The Best Rodent Control Solution For Your Nassau County Home

How To Identify Common Types Of Rodents

Rodents are animals that constantly gnaw to keep two pairs of growing incisor teeth trimmed and sharp. Some rodents, like voles, moles, shrews, and chipmunks, live in the ground around homes inside burrows. These rodents may damage the property around Nassau County houses, but the types of rodents causing the most issues in our area homes are rats and mice. Unlike other rodents, rats and mice are domesticated mammals meaning they are comfortable being in the same space as humans and many times come to rely on us for food, water, and shelter.

Trails or tunnels in the yard are signs of moles, voles, and other ground-dwelling rodents, but the indicators for rats and mice are different. Because these furry creatures are nocturnal rodents, you may not always see them running across the floor, but that does not mean they don't leave signs behind. To determine if you have rats or mice in your Nassau County home, investigate your home for the following evidence:

• Droppings: Perhaps this is the most noticeable of all the signs because rats and mice produce a tremendous amount of feces. Rats consume about one-third of their body weight in food daily and create an output of 25,000 droppings annually. Mice don't eat as much (about 15% or less of their body weight) but still release about 18,000 droppings yearly per mouse. The feces is rod-shaped, dark, and moist; rats have blunt ends, and mice have pointed ends. Look for droppings along walls, under appliances, inside kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and in dark corners of the house. 
• Holes: Rats create two to three-inch circular holes in walls and floors; the openings are close to walls. 
• Gnaw marks: The word "rodent" is from the Latin rodere, "to gnaw," and rats and mice live up to their classification by chewing on furniture, wiring, plastic, paper, concrete, and aluminum. The only thing rats and mice will not chew on is glass or thick metals. Look for bite marks on furniture, plastic storage containers, wires around the water heater or furnace, aluminum siding, and more.
• Grease marks: Rats and mice forage in dirty areas, and their oily fur attracts dirt, mud, and other nasty elements. They do not have good eyesight, so when they move through the house, they bump against walls, objects, and corners and leave behind semi-sticky smug marks. 
• Urine stains: Rats and mice not only produce a copious amount of droppings, but they also urinate as they travel over kitchen countertops, cooking surfaces, inside kitchen cabinets, and throughout the house. Shining a black light along the walls, in cabinets, and in other places reveal urine stains. 
• Musty odor: Their putrid-smelling urine contains a pheromone that alerts other rodents of the presence of food, attracting more problematic pests to your home. This foul-smelling urine becomes noticeable in areas where there is a rodent concentration.
• Discarded food: Rats usually eat all their food in one sitting, but mice nibble and usually leave jettisoned food lying around. 
• Nests: Inside homes, mice and rats create nests in walls, inside or underneath appliances and cabinets. They build their dwelling locations with shredded paper, clothing, and insulation into a loosely-woven ball-shaped nest. Outside the house, they create burrows along fences, under concrete slabs, and alongside ditches. It is a good sign of rodents in your home if you hear scratching sounds emanating from walls in the early morning or late evening hours. 
• Tracks: Rats and mice leave four and five-toed prints behind in dusty areas. Sprinkle talcum powder where you suspect rodent activity; if they are there, you will see tracks in a couple of days. 
• Runways: Mice and rats are creatures of habit, and they travel the same path between food sources and their nests. Over time, discarded food, droppings, urine stains, tracks, and grease marks appear along the trails. Mice do not travel more than 50 feet from their homes, while rats may nest up to 150 feet from the food source. Either way, if you see these signs along walls or behind appliances in the kitchen, bathroom, basement, or other areas of the house, you can be sure you have an infestation. 
• Live rodents: Rats and mice have a hierarchical system, and although they are nocturnal and forage while you sleep if the nest is too large, those lower on the totem pole cannot search for food until the elites have returned, so sometimes rats and mice are active when daylight appears.

If you see these signs of rodents in your Nassau County home, you need the best rodent control near you from Parkway Pest Services. Our technicians can verify if you have rodents and take appropriate action to remove them from your house.

Rodents Can Spread Disease And Damage Property

The oily fur of mice and rats attracts not only dirt but also bacteria and viruses on the surfaces of animal feces, sewers, storm drains, open garbage containers, compost piles, and other areas they forage. When the rodents enter your Nassau County house, the pathogens fall off and land on cooking and eating surfaces, exposing food and utensils and contaminating them.

Rodents transmit pathogens as they deposit urine and droppings throughout the house. Because rodents constantly gnaw, they pass bacteria and viruses through saliva as they chew on food storage units and packaged products.

Rats and mice carry many of the same diseases: salmonellosis, rat-bite fever, tularemia, and leptospirosis, but mice also spread choriomeningitis (LCM) and hantavirus. These diseases can spread by eating contaminated food, items from a polluted surface, or directly from a rodent.

Rodents cause property damage by gnawing on furniture and other items in the house. Fires of "unknown origin" are often the result of rodents chewing through electrical wires and sparking a fire. In an era when many people work from home, rodents can cause loss of income when they destroy internet phone lines inside walls. Hole

To get rid of these rodents in New York, call our team at Parkway Pest Services; we will promptly arrive and remove them from your Nassau County house!