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Got Mice? Here’s Why!

Mice and rats may be popular pets, and some people even find them cute, cuddly and lovable, but when they are unwelcome guests in your home, there is absolutely nothing appealing about these animals. In fact, when these critters invade your home, they can wreak havoc that can cost hundreds, and even thousands of dollars, and they can be dangerous especially around children and pets (by carrying disease or biting). If you have a rodent infestation—whether it’s mice or rats—it’s important that you handle the problem as soon as you first notice the signs, and it’s crucial that you seek help from trained professionals to get rid of rodents. You can certainly try to get rid of a rodent infestation in your home, yourself, and but to rid your home of these pests forever, it’s best to call in the experts.

Many unsuspecting homeowners have no idea how rodents get into their home, so let’s find out here by looking at some of the most common ways these unwanted creatures make their way from their habitat to yours. If you have cracks or holes in the walls, floors or foundation of your home, mice will easily enter it, and they are able to come through holes that are much smaller than their own bodies. Unfortunately, most homeowners don’t notice the tiny holes in the walls, floors and foundation that the mice find and only realize they have a mouse or rat problem after bigger signs of rodent infestation begin to appear. Regardless of the size of your rodent problem, the best way to eradicate these critters forever is to enlist the help of trained pest control specialists.

Other areas of entry to the home for mice and rats are spaces in your windows and ceilings (again, you won’t even be aware of these small spaces, usually). As you can see, rodents will find a way into your home no matter what, especially when the temperatures begin to drop in the fall. If drainage pipes aren’t sealed properly, rodents will enter homes through sink drains or bathtub/shower drains, and these incredibly determined pests will also find their way into your home through plumbing and gas lines.

One of the many things you should know about rodent infestations is that once these creatures find their way into your nice warm home, they don’t want to leave. What’s even worse is that due to the rapid and frequent nature in which rodents procreate, there can be as many as 200 new additions to a mouse “family” in just a few months. We know that the thought of this makes many of you very, very uneasy, but please know that help is only a phone call away.

You can take action to help prevent rodents from entering your home such as going through your home and sealing any and all cracks, holes and other openings you find. You should seal them with something that’s going to last like cement or metal. Another step you can take is to make sure all doors and windows close all the way and are secure at all times. If you like to keep windows open without screens, you have to know you’re running the risk of allowing these critters easy access to your home and your kitchen, your shower, and your bed.

In the kitchen and dining area, you must store foods in glass or metal containers with super tight lids, and be sure to properly dispose of all food as soon as you are finished with it. Trash left accessible to animals, and food left out on tables, porches, decks, and in yards is a big invitation for unwanted pests to get close to your home.

If you keep your cars stored during cold-weather months, or if you are a car collector and house many vehicles in garages, be sure to take precautions to keep mice and rats out of your storage spaces. If rodents make their way into a car’s engine, they can chew on the wires and cause extremely costly damage—even irreparable damage. Some car experts have offered up the suggestion of putting dryer sheets all over the car because rodents don’t like the scent of the dryer sheets. Be sure to do some research online before storing vehicles, or ask an experienced car collector for tips on how to keep the rodents away from your precious vehicles.

Keep checking back to our blog for more information about rodents and other creatures that may invade your home, and if you need a professional exterminator who can handle pest problems large and small, please contact us today.

Rats or Mice? How Can I Tell the Difference?

Have you seen a mouse or rat in or near your home? Have you seen signs that there may be mice or rats in your home? If so, help is just a phone call away. If you want to try to handle a rodent problem yourself, we encourage you to learn as much about how to eradicate pests as possible, and to be very careful when handling chemicals, pesticides, and other pest-removal supplies and products. We also encourage you to learn as much about the rodents, themselves, because there are some major differences between mice and rats, and the more you know, the better prepared you will be to tackle your pest problem. It’s highly recommended, however, that when dealing with a mouse or rat infestation that you NOT try to eliminate the pests without professional help. If these animals are carrying a disease or feel threatened in any way, they can be very dangerous (to humans and pets in your home).

