Did you suddenly start hearing scratching within your walls? Did you start noticing some mice droppings or rat droppings being deposited on the floor of your kitchen or other parts of your home? These are signs that you have rodents in your home. Don’t ignore them.
Before you go ahead and contact a rodent exterminator, here are several of the avoidable costs you could pay for ignoring your unwanted visitors. They can range from paying for the damage to your home or your health in the form of hospital bills or worse. Read on to learn more about why you should call rodent control as soon as possible:
What To Look For
There are quite a few common signs, including the ones mentioned above. Look around your place and see if you see things like gnaw marks on certain things. This includes things like wires (more on that in a bit), furniture, and insulation.
Rodents love making nests behind the walls. They will use anything like fabric, paper, and insulation. If you notice bits and pieces of those things are missing, then that’s a sign that they are being used to make a rodent and their family members happy.
You should trust your gut at the first sign that you see.
What Kind of Rodents Are There?
There are many species of rodents, but we’re going to be talking more about ones that invade your home, not the ones that you can buy at the pet store and care for as a pet. Here are the most common rodents:
- Mouse – This can be either house mice or field mice. You don’t want either of them in your home.
- Rat – Rats are a lot larger than mice and can cause a lot of damage. They are smart, which is why they have been able to last for as long as they have. There are roof rats, which are known as black rats, and then there are Norway rats, which are brown and usually have coarser hair than the roof rats.
How Can It Be Costly for My Home?
Rodents do a lot more than just take up space in your home or apartment. They can do extensive damage to areas like your walls. That’s because they can fill it with things like rat droppings and urine. All of this, if left unattended, will accumulate, and weaken the overall structure. If you don’t want to do things like have an entire wall removed and replaced, then you need to contact a rodent control expert as soon as you notice anything.
On top of that, rodents love to gnaw on things like wires. They can wind up fraying them and creating a situation where there can be electrical fires, which can be extremely dangerous to the safety of your family. The flames can quickly spread, which may lead to your finding yourself having to have completely rebuilt from the very foundation.
How Can It Impact Our Health?
Humans and rodents have shared space with each other for many millennia. The results have often be quite dangerous for the people since their little uninvited guests have carried lethal diseases — like the Bubonic Plague. While medicine has improved rapidly since those medieval times, it’s still not smart to allow rodents of any kind to stay in your home.
Both rats and mice can enter through things like sewer lines, which means that they can have a lot of germs on them due to their walking on things like waste.
The Bubonic Plague is far from the only disease to worry about. They can spread Leptospirosis and Hantavirus; both are potentially deadly. You don’t want you or your family to contend with either other those diseases, no matter how strong you think your immune system is.
Not only can they spread disease via their droppings which can then either be inhaled if you’re dusting or cleaning, they can contaminate food. Yes, if they have gotten their little paws on your food, then they can create health issues.
Food isn’t the only thing that they can sully. They can contaminate surfaces, too. It’s like your sneezing on something and not wiping it up. If you suspect that you have rodents in your home, then you should get disinfectant wipes and regularly clean surfaces that the members of your family touch to prevent the spread of any disease via rodent.
Diseases aren’t the only issue that you and your family may have to contend with. A rodent infestation can also trigger allergies or asthma in either you or other family members. This can be extremely dangerous if the people affected are either old or young due to their immune system being compromised.
This isn’t something that you should sit on and hope that it gets better. Instead, you should call a rodent control specialist and have them come to inspect your place so that it can be free of the pests. Then you’ll be able to breathe easier.
Why Is An Exterminator Worth It?
You might be tempted to try to take care of getting rid of the rodents yourself. There are a lot of products that you can pick out at a drugstore or supermarket that say they can do the job for you. Should you use things like bait stations, live traps, glue traps, or other things to try to remove rodents for good?
You might have a small degree of success, but you run the risk of not being able to get all off the rodents. This is especially true due to the fact that they can multiply very quickly in the wall voids and other spots. It’s going to be a continual battle, which is why it’s far better to get a rodent exterminator to come do the job for you.
