Rodent Extermination 

​Rats and Mice in Your Home?

Mice and rats can pose a significant threat not only to home owners’ health but also their wallets. Rats can chew through insulation, wires, and cause other serious physical damage to your home. Plus, they can break into a variety of stored foods.

Rats are so ubiquitous that they are found everywhere on earth. Among the many species of rodents, those who prefer to dwell in urban areas are rats and certain types of mice.

They live in holes in the walls, in warehouses where food is stored, in public sewers, garbage cans, and fields. In fact, they live just about anywhere food is available and they can build a nest. They are cunning creatures and can survive in harsh environments. They can quickly adapt to all climates and even eliminate native mammals that occupy the same niche. One could say they are the most destructive pests in the world with regards to damaging health and property.

Rats and mice are voracious eaters. Each animal must eat at least 30 grams of food per day. If that is multiplied by the  4 to 5 billion rats and mice estimated to live on this planet, you can guess the incredible amount of food they consume every day. The World Health Organization has also estimated that rats’ population in cities has increased by 43% over the last twenty years.

Mice have two rows of pointed teeth that can cut anything but metal and concrete. Each year the damage and destruction of public property and other household items ranks in the millions of dollars. However, the biggest concern is not the food they steal or the damage to materials they cause, but the diseases that they carry. Most notably the bubonic plague, which killed about 100 million people in Europe between 1348 and 1350. 

Getting Rid of Attic Rats

Rats and mice enter your home because they are looking for food and shelter. They can sneak into small holes and often chew through the structure to get into your home. The best way to avoid trouble by rodents is prevention. You can start making your home secure by preventing mice from entering in common places such as the air conditioner, broken seals, damaged vents, and holes in the roof soffit. In fact, even openings as small as a quarter-inch can be used by rodents to enter your home.

Unfortunately, after the rat enters, there are limited options for the extermination of these invaders. Because rats often breed quickly, they can be tough to remove. Even if you do not see a mouse, evidence of their presence, such as their feces, should be noted. Therefore, if you have seen droppings around your home, you may have mice, rats, or other rodents living in your house, garage, attic or other remote areas of your home.

If you see these first signs, try to determine where they are traveling. Traps should be placed perpendicularly to the walls where the rats often run. When you remove a trapped rat, make sure to wear gloves and wrap the dead rat in plastic before putting it in the trash. Rats and mice carry many diseases, so you should be very careful when handling them. 

Catching, handling, and disposing of rats can be a daunting task, especially if there are many of them. If you find signs of rats and mice at your home, please give BioGuard Pest Solutions a call immediately and let us handle the task for you. ​

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Generally, it is not advisable to use poison to kill rats. Dead rats that have ingested the poison can end up in a hard place to find, and smell up your whole house. Also, rat poison is dangerous for pets, wild animals and even children. If rodenticides are used, they should be placed where animals and children cannot access it or put on tamper-resistant bait stations. For mice, prevention and traps are your best choice. Be sure to remove all sources of food and water, as well as places to live, such as hidden crevices. In many cases, killing rodents in your home will be harder than expected because rats multiply quickly. If you have tried in vain to rid your home of mice, it is probably time to call a pest control expert.