Let’s take a look at rats and mice and note some of the main differences between the two. Mice are typically a good deal shorter than rats and they weigh less, too. Mice are usually white, brown or grey in color, and they have triangle-shaped snouts with long whiskers. Mice also have distinctly large, floppy ears and their tails are long, thin and covered in hair.

Rats, on the other hand, have long, hairless tails that feel scaly. Rats will grow to be a good deal larger and weigh more than mice, and rat coats are typically white, gray, brown or black. A rat’s snout is blunt, which is one of the key discerning characteristics between the two types of rodents. Rats’ ears are much more proportionate to their body size. Another discerning trait of these rodents is the size of their feet. Mice have small feet relative to their body size while rats have large feet relative to their body size, especially their hind feet.

Both mice and rats are nocturnal creatures, which means they are active at night and sleep during the day.

There are other factors that help homeowners know which type of rodent has invaded the home. Rats are much stronger and able to get to places mice typically cannot. For instance, a Norway rat (a common species found in homes) is able to gnaw through really tough materials like cinder blocks, aluminum, glass, wood and even metal. Can you imagine how strong a rat’s teeth must be to get through metal and cinder blocks? Field mice simply don’t have that type of power in their teeth, mouth and jaw.

Another discerning factor is where the rodents choose to nest. House mice are great climbers and therefore are able to fit into tiny spaces that you would think would be out of their reach. They also are great jumpers; you’ll be amazed at high these little critters can jump, especially when there’s something tasty (like your leftover food) to jump for! Mice have an uncanny ability to get into the walls of a home (their climbing skills help with this), and people with mice infestations will often hear gnawing and running sounds coming from inside the walls and ceilings in the house. Yes, the gnawing is coming from inside the house. Creepy, right? Rats nest in burrows, but you will also find rats’ nests in lofts, attics, under eaves and even in a home’s walls. Rats will shred materials such as loft insulation, cardboard and other soft items to make nests, and they will basically use anything they can get their grubby little claws on to make their nests in your home.

Both rats and house mice can be dangerous if they are disease ridden, and they can harm you and your family by damaging wires, which can lead to electrical fires. The problems associated with rodent infestation are numerous and can be quite costly. If you suspect you have a rodent problem, please contact a professional exterminator right away as the longer you wait, the worse the problem will become. Keep in mind that rats and mice will procreate at an alarming fashion, so in just a few months, 200 additions to their “family” is quite realistic.

Please contact Animal & Pest Control Specialist, Inc. for any rodent or other pest problem, regardless of how large or small your problem is, and we’ll do everything in our power to eradicate your pest problem as quickly and affordably as possible.

How to Get Rid of Squirrels in Your Home

If you have a squirrel in your home, it’s time to call a trained pest control specialist who has experience eradicating these animals from yards, gardens, and homes, but if you insist on trying to get rid of this little guy yourself, we encourage you to follow our suggestions here. Squirrels, when feeling threatened, can be quite dangerous, and if they are rabid (which can happen), they are certainly dangerous to you and your family. For these reasons and others, you simply cannot approach a squirrel and shoo him from your home.

A squirrel’s actions in your home will be erratic and unpredictable because he’s in an unfamiliar environment and probably wants to find his way back to his own habitat. Don’t approach a squirrel in your home, and be sure to isolate your pets from the areas of home where you think there are squirrels so no fleas, ticks, or diseases are transmitted between the animals. Move all of your pets outside, into a holding pen or crate, or put them in a separate room as soon as you discover a squirrel has invaded your home.

Once you discover a squirrel in your home, you have to determine if there are squirrel babies in the home, also. To do this, search approximately 20 feet around the place where you initially found the squirrel. Do not invade the space around a possible squirrel nest, as the mother will attack because she sees you as a threat to her young. Make some noises and then be silent; wait to hear noises from the young squirrels in response. Main squirrel breeding times are February through May and August through October. During these times of the year, it’s very likely that babies will be present if you see an adult squirrel.