That’s also because you might wind up using something that could be harmful to your family or pets. A rodent control expert, on the other hand, will use safer methods, and tell you clearly where to avoid going if there are any harmful substances. They may even mark the area off to make it apparent.
Find a professional that knows how to control rodents, including some specialists like a mice exterminator. You want someone who has been in the business for a long time and knows what to do in the event of a mouse infestation or a rat infestation. That way, they will know how to do the job in a thorough way.
The first thing any pest control professional will do when assessing the extent of any rodent infestations is to do a thorough inspection of your property, whether it’s a house or an apartment. They will search for any signs of rodent activity, including looking for the signs that we listed above.
Once they have finished the inspection, they will point out their findings. It can be anything from mice droppings or rat droppings to gnaw marks to holes that can act as an entry or exit point for the rodents. Then it’s time for them to tell you their plan of action to get rid of rodents.
They will be well trained to find other signs that you might have missed. Not everything is as obvious as mouse feces.
You’ll find that these professionals are a lot more efficient when it comes to handing rodent infestations. They will have better equipment than you and items that are not found in stores. Since they will be dedicated to doing the job, they will be faster than you trying to do it after work or on a weekend.
How Can I Protect My Home?
One of the best ways to prevent this, aside from securing as many entry points as you can, is to store food in airtight containers that will keep the rodents from being able to smell it and seek it out. These containers come in all sizes, and you can store or stack them as you like. You can even use them to organize your kitchen or pantry.
This includes things like pet food. Rodents aren’t terribly picky about the food that they eat. You don’t want to have to pay for extra vet care for your pet if they get sick from eating contaminated food.
You can use those airtight containers for pet food, too. This can also keep your pets from getting into their food a lot earlier than they should. As a result, you won’t have them snacking outside their usual eating times.
Also, it’s vital to regularly clean your place. This will help get rid of crumbs and any other food source for both rodents, and any of the other pests we mentioned, including bugs, too. .
Rodents are good at finding a hiding place. Do a visual inspection yourself, though it would be a better idea to have an expert do it. That way, you can have the area cleared out and items put there that will discourage rodents from trying to set up a home there.
Just be sure to regularly check the containers to make sure that anything in there hasn’t spoiled. Otherwise, you can have other unpleasant scenarios. Set up a schedule to do that.
How Can I Protect My Yard and Home Exterior?
The above advice was for the inside of your home. You also need to think about how you set up the outside, too. Otherwise, you might be laying out a welcome mat for rodents.
Your first move should be to look at your garbage cans. Are they able to be sealed well or are they easy for rats or other rodents to come use it as an all-you-can-eat buffet? What kind of material are they made of?
Do some research and see what people in your area are using to avoid having rats and mice, along with even other animals like raccoons (which is NOT a rodent) set up residence. Are they spraying the garbage with certain substances to make it very unappealing for those rodents? See if you can get those items for yourself and put them to good use.
Clear your yard of anything that attracts rats or mice. This inccludes bringing in your dog’s dish and water bowl before it gets dark each night. Consistently sweep your porch and make sure that you thoroughly clean up after any parties or cookouts. This includes making sure there are no food crumbs around that could attract scavengers.
If the pest control professional found entry points outside your place, you might do things like cover them with steel wool. Rodents tend to hate those, since it’s unpleasant for them to chew on. You could even have a contractor cover up those spots with cement, smooth it over, and then paint over it.
As you can see, not getting your rodent infestation under control can be extremely dangerous. It’s important to be proactive when it comes to getting rid of them as soon as possible. When the exterminator does their rodent removal, use the above prevention methods to keep your family healthy and happy. That will make it the most worthwhile investment.
The most important lesson here, though, is to be aware of signs of mice infestations or rat infestations. Always be on the lookout. Even having a cat isn’t always the complete solution to having a rodent-free home.
