How Pet Business Owners Manage Mice Infestations

question:

How are you guys managing pests? I’m getting slammed with mice.

• We have two store cats at one location, three at the other. They all eat into various things (we have a discount code for “Cats Love It!”), but overall they chew into less than mice would. — Theresa Moreno Sexton, For Healthy Pets, Montgomery, AL
• Find out who your nearest feed or grocery store just switched to and use that company. We also use contraceptive bait. — Jessi Brothers, Sam’s Cats & Dogs, Monroe, WA
• We have pest control come in monthly. We are in a 300-plus-year-old building near the waterfront, so we have to be on top of things. — Sherri DeChaine, WOOF! WOOF! Pet Boutique & Biscuit Bar, Bristol, RI
• Sealed kill traps (no poison) with a special attractant. We use steel wool in every crack and still have mice eating through sheetrock/moving wool. We are changing sweeps on exterior doors to help prevent mice from coming in! It’s hard to cover every mouse-sized opening with a 30,000 square-foot-older building! Plus, our Umbrella Cockatoo, Gabe, throws food on the floor for them. — Kim Sykes, K9 Manners & More, Broken Arrow, OK
• We did so many ultrasonic mouse deterrents, the rats went to either side of us. — Corey Heenan, Boutique and Pet Spa, Altamont, NY
• Poison, out of reach of public. And do a dead mouse sweep every morning. — Scott Tripp, Wagabonz, Galveston, TX

Editor’s note: All answers printed with permission, edited for clarity and length. Join the private PETS+ Facebook Community for retailers and service providers at facebook.com/groups/petsplusmagcommunity.