Squash Pest Control - Rodent Control

Effective Rodent Control

If you’re struggling with a rodent control problem in the Pierce County, WA area, then Squash Pest Control is here to help. At Squash Pest Control, we’ve learned how to handle rodents efficiently and quickly, so that they’re never a problem for you or your family again. We’ll tell you all about our removal methods, which vary, based on your preferences and circumstances, in just a moment. But for now, let’s talk a bit about the tell-tale signs of a rodent infestation, as well as the potential risks.

First things first, what are mice and rats doing in your home?

Mice and rats tend to be a pretty serious concern in the Pierce County areas, with rodent populations steeply on the rise. It’s fairly easy to understand what a mouse or a rat is doing in your home – much like any other creature, the rodent in question is merely looking for food, water, and shelter. And since urban homes are excellent sources of all three, it’s easy to understand why so many people in Pierce County are having rodent issues.

How do you know you’ve got a mouse or a rat?

Well, by far the most obvious way to identify a rodent as the cause of your problem, is spotting one in your home. However, rodents are known as fairly clever creatures and have the good sense to stay out of sight, as much as they can, particularly during the daytime. So it’s quite likely that even if your home has received such an unwelcome visitor, you won’t see it. So you need to look for other infestation signs, such as:

Musky Smell – a rodent infestation is typically characterized by a sort of musky, unpleasant smell that tends to intensify as the rodent population in your home grows. Alternatively, you might pick up a rotting smell, if a rodent has gone and died inside your home. It’s important to act fast if that’s the case because the dead rodent is likely to attract other unwanted wildlife.

Small Droppings – one of the clearest signs you’ve got a rodent infestation. Rodent droppings are typically quite small, usually measuring no more than ¼ of an inch, and having a pointy end. Rat droppings maybe a little bigger, but otherwise very similar in appearance.

Chewed wires – these can pose a very real, very serious danger to you and your family because they increase the risk of fire.

Gnawed food packaging – since rodents are trying to get to your food, it’s not uncommon to find your food packs gnawed if you’ve got rats or mice.

Strange pet behavior – if you’re lucky enough to own a pet, they will pick up on the rodent’s presence long before you do, and may manifest peculiar behavior. Wall scratching or erratic behavior in a particular area of the house are strong signs there’s a rodent in the immediate vicinity.

Rodent tracks – on surfaces prone to collecting dust, like shelves, or inside attics, you may also be able to spot rodent tracks, which are a very clear sign of infestation.

Grease stains – rodent fur is greasy by nature, and so a rodent’s presence in the home is likely to leave behind grease tracks on the surfaces they inhabit.

There are many other signs of a rodent infestation in your home, but these are the most common, by far, and so the best to look out for. To learn more about rats and mice visit wildliferemovalusa.com.

What are the dangers of a rodent infestation?

The main concern about sharing your home with a rat or a mouse is the fact that these rodents are notorious carriers of a wide range of bacteria and disease. These rodents are known for carrying and spreading afflictions such as the hantavirus, plague, tularemia, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis, among many others. Allowing a rodent to co-exist with you and your family is automatically exposing you all to these diseases, as well as many others.

On top of that, a rodent exposes you to various other perils through its gnawing habits. As we’ve seen, that can put your home at risk of collapse, fire, and other such disasters.

Lastly, the presence of a rat or mouse can attract larger predators to your property, like snakes, which can in turn put you at risk.

Rodent Extermination

If your Salem or Portland home is showing signs of a rodent infestation, don’t hesitate. Call our Pierce County, WA pest control service now to get a free quote, and same day pest control service.

How does that work?

At Squash Pest Control, we will do the following:

1. Inspect.

The first step in our rodent removal journey is to inspect and assess the situation. This allows our team of experts to determine the extent of the existing damage, how serious the infestation is, and what the next steps should be. During this stage, we will look at the area populated by the rats or mice (be it inside the walls, the attic, the basement, etc.). We will identify their entry point, as well as the likeliest attraction points, and figure out how to squash them.

2. Plan.

After our initial inspection of your property, we will consult with you every step of the way, to ensure we come up with the best possible rodent extermination plan for your property. We will take into account things like the number of rodents, the gravity of the infestation, the area, and so on.

3. Exterminate.

Last, but not least, we will move on to the actual rat or mice extermination process. At Squash Pest Control, we offer a host of different rodent removal services, including:

Traps – we offer you a choice from a wide range of traps, including traditional or live ones, depending on your preference. Traps can be very efficient in capturing the offensive rodent, and are well-suited for exterminating a limited number of rats or mice;

Bait – this is an excellent alternative to traps, as it’s counting on the rodent’s inane need for food to attract and exterminate it.

Tracking Powder – which will help us rapidly locate the animal and exterminate it.

There are several extermination options you can choose from. Furthermore, Squash Pest Control can also advise you on prevention practices, to ensure your home remains free of rodents, even after our extermination team is gone.

