Living in a home that is safe and healthy isn’t something you take for granted. It’s also not something that happens without some work on your part. You do your fair share of upkeep, repairs, and cleaning to keep your San Diego County house a place you’re proud to call home. 

While taking care of things on your own is great in some circumstances, there are other times when issues pop up that require a little outside expertise. One of those issues is a rodent infestation. Many homeowners think that setting a couple of traps and calling it a day is all that is needed to take care of a rodent problem, but the truth is that keeping your house rodent-free requires you to take a variety of factors into consideration, and it likely requires you to employ skills that you may not have. 

The experienced professionals at HomeShield Pest Control can help. We have well over a decade of experience solving rodent problems, and we understand that effective rodent control requires a partnership between the homeowner and ourselves. Learn more about what you can do to keep rodents out of your home and how we can help with our effective San Diego County rodent control services.

Rodent Behavior Insights: Navigating The Habits Of Mice And Rats

Although there are many different kinds of rodents in San Diego County, mice and rats are the two types that are most often found inside homes in our area. Learning a little bit about their habits and behaviors can help you understand why and how they get into homes, where they spend time once inside, and why you really don’t want a rodent infestation of any kind in your house.

Mice and rats are different in a variety of ways, but they also share many similarities. Some of these similarities are in their appearance. They both have furry bodies that are shades of brown or gray with lighter colored bellies. They both have long tails. Like all rodents, mice and rats both have a set of incisors that grow continuously throughout their entire lives. 

When it comes to their habits and how they behave, mice and rats are very similar. Both rodents are cautious by nature and prefer to stay out of wide open spaces. This is a habit that protects them from predators. If given the choice, they will stay along the edges of open areas when moving from place to place. This also governs where they build their nests. Mice and rats look for small, enclosed spaces to build their nests where they are hidden away from view and better protected.

Mice and rats are both nocturnal creatures. That’s not to say that you’ll never see them during the daytime, but the majority of their movements will take place at night. They are both foragers, so they’ll move around in search of food. Although they love grains, seeds, and fruit, they also eat meats and other proteins. As opportunistic foragers, mice and rats will take what they can get to survive.

Another behavior that mice and rats share is their survival instincts. They do what they need to do to satisfy their basic needs. These needs include food, water, and shelter. If food or water becomes scarce outside, they will move indoors to find a steady supply. If the weather becomes too extreme, whether too hot, too cold, too dry, or too wet, rodents will look for shelter that offers them a reprieve.

a brown rat outside

Health Risks Of Rodent Invasions: Protecting Your Family And Pets

When you understand that a rodent infestation can easily occur in your home when rodents get inside looking for food, water, or shelter, a little part of you might wonder if you should just leave them alone. You might even think that they’ll just hang around until the conditions outside are more favorable. This line of thinking is a mistake.

Once rodents get into your house and find everything they need to live a comfortable life, they won’t plan on going anywhere. In fact, they’ll probably decide that your San Diego County home is a pretty good place to start a family, and soon the small rodent infestation you started out with will become a much larger problem. 

Rodents don’t just take up space in out-of-the-way locations when they move into your house. They also pose a lot of risks for your family and home. First, there are the health issues they spread. Rodents will get into your living spaces to look for food. While there, they’ll leave contaminated droppings on your counters, in your cupboards, and even in your food supplies. When you or your family members come into contact with these contaminants, you can become sick with a variety of illnesses, including tularemia and salmonellosis. 

Sometimes, rodent urine or droppings contain particles that become airborne and can be breathed in. This is how hantavirus is spread. It is also how some people can have their allergy and asthma symptoms triggered by a rodent infestation.

Rodents can also bring parasites into your house that can then infect your family or pets. Tapeworms are common parasites spread by rodents. So are lice, ticks, and fleas. 

The problems with rodent infestations don’t stop with the diseases they spread. Rodents are also terribly destructive when they get into homes. As you know, rodents have a set of teeth that never stop growing, so they have to chew and gnaw on things all the time to wear their incisors down. The things they’ll chew on in your house can be anything from your favorite sweater to the wires that help light your home. While it’s bad enough to have your belongings destroyed, it can be downright dangerous to have parts of your house damaged. Fire hazards, flooding, and mold growth are just a few of the issues homeowners deal with when rodents get into their houses.

Rodent Exclusion Tips: Safeguard Your Property from Infestations

Knowing that rodents are most likely to get into secluded areas of your house can help you determine how best to prevent them from infesting your home. However, you also shouldn’t overlook the more populated rooms in your house. Finding rodents in your attic or basement when looking for their nests is common, but you’ll also find signs of them in your kitchen when you have an active infestation.

To fully protect your San Diego County home from rodents, take a big picture view of your entire property. There are areas inside that you’ll need to make changes to, but prevention starts outside. Enact these rodent exclusion tips for the best results.

  • Cut your grass, and don’t let it get overgrown. Overgrown grass allows rodents to move closer to your house without being seen.

  • Remove leaf litter and lawn debris, and trim your foliage for the same reason.

  • Consider getting rid of landscaping elements and other objects around your house that could act as harborage areas for rats and mice. This includes things like stone walls and wood piles.

  • Remove outdoor food items, such as fruit that has fallen off trees, bird seed, pet food, and easily-accessible garbage bins.

  • Reduce moisture around your property. Clean your gutters, make sure rainwater drains away from your house, and fix leaky spigots.

  • Seal all entry points into your house, no matter how small. Caulk cracks in your foundation, gaps around windows, and openings around plumbing fixture entry points. Install door sweeps. Make sure screens aren’t torn. Cover downspouts and vents with wire mesh. Cap your chimney.

  • Inside, keep your kitchen tidy. Sweep the floors, wipe down the counters, wash out the sink, and clean the dishes after each meal.

  • Store all of your food in the refrigerator or in containers that have lids that seal shut.

  • Take out your trash regularly.

  • Clear clutter out of your house, especially in rooms that don’t see a lot of activity.

By putting these tips into practice, you can greatly reduce the chances of rodents moving into your San Diego County home.

Professional Rodent Control: Why Expertise Matters

If rodents do find their way inside your home, you shouldn’t wait to get them out. Professional home pest control is the way to go. Because of the problems that rodents can cause, you don’t want to spend time on DIY methods that don’t end up working. This only prolongs the infestation and allows rodents more time to destroy your house and sicken your family. Instead, you need effective rodent control that provides efficient results.

HomeShield Pest Control delivers effective and efficient rodent control services. We will inspect your home to determine where rodents are spending their time and what areas of your home require our rodent-proofing services. We’ll get rid of your active rodent problem, provide the exclusion services you need to ensure new rodents don’t get inside, and provide ongoing monitoring to make sure your home is fully protected. We also offer attic cleaning services to decontaminate the areas where rodents were spending time in your house. This is an optional, but important, step in protecting your family’s health.

Rodent control near you is available from HomeShield Pest Control. Our locally owned business provides customer-focused services that guarantee your satisfaction. Our licensed, bonded, and insured company offers the experienced treatments you need to make sure that your San Diego County home stays rodent-free.