February 15, 2023 - Rodents
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You may have rodents living in your home if you hear the pitter-patter of little feet overhead or scratching within your walls. This guide tells you how to know if you have rodents, the different types of damage rodents cause, what attracts them to your property in the first place, and how to gain total control over the problem. If the signs fit, you should immediately call a professional Sacramento pest control company before the infestation gets out of control.
How To Tell If You Have A Rodent Infestation
There are many signs of a rodent infestation, including:
Droppings and oily puddles of urine are left on your counters or floors. Different types of rodents leave different-sized and shaped droppings. For example, rat droppings are 1/2 to 3/4 inches long, rod-shaped, and have either pointed or blunt ends. Squirrel droppings are bigger and barrel-shaped with blunt ends. Mouse droppings are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, rod-shaped, and tapered at the ends.
Gnaw marks on furniture, baseboards, walls, floors, cabinets, doors, and door jambs. Rodents' front teeth never stop growing. Mouse teeth can grow up to 4 inches annually, while rat teeth reach 5 inches in that same timeframe. Gnawing keeps their teeth sharp and not overgrown.
Chewed-up corners of boxed food or food left out in your kitchen. Rodents aren't picky about what they eat, so look for evidence in your cupboards and pantry.
Oily rub marks are left along your baseboards, walls, or backsplash. Rodents' fur is greasy, and they prefer to stay close to the wall. They leave behind streaks of that grease when they move around your house.
Burrows can be found in your attic, basement, crawl space, or hot water heater closet. Rodents like to dig into your insulation to make their nests. They can also burrow into your wall voids, the spaces in your walls between studs, which is why you hear them in your walls.
If you have any of these indications of rodents in your house, call a professional rodent control company immediately.
All The Damages That Rodents Can Cause To Your Home
California rodents can cause all kinds of damage to your home, first by the diseases they carry, which are especially hard on children and the elderly, and can also infect your pets. These diseases include:
Rat-bite fever
Tularemia
Leptospirosis
Salmonellosis
Hantavirus
Plague
Rodents' constant gnawing can also cause severe property damage. They can gnaw through water, gray water, and natural gas pipes, causing water damage and potentially severe carbon monoxide poisoning. Rodents also chew on electrical wires, creating a significant fire hazard, especially if they've chewed through natural gas pipes.
Factors That Attract Rodents To Your Property
The most effective rodent control is never letting rodents get close to your house. You must eliminate the three factors attracting rodents: food, water, and shelter.
Eliminate food sources by taking down bird feeders, cleaning up dropped fruit or nuts, taking your pet food bowl inside at night, and putting up a 1/4-inch hardware cloth around your garden to a height of about two feet.
Get rid of water sources by removing bird baths, fixing leaky pipes and sprinkler systems, and rerouting your downspouts further away from your house using splash stones or downspout extenders.
Clear out shelter sources by clearing up yard debris, cleaning your flower beds, removing fallen leaves, mowing your grass short, moving firewood 20 feet away from the house, and storing it at least 12 inches off the ground.
The Solution To Total Rodent Control For Your Home
Ultimately, the best way to get rid of rodents in your Sacramento home is to call a professional pest control company such as Explorer Pest Management to eliminate them. We've been in business since 1997, and our highly trained pest control technicians are ready to help you remove the rodents from your house. Contact us for a free estimate.