So give our Pierce County, WA offices a call today about your rat or mouse problem in Salem or Portland, and we’ll offer you same-day service, a free quote, and attractive (and efficient) pest removal packages from now on.

Remember, the more you wait, the more you expose yourself and your family to disease and other dangers.

How to Get Rats and Mice Out of The Attic?

Rodents have lived alongside human beings for centuries now. As human dwellings continue to expand and take up more space, rodents have been forced to learn new ways to co-exist alongside us, often, not to our advantage. As such, rats and mice are among the most common wild home intruders across the United States.

Since rodents are versatile and inventive creatures, it’s quite tricky to deter them from your home, but we will do our best, through the following methods.

First of all, identify the attraction point.

Rodents aren’t moving in because you seem like a fun roommate, they’re most likely looking for food, water, and/or shelter. And often, human homes provide all three. Since rodents don’t eat or drink that much, your house doesn’t need to be littered or filthy to catch their eye. Actually, a leaky pipe and some crumbs here and there, or a forgotten cookie can be enough.

So first of all, identify what’s attracting the rodents, and make sure you remove it from your home. Fix leaky pipes, clean up more thoroughly, and basically make your home an unfriendly environment for rodents.

Speaking of…

Use cat urine to make them go away.

The relationship between cats and mice is well-known, so scattering cat urine (which you can purchase at specialty stores) around your attic may alert the rodents to the presence of predators. This, in turn, might determine them to leave your home on their own. Better yet, get yourself a cat, and rodents are likely to not bother you.

Use traps.

By that, we mean live traps, of course. While you could also use traditional snap traps to get rid of your rodent problem, it’s largely inefficient and also unnecessarily cruel, so we don’t recommend it. Similarly, we also don’t recommend attempting to poison the rodents. While this may seem like a quick and easy way to get rid of them, poison is actually quite a slow act, so it may take many (agonizing) hours for the rodent to die. During this time, it may become vicious, or crawl into hard-to-reach spaces in your attic (such as the walls) to defend itself. At the end of the day, this may prove to be more trouble than it’s worth.

So use live traps, if you’re tempted to attempt DIY removal. Live traps are basically cages with bait, to lure the animal. You will need to check them regularly, to make sure the rodent doesn’t suffer needlessly, and then use the trap to relocate the rodent to a new area, where it won’t be able to bother you.

Careful, though, make sure you don’t release the rodents in an area where they might become a nuisance to your neighbors, as that’s just bad manners.

Of course, there is one tried and true way to get rid of rodents, and that is…

Call a rodent removal professional.

While wildlife removal companies are a little pricier, they do offer guaranteed results. Depending on your choice, the expert will safely remove the rodents from your home (usually also using non-lethal removal methods), as well as prove your home against future invasions. They will be able to spot attractions, as well as seal entry points, and clean up after the rodents. Remember that clean-up, in the wildlife removal process, is as important as removal itself. Exposure to rodent droppings or urine can lead to infection with serious, possibly even fatal, diseases.

So calling a professional wildlife removal team will save you a lot of trouble and effort, and make sure you don’t get a new rat in your home the following month.

Regardless of the removal method you’ve opted for, you will want to do some things, after the rodents have been removed.

Clean up. Sanitizing the attic is essential to go on living in that home safely.

Seal entry points. Identify the missing shingle, hole in the wall, or damaged window pane that allows the rats or mice to get in, and fix it, to avoid more intruders. Trim your yard. Keep in mind that rodents are also encouraged by untrimmed hedges or trees (which allow them to climb into the attic), and overgrown lawns. So spruce up your yard to deter wildlife intruders.

How to Remove Rodents from the Wall

Whether it’s mice or rats, you’re likely at some point or another to come across rodents in and/or around your home. In some circumstances, however, it might be a little more inside your home than you’ve expected – that would include being inside your walls.

Although it’s not impossible by any means, many people have rodent problems without having to deal with rodents in their walls at any given time. For an unlucky few, likely including you, they might end up with a problem that’s a little harder to deal with than just placing down a few traps around the place. In these situations, things can be a little trickier, which is why we’re here to explain how to remove rodents from the wall.

Find Where the Rodents Are

Your walls make up an intricate system of insulation and maze-like areas surrounding the rooms of your house, and that means that rodents can oftentimes spread their way around your home without much trouble. If you’re looking to get rid of the rodents, then you’ll want to find where their home base is, or at the least, where they spend most of their time.

Thankfully, that’s not too hard to find; rodents are noisy creatures, and they leave a mess in their wake. That not only makes it easy to hear or see where the little animals are, at any given point, but that also means you’re likely to come across their entrance or exit from the wall. Mice and rats enter houses through small areas wherever possible, meaning it can be tough to find the exact entry point.

Fortunately, if you come across any droppings, hairs, or areas of heavy scratching, then you’ve likely found an entrance. And, where the entrance is, the rodents likely aren’t too far – after all, walls don’t usually come with too much eating material for the animals, past chewing on beams, insulation, or any wiring in the walls.

