Do you often hear scratching in the walls? Do you find yourself thinking, was that a squeak? If these tell-tale signs are enough to put you on edge, but not enough to convince you that you have an infestation, then you need to be looking out for more definite indicators of a rat or mice infestation in your home. In recent years, homes in Overland Park have become a particular target for rodents, and pest control call-outs, for this reason, have increased drastically.
The most commonplace that you’ll find rats or mice in your home is in the kitchen since that’s where the food can be found. Rodents are programmed with a number of survival instincts, one of which is to not be out in an open space, and to keep one side of themselves close to a wall, so the places to check for signs of rats is around the borders of your kitchen, underneath cupboards/the fridge, behind appliances and at the back of your cabinets. In this article, we talk about how to tell if you have rats or mice. To learn more about how these sometimes cute looking creatures are more trouble than you might realize, please read, Why
Rodents are Scarier than you think.
Here is how to tell if you have Rats or Mice in your home:
Have they been chewing your home?
Have your electrical wires been chewed? Have you noticed any holes in food packaging, in your cupboards, or elsewhere? Are there any gnawed-looking holes in the back of your cabinets? These are all vital signs that there are more residents in your home than you bargained for.
Have they left any little souvenirs?
So, I’m obviously not talking postcards or pressed pennies. Use a torch to inspect your kitchen, making sure to search the back of your cupboards, behind appliances, and any other crevices where you think rodents might have left waste.
In order to know exactly what steps to take to solve your rodent problem, you should first know
who the problem is being caused by mice or rats. This is easy enough to figure out based on the size of the droppings; mice defecate tiny- significantly smaller than rat droppings, which are usually about half an inch long.
Have your pets been displaying any strange behavior?
If your pets have been acting strange recently, it might be due to an unwanted company. In particular, if you catch your pets fixating on certain spots in your home, they could be leading to you to your rodent invaders- after all, dogs and cats can hear and smell things that we can’t.
Has your house smelled differently, recently?
If you start smelling a musky smell, this is a strong indicator that you have a rodent’s nest in your home: the smell is the build-up of urine, feces, and the rats/mice themselves (if they’ve given birth in your home, then there’s also all the organic matter that comes with that process, too). In an even more unpleasant scenario, you might smell something rotten- rats often become trapped in small spaces within your home and die, meaning their corpse is left to decompose, filling the surrounding air with the stench of a dead animal.
Have you spotted any little tracks?
Even if you think that you haven’t, you may just not have recognized that what you were looking at were tracks. While prints are a sure-fire sign that you have a rodent problem, disturbances in dust and dirt that roughly form a trail is also an indication that you have rats or mice, since they often slide on kitchen surfaces and the floor, and kick the dust when they run.
Another commonplace for mice and rats to inhabit, in your home, is in your attic. Roof rats, in particular, choose to make your attic their home for purposes related to shelter, both from predators and harsh weather conditions, as well as warmth. Rodents are pretty nimble and often make their way into your attic through small holes in your roof or walls, sometimes via a tree branch. If you hear scratching and squeaking above you while you’re trying to get to sleep, then this is a pretty indisputable sign that you have a rodent problem up there. However, if you want to make sure, you can go ahead and do a search of the attic and look for the things listed above.
So, what next?
The best course of action is to call the professionals as soon as you think you might have a rodent problem since the longer mice or rats infest your home for, the more damage they can do.
Rodent control can figure out where the source of the problem is (a.k.a. how the pests are getting into your home) and plug it up to prevent any other rodents gaining access to your house- this also saves you from doing a thorough inspection of your attic, and help you to avoid any potential run-ins with the mice/rats themselves. After that, pest control will deal with the infestation inside your home.
Mantis Pest Solutions offers inspection, extermination, and preventative solutions to protect your home against rodents and other pests in Overland Park, at a great rate, but whether you decide to employ pest control, or not, by using this list of tell-tale signs to inspect your home for rodents, you’ll be able to take steps to ensure that your home stays pest-free.
Mantis Pest Solutions offers For more information about our rodent extermination services in Overland Park, call us today at (816) 287- 5030.
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