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The Secret To Total Rodent Control For Your Nassau County Home
Rodents are greasy, unsanitary, and potential vectors for disease – all of which can make them a Nassau County homeowner’s worst nightmare! Once they’ve made your home into their own, these pests won’t be keen on leaving either.
Here’s what local residents should know about the types of rodents that may invade your home, the problems they cause, some of the easiest ways to prevent them, and when it’s time to contact pest control in Nassau County for help.
What kind of rodents do you need to worry about if you live in Nassau County? While you may see the occasional gopher or vole hang around your yard, there are a couple of common rodents that you’re likely to encounter inside your Nassau County home, such as:
House Mice
Usually growing up to four inches long, the average house mouse has a long tail, beady eyes, and large ears. Their long tails can add even more length to their average four-inch span. Their coloring can range from brown-gray to dark gray, but you can also recognize a house mouse by its cream-colored underbelly.
Roof Rats
While roof rats bodies can grow up to eight inches in length, roof rats have tails that are just as long and can make them around sixteen inches in total. You may also hear roof rats called black rats or ship rats, and they typically have dark coloring with lighter underbellies.
Their name, roof rats, comes from the way they climb through trees and hop onto homes. This rodent’s lean, agile form means they’re an excellent climber, and their favorite way to enter homes is through loose shingles in your roof or even an open chimney.
Norway Rats
Norway rats, or brown rats, aren’t quite as agile as roof rats, so it’s unlikely that you’ll find these rodents climbing anything. These rats are much stockier and usually grow a little bigger than roof rats. Their bodies may grow to nine inches, but their long tails can easily add another six to eight inches to their total length.
Since they aren’t great climbers, Norway rats prefer to dig tunnels and burrows and enter your home through the ground floor.
Is it possible to have mice and rats at the same time? While this is one concern that a lot of homeowners have when discovering a rodent infestation, you’ll almost never have mice and rats at the same time. These New York rodents may share a lot of similarities, but they’re also very territorial, so they don’t often end up living in the same place.
Not only do most homes lack the amount of food they would need to support both mice and rats, but each rodent also has a unique signature scent that warns the other of its presence. If rats smell the odor of a mouse, they may hunt down and kill any nearby mice. For this reason, most mice steer clear of any homes where they catch a whiff of a rat’s scent.
Most of the time, you’re only going to have one type of rodent in your house, but how do you know which one you’re dealing with? Besides identifying live mice or rats if you see them, there are two major ways to tell what kind of rodent has invaded your home: droppings and chew marks.
Most house mice droppings are small, smooth, and have pointed ends. Rat droppings, however, can be close to an inch long and are shiny black. Most chew marks made by rats are also distinct and can be up to ⅛-inch long, while mouse chew marks are smaller and tend to look scratchier.
Keep in mind that rodents don’t need an open door to get inside your Nassau County home. Given their size and agile bodies, mice and rats only need a small hole or gap in your home’s foundation or walls to climb through.
Mice, for instance, can fit through a gap the size of a pen, while rats only need a hole the size of a quarter. Rodents can also use their powerful teeth and jaws to chew through a smaller gap until it’s big enough to climb through.
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The Many Problems A Rodent Infestation Can Create In Your Home
Rodents can be incredibly dangerous for you and your family if the infestation goes untreated, and here’s how.
They Can Spread Disease
Perhaps one of the biggest dangers of rodents is how easily they can spread disease to you and your family. Some of the most dangerous and common diseases that rats and mice are associated with include:
Hantavirus
Tularemia
Rat-bite fever
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis
Salmonellosis
Leptospirosis
Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
These pathogens typically spread through a rodent’s urine and feces, but if rodents break into your food supply, they can contaminate these items with bacteria.
They May Attack
While mice and rats usually try to escape if they come in contact with people, any rodent has the potential to lash out and attack if they feel threatened. Not only can enough bites and scratches warrant medical attention, but this is also another way that an infected rodent could transmit disease to you, a family member, or a pet.
They Can Cause Property Damage
While looking for ways to build a nest or break into your home, rodents aren’t shy about causing property damage if they have to. Both mice and rats have sharp, powerful teeth capable of chewing through many materials – including wood, plastic, drywall, and even vinyl. These critters can chew holes through the side of your house or even cause an electrical fire if they chew through the wrong wires.
They Can Bring Parasites In
Sometimes, rodent infestations aren’t the only pest you’ll be dealing with. If the rats or mice coming into your home are already infested with fleas, ticks, or mites, these parasites could spread to your family or pets.
Five Easy Yet Effective Rodent Exclusion Tips For Around The House
Store your trash and food properly: Rodents are always looking for food and tend to be attracted to homes that give them easy access. Be sure to keep your trash can completely sealed, store your leftovers in airtight containers, and don’t leave food sitting out for any length of time.
Don’t leave dirty dishes or spills: Even if you’ve stored food properly, dirty dishes in the sink can also attract rodents. Try to wash dirty dishes as soon as possible after meals, and clean up any spills or crumbs you leave behind.
Seal off entrances where rodents can get in: Rodents can use tiny holes in your foundation to get inside, so you’ll want to seal off these entrances. Keep in mind that mice and rats can chew through most materials, like wood, vinyl, and rubber, so using a rodent-proof material (like steel wool) to block off gaps and cracks is essential.
Trim low-hanging tree branches near your home: Roof rats may use low-hanging tree branches to get on your roof. Regularly trimming back branches near your home can help prevent this.
Deal with moisture and drainage issues: Rodents need moisture to survive and may stick around homes with leaky faucets or other plumbing problems. You should address moisture and drainage issues on your property as soon as you notice them.
Given how dangerous and destructive they can be, rodents are one pest you don’t want to share your home with – or try to battle on your own. In addition to implementing the rodent prevention tips mentioned above, the best way to deal with a rodent infestation is by contacting the professionals at Parkway Pest Services.
Contact The Professionals For Total Rodent Control For Your Home
Rodent infestations can be dangerous for you and your family and how ineffective DIY rodent control usually is, there’s no reason to waste your time and money on remedies that won’t solve the problem. In fact, there’s only one safe, effective way to rid your home of rodents, and that’s with professional help from Parkway Pest Services.
We’ve been serving Nassau County and surrounding counties for years, and we’ll put that experience to good use when we take on the rodent infestation in your home. Using only the safest, most reliable, and most advanced treatments, we know our job isn’t done until your Nassau County home is completely rodent-free.
If you are finding signs of rodents in your home, you shouldn’t wait any longer – call us today at Parkway Pest Services to learn more about how our rodent control services work.
