Rats and mice run amok in Adelaide suburbs, following ideal breeding conditions in wet summer

Pest controllers are being swarmed with demands to clear out rats and mice, which are abundant thanks to a wet summer and a year of reduced traffic.

Mice and rats are running rampant in the suburbs – emboldened by the drop in road traffic last year due to COVID-19, pest controllers say.

While the traffic has returned with a vengeance, Mark Hosking, from Allstate Pest Control, says inspectors are still experiencing a 30 per cent increase in call-outs for vermin compared to last year, heading to at least 30 homes a day.

Mr Hosking said rats and mice hadn’t lost the confidence they gained last year, when car and people movement dropped.

“The industry is reporting that they’re not as scared of humans,” he said.

“They used to be petrified of us, but now they’re a lot braver, they don’t worry so much about human interaction.”

Mr Hosking conceded some of the increase in sightings might be due to more people working from home, but said the wet summer had made for good breeding conditions, with plenty of food around for the pests.

Several rural towns have been overrun by mice. Picture: ABC

Charles Sturt Council recently sent a letter to residents in the Semaphore Park area warning of vermin. Across its western suburbs territory, it has investigated 22 cases since mid-2020 and provided advice on reducing undergrowth and maintaining fruit trees to keep the rodents at bay. Mr Hosking said inspectors were being called most to the northwest around Semaphore and south in the McLaren Vale area.

He said if residents were concerned about vermin on their property, they should monitor their activity before calling for help.

“If you’re watching them run along your fence and then go to your fruit tree, that’s not unusual behaviour,” Mr Hosking said.

“But if you’re seeing them go up your stormwater pipe or something like that, it is a sign that they’re probably in the roof.”

CSIRO health and biosecurity research officer Steve Henry, who monitors mice in regional areas nationally, said high numbers had been reported in some parts of South Australia.

“We were having reports of concerning numbers in the north Yorke Peninsula, the northwest Eyre Peninsula, and the SA Mallee,” he said.

Mr Henry said while they were not at plague numbers, conditions were favourable for breeding.

He called for farmers to keep an eye out, and ensure they baited their crops if mice remained in high numbers.