Drats! Here come the mice, rats
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Health officials and exterminators are warning O'ahu residents to expect a spike in the number of rodents with the arrival of the dry season.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The State Department of Health has issued an advisory urging residents across the state to prepare their homes by sealing wide gaps, putting screens on ceiling vents and repairing holes in walls around sewer and water pipes. The increase in mice population is expected through the early summer months.
Mark Hiyane, pest-control department manager for Xtermco Inc., opens a rodent bait box near a warehouse in Kaka'ako.
"A wet winter produced a bumper crop of grass and weed seeds, supplying plenty of food for mice and their offspring," said Glenn Sugioka, an East O'ahu supervisor in the state's Vector Control Branch. "When it starts getting dry and natural food supplies go away, mice will start migrating and looking for food, bringing them into someone's yard or home."
Keith Yakabe, a pest control consultant for Xtermco, noted a 50 percent increase in business over the past year for rodent-related problems. "The rodent population has increased in the past year or so and I think it's starting to peak as we get ready for the summer," Yakabe said.
Health officials warn that wild mice, as well as rats, can spread diseases such as salmonellosis, leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, lice, mites and murine typhus through fleas.
In 2004, there were 51 cases of murine typhus in Hawai'i — 31 on Maui, nine on Kaua'i, five on Moloka'i and six on O'ahu — and nine so far in 2005, all on Maui, according to Laura Lott of the Health Department.
With only six inspectors and a priority of West Nile Virus prevention, the Vector Control Branch has been unable to devote resources and time to the rodent problem, said program manager Gregory Olmstead. From January through March, the branch responded to 136 complaints about rats and 19 for mice.
Rats in school
Rats are different from mice. "Mice are easier to control," Yakabe said. "Rats are harder because to control them, you have to think three dimensional because they're in high places, running on beams, and nesting in attics."
There are three types of rats in Hawai'i: Norway rat, also called "sewer rat," roof rat and the Polynesian rat. The Norway is similar to the roof rat but larger and chunkier. Its tail is shorter than the length of its head and body. These rats are prolific breeders, with a gestation period of 21 to 23 days and the number of young averaging seven or eight. "These guys are bold; they're the bulls," said Keith Yakabe, a pest control consultant for Xtermco. The roof rat, however, is more common in Hawai'i, Yakabe said. Its tail is usually longer than its body and it typically inhabits warehouses and stores. The peak breeding period is February through March and May through June. The Polynesian rat has a dark tail and is smaller than the Norway and roof rats.
Students and staff at Nanakuli High & Intermediate School have been waging an ongoing battle with rodents for years.
Rats in Hawai'i
There are glue traps in nearly every room at the school. "All the classrooms have a mice problem but the (multipurpose building) is the only one I know of with rats," said 17-year-old senior Nikita Mendonca, editor in chief of Ka Leo 'O Nanakuli, the school's newspaper, which featured an article on the school's rodent problem in its March issue.
What is unusual about this year, however, is that students are seeing the rodents more often in daylight, Mendonca said.
A major concern during last month's staging of "Beauty and the Beast" by Nanakuli High & Intermediate's Performing Arts Program were that rats living in the school's multipurpose building would make an appearance.
"It doesn't do much for health and school pride when you have someone visiting and a rat passes by," Mendonca said.
Senior Tiarae Gututala, 17, observed that "they're extremely huge suckers: 6 or 7 inches long."
"When we have shows, we worry about what to do if they show up," Gututala added. "Our director told us, 'Whatever you do, don't scream.' "
Damaged wires
Rats aren't only scary, they're also destructive.
Nanakuli principal Levi Chang said wiring in one building had to be changed three straight years because of rodent damage.
"The health and safety of our students are not compromised," Chang said. "I think part of the problem is we're close to the mountains and when it gets hot, they come out. But this is a community with a lot of animals and (rodents) are a problem for everyone, not just us. The state comes out to our school but they're just hard to catch."
Damage to electrical wiring is a big problem caused by rodents. "They like the glue," said Robert "Bobby" Lopes, the Vector Control Branch's West O'ahu field supervisor.
Rats are extremely difficult to control once they are in a building, he said. "That's because for them, it's life or death, and for us, it's a job," Lopes said.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Mark Hiyane, pest-control department manager for Xtermco Inc., opens a rodent bait box near a warehouse in Kaka'ako.
