tag Archives: rodent control

Rodent Removal Service

how to get rid of mice

“Sweetheart, you’re just going to have to trust me.  I’m getting rodent removal service out here today, and I have washed and cleaned your dance clothes already.”

“No, Mom!!  I can’t wear my costume ever, ever, ever!!  A mouse went pee-pee in it and you can’t wash that out, Mom.”

Mom spoke with more patience than she felt, but she could easily see where this conversation with her six-year-old dancer was headed.  “Emmy, we don’t have another costume for you.  Trust me, I’m the Mommy.  I have washed and bleached your costume, and it’s clean enough for you to wear today.  Please put it on now, or we’re going to be late.”

“I just can’t wear it, Mom!!  I don’t want to go to practice if I can’t wear my costume.  It’s not the same.”

“But, you CAN wear your costume, honey.  It’s clean now.”

“But, what if another mouse already peed in it after you washed it?”

“It’s been in the dryer ever since I washed it last night, so you’re safe.”

“How can you be sure a mouse didn’t get in the dryer?”
Mom felt the patience slipping away.  She had to admit to herself, she would probably have felt the same way at that age.  They had found the mouse in amongst the clean clothes yesterday when it jumped out at her as she pulled items out to fold.  She considered herself the kind of woman who wasn’t afraid of anything, much less mice, snakes, rats or spiders.  But, when a mouse jumped right out of the clean clothes hamper and over her hand before it streaked across the floor and disappeared under a counter, she couldn’t help but let out a screech and knock over the entire hamper of clean laundry.  Heart still beating, she’d used a broom handle to “stir” the clothes to make sure the laundry held no more nasty surprises, and washed and bleached the entire load immediately.  Unfortunately, when she’d explained to her daughter why she was re-washing her dance clothes, her daughter apparently vowed she would never wear them again.

She was expecting the rodent removal service to arrive any moment, and since she had to take her daughter to dance practice, her oldest son was going to wait for them and show them where the mouse had disappeared.  She hoped the rodent removal service would quickly get rid of the mice and effectively block up their holes, making sure mice didn’t get back in the house.  Of course, if her daughter kept this up, she might not ever have to take her to dance practice again.

It was another twenty minutes before she could convince her daughter of the sanitary condition of the clothes.  She had to explain how bleach works, how the washer works and the effectiveness of laundry detergent before her daughter dubiously gave in and changed into the costume.  She just hoped the rodent removal service was effective enough she would never, ever have to have this conversation with her daughter again.

Rodent Control

I began my career in rodent control as a 12-year old kid trying to make a few bucks to fix up my bike just the way I wanted.  Mom and Dad believed if I wanted something really badly, I had to find a way to pay for it, and today I’m happy they taught me the importance of self-reliance.  I’m not sure how happy Mom was that I chose to make that money through rodent control, though.  She was more than concerned over my safety and health, but after Mom’s long lectures, Dad’s lessons in trapping rodents and exterminating rodents, and many promises and reassurances from me, I was finally able to start my business.

Mom had hoped that I would’ve earned money through babysitting and lawn mowing, but my friends and I saw a real need for rodent control that summer.  For some reason, as the snows melted that spring, voles, mice, rats, gophers and moles were out in force.  It seemed like the whole neighborhood was fighting off rodents.  I’d heard Dad complaining about it loudly enough when he discovered trails of dead grass snaking through the yard.  Our lawn looked like a roadmap of seemingly random vole trails.  Mom and some of her friends were chatting over coffee one spring morning, alternating between horror stories of mice in the pantry or rats in the walls, and sharing ideas on how to get rid of mice and the best ways to exterminate rats.  We lived in a nice enough neighborhood, so no one understood why we were under attack that year.

So, my friends and I walked around a few neighborhoods, offering rodent control.  Our nose for business steered us right to easy money.  Fifteen cents for each mouse or rat we caught, twenty cents for each vole, and a whopping thirty cents for catching gophers or moles.  We experimented with all different kinds of bait, traps, techniques, and yes, rat poison.  Mom put a stop to us using the poisons, though, until the following year when I could prove I was wise and mature enough to use it safely.

We went inside people’s homes, crawling around on the floor to find mouse holes or rat droppings.  We’d set the traps, come back later to get rid of dead mice or dead rats, set more traps.  When we stopped catching rodents from that hole, we’d block it up as best we could.  If rodents came back, so would we.

The best part of the job, though, was rodent control out in the yards.  My friends and I would scout through the lawn looking for vole holes or vole damage.  Gopher holes and mole mounds were easy to spot.  We got to spend our summer afternoons together outside, under the warm sun, joking and laughing and catching voles, trapping gophers or getting rid of moles.  We’d earn a few cents each time and go home tired, happy and a little bit richer.  By the end of the summer, I got my bike fixed up just the way I liked, and my friends and I were talking about how we could expand our business.  We took care of my neighborhood’s rodent control for years after that, and I got a real sense on how to run a business and have fun at the same time.