Mice and rats are experts at sneaking into your home and making their nests, often unnoticed. Especially in winter months, rodents are looking for a home to live through the chilly, wet season as well as plenty of crumbs and pantry items for meals. If you do not know common signs of a rodent infestation, you may have overlooked evidence that these little whisker faced furballs are in your walls, attic, or even nestled down inside your furniture. The longer mice and rats are allowed to live in your home, the worse the infestation will become. Rodents are notorious for having large litters and multiplying quickly. Knowing what to look out for will help you be ready to get the rodents out of your house as soon as possible at the first sign of a rodent infestation.
Pay attention to your pets
If you have noticed your pets are acting strangely, take some time to investigate. Pets like dogs and cats have a heightened sense of smell and if they are suddenly not at ease in your home or frantically trying to get into a room or storage cabinet, take note that they may be smelling a rodent.
Droppings
The most blatant evidence that you have rats or mice in your home is when you find a small trail of droppings on your countertop, behind a desk, or even along a closet baseboard. While rodent droppings are quite tiny, they are unmistakable. While mice droppings are a third of the size of rat droppings, the latter is still well under an inch long. If you are wondering if the droppings you have found are old or new, you can often tell by the color. Active infestations will include droppings that are dark in color because of moisture instead of light colored, dried out droppings.
Night sounds
Rodents are most active at night and you may hear them scurrying around while you and your family sleep. Sounds like scratching or incessant gnawing are pretty unmistakable sounds of a rodent infestation. You may also hear them scamper across the floor or you may hear the sound of shredding paper or other items that the mice or rats are wanting to use in their nests.
Invaded pantry
If you have found that several boxes in your pantry have new holes or food falling out onto the shelves, a rodent infestation is very possible. Unfortunately, any food you see with holes or tears in the packaging will need to be thrown out because mice and rats can pass along bacteria that can get you and your family members sick. Keeping all your food in airtight containers is a great way to keep a myriad of pests out of your food.
Chewing marks
Rodents have teeth that never stop growing which makes them need to chew on things to file down their teeth. If you find teeth marks on hard plastics or wooden furniture in your house, as well as find wires and electrical cords chewed up, you most likely have a rodent problem on your hands.
If you are in San Diego County and have seen any of the signs above that indicate a rodent infestation, you can try your best to set out traps and try to block entry points that the pests may be using. But for a sure way to rid your home of mice and rats, give the pest pros a call at Nixtermite today.
