Drought may make rodent problem worse
By WBZ-TV's Mike Sullivan
HOPKINTON - Your lawn isn't the only thing searching for water this Summer. Rodents may be seeking a drink inside your home.
"For a field mouse, it could be your basement attic, or inside the walls," tells Joe Dingwall, President of Catseye Pet Control. "For rats it's often a high water table, or wet basement and crawls spaces."
Exterminators say the drought has mice and rats heading into homes and businesses in search of some H20. Mice need a few drops a day, while rats need roughly an ounce. It forces those larger rodents to find a water source. Dingwall says they have been fielding a record number of rodent calls year after year. They believe it is a product of the pandemic. As our habits shifted, so did the rodents'.
"Rats and mice are used to feeding on those full dumpsters in the city, then all of sudden those depleted, and we started seeing rats and mice in new areas that we had never seen before," tells Dingwall.
The drought is also making an impact on bats. The lack of rain is depleting the number of locations where mosquitos can breed. The nuisance bugs are a major food source for bats.
Catseye typically sees bat issues rise in June, however this year that spike is coming in August.