Rodent Control 101: Essential Tips For Keeping Your Yakima County Home Safe

According to a recent count, the planet has approximately 4,660 rodent species. So, it isn't surprising that we have trouble with rodents in our Yakima County yards and homes. Today, we will look at a few common rodents that get into trouble. We'll show you how to identify them, track warning signs, and keep them out of your home, taking a deep look at detection, control, and prevention. You should find everything you need for rodent control in Yakima County.

If you have questions while reading this article, give us a call or connect with us online for assistance. Your Prosite team is here to guide you.

How To Identify Common Types Of Rodents In Yakima County

All rodents are not the same. There is no better example of this than to compare rats and mice with squirrels. Both rats and mice have poor eyesight. Squirrels have great vision and are able to use their eyes to zip along tree branches at full speed. Rats and mice are nocturnal animals that scurry around in the dark. Squirrels are active during the day. Rats and mice like living in your home. Squirrels don't prefer it. But a squirrel may invade your space for a short time. When rats and mice get into your house, they will check out every level, from the attic to the basement. Squirrels tend to stay in attic spaces.

Since rats and mice are generally more problematic than squirrels, the control methods for these animals are different. We use live traps to capture squirrels and relocate them. Rats and mice are collected and eliminated so they cannot continue growing large populations and present a danger to public health.

If you see a mouse or a rat on your property, it is helpful to identify it. Each species has unique traits. In the next section, we'll explore some identifying characteristics, along with the features associated with rodent control.

House Mice

Widely considered one of the worst pests, the house mouse is a gray rodent with a long, thin tail. When it moves along the ground, it hops more than it crawls. House mice can jump up to 13 inches in the air. They can also squeeze their body through a gap the width of a dime and scale trees to get onto rooftops. Once inside your home, a house mouse will quickly settle in and breed rapidly.

Deer Mice

If you see a deer-colored mouse with a tawny top and white underbelly, you've found a deer mouse, also called a field mouse. While deer mice can infest your home, they're more likely to invade spaces that are secluded and more like nature, such as a shed or barn. If deer mice invade your house, it is important to understand that these pests can transmit hantavirus, which can make you quite sick. Fortunately, deer mice are generally easy to exclude from home interiors using exclusion methods.

Roof Rats

These rats are entirely black or dark gray and are the rat equivalent of house mice. The primary visual difference between rats and mice is that rats have thicker tails. Roof rats are exceptional climbers and often use tree branches or power lines to access roofs and attics. Once inside your home, they can live off food inside your house but are more likely to go outside to find food. They can live off the same foods squirrels eat. But they're also prone to getting into kitchens and pantries to find a bite to eat.

Norway Rats

These are the brown rats. If you have Norway rats on your property, you may not have them in your home. They can live in ground burrows outdoors. But, when given proper incentives to live in your house, they can cause issues. Norway rats typically stay close to the ground, so you can expect them to get into your home through gaps around utilities and damaged seals around your exterior doors.

Do you see how each of these animals is unique? When attempting to keep rats and mice out, knowing a bit about how they behave is helpful. But once they get into your home, they all present the same issues, and you should know what to expect.

The Many Problems A Rodent Infestation Can Create In Your Home

When rodents get into your home, there are two things you can expect them to do. They'll find soft materials to create their nests, and they'll look for a food source and attempt to build their nests as close to the food as possible. Here are some problems that will arise as they try to settle down in your house:

• They may rip the stuffing out of a couch cushion or mattress stored in your attic.
• They may tear up your insulation.
• They may get into stored boxes.
• They may build their nests in stored furniture.
• They may chew access holes to get in and out of wall voids.
• They may chew through wiring and start a fire.
• They may chew holes in stored food containers.

There is no way to know whether they'll do the things listed above, but they're prone to it. Here are a few things they are sure to do in your house:

• They pick up ticks, fleas, and other organisms outdoors and spread them around the interior of your house.
• They pick up microorganisms in unsanitary places, such as trash bins, and spread them to surfaces, dishes, stored foods, and more.
• They leave their droppings on insulation, stored furniture, floors, and hiding places.
• They leave droplets of urine to create a scent map of their surroundings.

It is not good when rodents get into your home. Not only do they do these things, but it'll only get worse as their population grows. Both rats and mice reproduce alarmingly fast. So, when you see the first signs of rodent activity, contact Prosite to deal with rodents in Yakima County.

Simple Rodent Exclusion Tips That Work

We hope you found this article before rats or mice invade your home because blocking their access is the best way to control these pests. We have many suggestions to help you keep rodents away and prevent access:

• Remove clutter in your yard to deter rats and mice from feeling their way across your yard.
• Put woodpiles and construction materials on elevated platforms.
• Store dead branches in a storage container.
• Pick up nuts and fruits from the ground.
• Remove or manage bird feeders so rodents can't get to the seeds.
• Keep trash in covered containers with locking lids.
• Trim the vegetation next to your home so they have nothing to hide in.
• Keep your grass cut low.
• Block off access to the void underneath your deck, stairs, and other structures.
• Use expanding foam to fill in structural cavities, such as voids behind joists or gaps around pipes.
• Replace weatherproofing materials to ensure complete seals around exterior doors.
• Cut back branches that hang close to or touch your roof so rodents cannot use them as a bridge to your house.
• Use rodent guards to prevent rodents from climbing trees near your home, scaling pipes to get into your house, or running across power lines to get onto your roof.
• Block access to your downspouts.
• Reduce insects (a food source for rodents) by keeping exterior lights off at night.

All of these methods will work to manage rat and mouse activity and keep these animals from entering your home. This list is not comprehensive, but you can use these tips to help you zero in on ways to deal with rodents on your specific property.

The Secret To Complete Rodent Control For Your Home

There are many ways to keep rodents from entering your home. When tailored to different rodents, pest control strategies can be very effective. But it takes work. If you'd rather have someone else deal with rodent control, contact Prosite for professional rodent control near you. Our technicians use industry-leading methods and products to get rodents out of your home and keep them out.

Just as no two rodents are exactly the same, neither are any two homes in Yakima County exactly the same. When your Prosite technician applies rodent control, you can expect customized service. We inspect your home, check for conducive conditions, track activity, and give you suggestions unique to your needs. Some of the services we provide are rodent removal, cleanouts, exclusion work, baiting, and monitoring.

Getting information about home pest control services in Yakima County is easy and stress-free. Jump on over to our contact page and fill out the short form. Tell us a bit about your rodent problem or concerns. We'll get right back to you and tell you what you may need to correct the issues you're seeing. Prosite is here to help you find the answers you need. Connect with us today.