Provide an avenue of escape for the squirrel in your home. To do this, we suggest you close off all other routes out of the home and leave a single exit to your house open, like one big window completely open. If getting to a window in the same room the squirrel is in puts you too close to the squirrel, you should open the window in the room next to the one the squirrel is in, leave the door open to that room, and close off all other routes out of the home. This will force the squirrel into the room with the open window, and it will prevent him from getting into other parts of your home.

Drawers, cupboards, and other nooks and crannies provide comfort to a squirrel because they remind him of his little nook in a tree. By closing these off you can prevent your intruder from hiding out in a safe place and force him to find a way out of your house. Remove all food that could be accessed by the squirrels. Put food in the fridge and store food in containers with tight lids away from where the squirrel is; keep in mind, the food storage is only temporary (if your squirrel leaves your home, that is). If the squirrel stays a while, you will need to throw away any food that is not in the refrigerator just to be safe.

Give the squirrel some incentive to leave your home. Squirrels hate the smell of cider vinegar, so you might want to soak some rags in this type of vinegar and put the rags in the room where the squirrel is. The sound of a radio constantly playing will also usually drive a squirrel from a home, and a bright light left on during the day and night will annoy the squirrel. Loud noises will scare squirrels and may just scare them right out of your home.

If you are able to successfully get a squirrel out of your home, please be sure to contact a trained pest control specialist to inspect your home after the squirrel’s departure. You want to make sure nothing unsanitary was left behind, and you want to ensure there are no baby squirrels left in the home. The specialist can close off entry points and pest-proof your home while he/she is there, so you won’t have this problem again.

Tips to Keep Squirrels Away From Your House

If you have a squirrel problem at your house, you’re just a phone call away from help from professional pest control specialists, who will be necessary if you have discovered a squirrel inside your home. Many people insist on trying to get rid of squirrels that have invaded their home without the help of trained exterminators, and this is just not wise because of the danger involved with these animals.

If you have a squirrel problem, our first suggestion is to avoid squirrel repellents you see in home goods stores because they simply don’t work. While these products may serve as a temporary deterrent for the squirrels around your yard, they will not get rid of them for good. Squirrels are extremely determined little pests, and once they choose your home as their new hangout, they are very hard to get rid of, but there are steps you can take keep them out of your yard, garden and home for the time being.

First, remove any food and water provided for your pets from the decks, porches, and yard surrounding your home. With colder temperatures upon us, it’s time to keep your animals indoors as much as possibly anyway. Those bowls of food and water are invitations to the squirrels in your area to hang out near your home, so the sooner you remove the bowls of food, the sooner your squirrels will be forced to look elsewhere for their next meal.

Next, take a thorough walk around the exterior of your home and check for any holes or spaces that these critters can enter your home through, and patch them up immediately. Make sure you close holes and spaces with durable materials that will last such as metal, glass or aluminum. Squirrels can gnaw their way through plastic, wood and similar lightweight materials, so choose the toughest stuff on the market to protect the interior of your home from these pests.

If you have bird feeders in your yard, move them to the farthest corners and as far away from any doors or windows to your home as possible. Squirrels are big fans of bird feeders, so if the feeders are close to your home, the squirrels will be close to your home, also.

Remove any stacks of firewood that are close to your home; move the wood farther away from the home, as wood stacks are an invitation to squirrels. They are attracted to the wood, and if the firewood is close to your home, the squirrels will be close to your home, also. You can also trim the branches of trees that hang around your house because the tree branches are part of the squirrels’ playground. If you have long branches near windows and doors, you will probably have squirrels near those windows and doors.

The absolute best advice we can give to keep squirrels away from your home is to contact a trained pest control specialist who has experience eradicating squirrels from gardens, yards, and homes in a safe, humane, and professional manner.

Please contact us if you have a squirrel problem at home.