Getting Rid of the Rodents

On top of usually being commonly found near the entrances to your walls, rodents can be caught pretty quickly. If you’ve found an entrance near the ground or have come across multiple, there are a few different steps you’ll have to take. Either way, however, the result is routine, with you trapping and removing the rodents.

Once you’ve discovered the entrances and exits for rodents to come and go from your walls, block all but one. Whether that means caulking up the spaces, refilling cracks or covering holes, it doesn’t really matter – the big importance is in making sure that the rodents have only one spot to enter and exit your wall from.

After this single space is left, then you’re free to place a trap (often with peanut butter or another food), removing the rats and mice, one at a time. While that might seem tedious, it’s the only real way to ensure that you get rid of more problems than you cause; after all, rodents left to die in your walls could mean other animals make their way in, the rodents corrode your walls, or diseases spread.

Trapping and removing rodents through one entrance is a near-foolproof way to get rid of the little creatures while also ensuring you’re causing more damage to them than to you.

Stopping a Trend

Once you’ve removed all the rats (known by a lack of scurrying or droppings), then seal up the last entrance after everything’s cleaned up. If the rodents weren’t in your wall for too long, there might not be much to clean up, but these animals often leave behind corrosive droppings or acidic materials.

In these situations, it might be helpful to call a professional, who’s knowledgeable (and ready) enough to take care of any residual problem and help you get through preventing any more rodents from passing through. Plus, if you’re not confident in trapping the rodents in the first place, they’re a great way to get rid of a costly problem, quickly.

How to Get Rid of Rats and Mice Naturally?

Rats and mice in the house are frustrating for several reasons. First, these nuisance pests are elusive, making them challenging to eliminate. Second, they are very destructive and chew on wood, wires, pipes, and almost anything they can get their teeth on. Moreover, they contaminate food sources with their urine and droppings, posing several health risks. That’s why you must take action once you have a rodent infestation.

Squash Pest Control in Pierce County is reputable for effectively resolving rodent issues, and we have worked with thousands of clients over the past decade. Here are some of the most important tips we’ve learned for naturally getting rid of rats and mice.

Actively discourage rats and mice.

Rats and mice are primarily attracted to your house for two main reasons: food and shelter. If you can eliminate those, you significantly reduce the likelihood of a rodent infestation. Here are some tips to bear in mind.

Keep a clean house

As simple as this sounds, it will go a long way in keeping rats at bay. A clean house means storing all food in airtight containers to deny rats and mice access. It also means washing your dishes once you’re done eating so that leftovers won’t be available for rodents. It also means closing your trash cans properly.

You should also try to keep your yard clean. Make sure to throw away abandoned objects from your property and regularly trim your grass. All this will help eliminate hiding spots from your property.

Apply natural repellents

Natural repellents have a particular smell that rats and mice detest. Hence, applying repellents around your property/house can help keep these nuisance pests at bay. Some of the most common natural repellents include peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, pepper, cloves, and mothballs. The urine of predators can also help scare rats and mice away.

Try deterrents

Deterrents like ultrasonic devices emit an ultrasonic beeping sound that rodents hate. Installing such devices in areas susceptible to rodent visits can help keep them away. Moreover, having pets like cats or dogs around will discourage rats and mice from residing on your property.

Seal up entry holes

If there’s a rat or mouse in your home, it didn’t magically appear there. It must have gotten in through some hole. Because rats and mice can squeeze their bodies through tiny holes (even holes as small as a dime), you must inspect your property regularly to ensure there are no vulnerable spots. Some of the tips to bear in mind include:

Find entry holes

Thoroughly inspect your property to discover potential entry holes. If you find greasy stains or feces near an entryway, it is undoubtedly used by a rodent.

Block entry holes

After finding those holes, use caulk to seal up smaller holes. For larger holes, you will need to patch your plaster or drywall. This may be challenging, and that’s where Squash Pest Control in Pierce County can help relieve the burden. We will ensure that we seal up both interior and exterior holes.

Catching rodent

Rodents sometimes find their way into your house regardless of what you do. When that happens, here are some of the things you can do:

Use a live trap

A live trap can help you capture the mouse without injuring it. Hence, it is a humane method. The captured rat or mice can then be relocated.

Kill them humanely

The most common way to kill mice is to use a snap trap. Snap traps are effective because they promptly kill the animal. The most common baits include peanut butter, bacon, and fruits.

Another type of trap gaining prominence lately is the electric trap. It works by delivering a lethal dose of electric current to the captured rat/mouse.

Do not use glue traps or poison to kill rats/mice because they cause so much pain for the animal. Poison, in particular, is a terrible idea because a poisoned rat will die in a secluded area, making it challenging to find the carcass. This results in a foul odor in your house/property.

Get professional help

Do you have nuisance rats or mice on your Pierce County property? Contact Squash Pest Control in Pierce County to naturally resolve your rodent infestation problems today!