How To Keep Rats And Mice Out Of Your Pharmaceutical Facility

When managing a pharmaceutical storage facility, rats and mice are significant pests that you must consider. While you may not store food and have that threat inside your building, rodents naturally look for places to escape the outside and build comfortable nests. You’ll notice that certain times of the year are more active than others, especially in the colder months.

The winters can be brutal in New Jersey, so having a place to seek refuge makes your building a target for an infestation. Mice and rats both have bodies that are built to climb, and they also have teeth that can chew through many materials. Their teeth are so sharp that they can cut like a knife. Their claws help them to hold firm to any surface while climbing.

Additionally, their tales are elongated for a reason: they need them to help them balance as they climb through pallets and shelving in your facility. Compromised products mean a loss of revenue, and it can be a costly problem when mice or rats move into your building. You must be one step ahead of these critters, as they can chew through cardboard, drywall, insulation, wood, and even plastic.

Since they have so many distinguishing features, it helps them be tenacious when finding and establishing a home base.

Ways to Keep Vermin Out of Your Building

Another major issue that can add even more trouble to a pharmaceutical storage facility is the rate at which mice and rats reproduce. Before you know it, you have a problem, and you can be overrun with vermin costing you thousands of dollars in damages and ruined products. Thankfully, there are things that you can do to keep these critters at bay.

1. Do Regular Inspections for Clues of Infestations

The most important thing you can do to help your facility is to conduct regular inspections. Some things slip by you daily as you’re in a hurry and focused on the job. However, it would help to enhance your senses and always be on guard regarding these vermin, as they’re very intelligent critters.

While walking through your facility, look for droppings. You will see droppings if mice and rats are moving about in your building. They automatically defecate upon movement, and since they don’t sit still much, you’ll see the evidence. The droppings of a rat are much larger than mice, but any fecal matter is cause for alarm.

It would help if you looked for oil marks on the walls along with that fecal matter. Rodents, especially rats, use identified routes to travel their area. These routes feel safe for them, so they will use them constantly. Look for oil smears on the walls that transfer from their fur to the surface. If you have a heavy infestation in your building, seeing droppings and oil smears on the walls means it’s time for action.

Do you see any signs of chewing? Rodents use those sharp teeth to shred materials for nesting. They’re not picky as they will use whatever they can find. They’ll chew through paper, plastic, wood, and anything that helps them build a comfy resting place. If you see chew marks on things and signs of nest building, it’s an indication that you need professional pest control.

2. Seal off Any Entry Points

Humans see things at eye level, so it’s easy to overlook potential entry points. You need to get down to the level of a rodent and see where and how they’re getting into the facility. For instance, a big problem is around the overhead doors.

The seals on these doors notoriously become worn from age and the elements. Add to this the fact that these doors are open often, and it’s an easy entry point for anything that crawls. Around plumbing is another place where rodents like to gain entry.

The walls are often cut out to allow the plumbing to run into the facility. Sadly, the pipes are easy for them to climb and use as a ladder throughout your building. The holes allow them to climb inside with ease. Please don’t fill these holes with blow-in insulation, as it won’t stop them.

You need to fill them with steel wool or another product they cannot penetrate with their teeth. Look for any holes or openings about the size of a dime. If you can fit a pencil through it, they can use it as an entry point. While looking for spaces, don’t forget to look at the foundation.

It’s easy for cracks or voids to appear in foundations as they shift and settle. These cracks might not seem important from a structural standpoint, but you must remember that vermin can easily squeeze their bodies into these spaces. An area that most people don’t consider is the roofline.

Rats love to travel across tree limbs and into openings near the HVAC system. The Norway rat has tree climbing down to a science, so they’ll look for branches that act as “ladders” to help them get inside. Also, any places on the roof drawing moisture or having voids that can weaken the structure can easily be gnawed through to gain entry.

3. Regularly Maintain Trash and Debris in and Around Your Facility

Good help is so hard to find these days, but there are some things you need to ensure get done, even if nothing else. Your trash and debris piles around the outside of the building are attractive to rodents. Is the trash in the breakroom getting emptied daily?

Ironically, rats and mice can smell food up to ten miles away, so your building will become a lot more attractive to them if there are some morsels of food lying around. Keep your trash cans covered and emptied into a main container outside. Don’t leave boxes or pallets sitting around, as these are perfect for them to use as nesting materials.

Why Are Pharmaceutical Facilities Targeted by Critters?

Any ample space that provides shelter and the opportunity for nourishment is a potential target of mice and rats. It’s best to have professional help to devise a pest control plan for you. Not only do you want to keep these critters at bay, but you must also be on guard for things like roaches, spiders, termites, and other things that can get inside.

Partnering with a pest control company with ample experience and knowledge of preventing and managing issues is valuable. Pharmaceuticals is a big dollar industry, and you don’t want to lose one penny of revenues when it can be avoided. Are you doing everything you can to keep rats and mice at bay?

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