What to Look for When Trying to Find Out How Rodents Are Getting Into Your Home?

Where Are the Rodent Entry Points to Your Home?

Rodent infestations are a horror for homeowners, and if you have a rodent problem, you are probably desperate to get rid of these pests. However, until you find the rodent entry points in your house, they are just going to keep coming. For proper rodent prevention, start with a pest inspection, and then take some proactive steps to rid your home of rodents and prevent reinfestation.

What is Allowing Rodents Access to Your Home?

Rodents need surprisingly small holes to gain entry to your home. A full grown rat can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter, and a mouse only needs a hole as big as a dime. If you have cracks in the foundation or gaps around your doors and windows, it’s easy for these little opportunists to make their way into your home. It is even easier for them to come in through holes in the walls where your pipes or cables enter, or unsealed vents or attic spaces. Look around your house, inside and out, thinking like a rodent. Look for any holes in kitchen cabinets, cracks under baseboards, or entry points behind appliances. Then head outside and inspect your house thoroughly. Is there any damage to the weather stripping? How about deteriorated mortar in the foundation? Did you know a roof rat can jump 3-4 feet from a stand still position? Look and see where trees and other structures are near your roofline. Look around the garage door, basement windows, and attic vents, thinking about places that would be easy to climb, swim, or gnaw through to get into the house. While you are at it, look around for things that could shelter or attract them, like garbage, debris, wood piles, or overgrown landscaping.

Signs of a Rodent Infestation

If you have rodents, you probably are aware of this fact. However, in case you have never experienced this problem before, we would like to point out some common signs of an infestation. Rodents can damage your home and carry diseases, so be on the lookout for:

• Droppings: Often found in the kitchen, these are small, dark, pellet-like, and can have a sweet smell like honey or almonds. By the time you notice droppings, there are usually more than one rodent in your home.
• Scratching noises: When you have rodent activity, you are likely to hear scratching and rustling in the walls, attic, and under the floors. These noises normally occur at night due to rats being nocturnal creatures. Noises occurring during the day are indicative of a worse infestation because the harborage points during the day are full of older generations of the rodents leaving younger generations to forage during the day.
• Gnawed wires: Rodents are likely to chew on wires, leaving jagged edges that can be a fire hazard.
• Clearly cut holes: If there are holes around your doors and windows, or in your furniture, this could be the result of sharp rodent teeth.
• Rodent nests: If you notice nests made of shredded paper, insulation, or other soft materials tucked into corners or hidden in the attic, rodents are making themselves at home.
• A strange smell: Rodents give off a musky smell, which you may especially notice in enclosed spaces.

Effective Rodent Prevention

You will need to block all rodent entry points, a combination of various materials such as expanding foam, steel wool, caulking, door sweeps, and trims so that rodents cannot continue to access you home. Remove things that are enticing to rodents, by keeping your landscaping tidy and removing leaves or debris from around the foundation. Make sure your garbage bins have tight-fitting lids, and store food in hard plastic or metal airtight containers. Repair any worn weather stripping, cracks in the foundation, or broken screens, as well as leaky pipes or drains. Most importantly, call for professional assistance, to eradicate your rodent infestation and create a plan to prevent future intrusions.

Rodent Control Starts with a Professional House Inspection

If you want to deny a rodent entry to your home, look for a company with positive customer reviews and a strong reputation for providing reliable, effective, long-term protection against pests. In the Bay Area, call the pest control professionals at MightyMite Termite Services to defend your property. Long known as experts in California termite control, MightyMite has now designed a wide range of pest control services to protect your home and family. We perform free pest inspections to identify any pests and determine the best way to rid your home of an infestation. Our carefully refined rodent and pest control services, combined with our experience, licensed, and highly trained professional staff, makes us the leading extermination company in the Bay Area. We understand that your home is your most important investment, so we work hard to provide excellent service, utilizing best practices to solve our customers’ pest control problems. For more information, email Info@mightymitetermite.com or contact us through our website.