Trapping is the safest and most effective method for controlling rats and mice in and around homes, garages, and other structures. Rodents that live in close association with humans are called commensal rodents. Rats and mice are the most frequently encountered commensal rodents in California.

Selecting the correct trap

Before trapping, make sure you know what rodent pest you have. It is a very common mistake to select the wrong size trap when you have not yet determined whether you have mice or rats (and the correctly identified rat species).

You will not catch a rat with a mouse trap, and you will not catch a mouse with a rat trap. To determine...

Gophers are well-known and certainly unwelcome pests in landscapes, gardens, lawns, and athletic turf. More correctly called pocket gophers, these rodents mostly remain hidden underground in tunnels and feed on plants from below, sometimes pulling whole plants into their tunnels. They prefer herbaceous plants but will eat a wide range of vegetation.

A single gopher can destroy a landscape quickly, so control measures need to begin as soon as the gopher is detected. Mounds of fresh soil are usually the first indication of their presence. Effective integrated management of pocket gophers relies largely on exclusion measures and trapping, although poison baits are also available.

Read more about gophers, their behavior, and...

Although they're small, cute, and furry, ground squirrels can be a real pest for California residents and gardeners. Found throughout California, burrowing ground squirrels cause damage to landscapes and structures while feeding on ornamental or food-bearing plants.

How can you get rid of ground squirrels?

There are several management options for ground squirrels. They might include:

• habitat modification
• exclusion
• trapping
• fumigation and toxic baits

It's important to understand the life cycle and behavior of ground squirrels for...

Rodenticides continue to come under scrutiny in California due to issues surrounding the potential for nontarget injury to wildlife and pets. While California already has the strictest rodenticide laws and regulations in the country, there have been recent calls to ban all rodenticide applications in the state. Several Assembly Bills (AB 2596, AB 1687, and AB 2422) have been introduced proposing either bans or major restrictions on rodenticide applications.

Anticoagulant rodenticides have been detected in many species of wildlife worldwide; yet the origins, exposure pathways, and effects of these exposures are not well understood. The origins of these rodenticide exposures from point of application to point of...