March 8, 2009—“There’s Oliver!” said Towson University junior Timothy Dadourian, as he watched a grey tiny furry field mouse scurry across his apartment living room.
Since he moved out on his own to finish his undergraduate degree last year, Dadourian, like thousands of college students across the nation, has made many new friends. Some of them even happen to have whiskers, claws and a reputation for scaring a human hundreds of times their size.

“I always know when a new mouse has moved into the apartment,” said Sandra Clausen, a Towson senior. She says she knows when she starts feeling like she is seeing things move from the corner of her eyes as she watches television in the evenings.

“The best places to check to find out if an apartment has a problem are to look behind the stove and refrigerator. The feces from rats and mice are always there,” said David Shumaker, owner of Shumaker Animal Control in Baltimore, Maryland. The feces look like tiny black pellets. Newer droppings will be shinny while older ones duller.

Evicting the rodents
While some may be receptive to allowing these critters to inhabit their home, others are less willing. It is common practice for rental agencies to hire a pest control specialist from Terminex, Western Pest Control or Orkin to handle the pest issue. Some residents, however, will face the problem head on.

“I would suggest you use snap traps,” said Shumaker. Shumaker suggests going to the Washington State University library website to find more information, “because it’s right.” Snap traps should be placed where rodents frequently visit. Finding these places is as simple as looking for areas in a dwelling that have gnaw marks, droppings or grease smudges along the wall, according to the Washington State University library.

“The first trap I ever set was a snap trap. When I found the mouse there was blood spattered across the kitchen floor and it took a long time to clean up,” said Clausen. “I was lucky it didn’t happen on the carpet. That was the last snap trap I used. Now I use the sticky traps,” she adds.

“I put out glue traps to catch the mice. It works a lot of the time,” said Dadourian about how he remedies his mouse troubles.

Other solutions include plugging in a low voltage ultra sonic wave producer. The inconspicuous device emits a sound that when the mouse comes near, creates an uncomfortably loud buzzing noise in rodent’s ears. These devices are a low cost remedy but only guaranteed to work in the same room the device is located because the waves cannot pass through walls.

The Washington State University library suggests mice traps be between five and 10 feet apart from each other while rat traps be no farther than 20 feet. There should always be more traps than rodents to increase the chance of catching one.

Luring rodents to the trap
“All mammals are attracted to the scent of peanut butter, except cats,” said Shumaker. Other baits used to lure mice and rats are gumdrops, nuts, oats, dried fruit and even bacon. Only a pea-sized amount of any bait should be on the trap according to the Washington State University library.

“Most young people today will call for help as soon as they hear a sound,” Shumaker. The business operates in each of Maryland’s counties and throughout most of Delaware.
While many apartment buildings in the Towson area are a shelter for all sorts of creatures, humans are less likely to embrace mice and other rodents into their homes.

Oliver has since died as a result of running directly over top of the sticky pad Dadourian placed under the heater. To finalize his fate, Dadourian flipped Oliver upside down and lowered him into a bowl of warm water. It only took a few seconds to take effect. Afterward, the mood in the room is only somber.