Are There Rodents In My Bay Area Home?

Rodents, unfortunately, are a fact of life for cities across the globe. Since people have settled down from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, rodents have been with us, developing alongside us, and steadily growing more dependent on human civilization for survival. This means that they’ve also become better and better at overcoming our safeguards and settling inside our homes. Rodents are dangerous to your health and the integrity of your home, so it’s best to be prepared to deal with them effectively.

One Common Bay Area Rodent: The House Mouse

House mice are one of the most common home-invading pests, and like other dangerous rodents, they are vectors for disease-carrying pests and other health hazards as well as being destructive to your home.

House mice are round with dusty gray fur and cream-colored bellies. Their tails are usually as long or longer than the lengths of their bodies, adding up to around 3¾ inches for their bodies and 4 inches for their tails. Their pointed muzzles and large, round ears are characteristic of this species of mouse.

While they may seem cute, these animals can be vectors for disease-carrying mites, lice, fleas, and ticks. They also are spreaders of salmonella and rat-bite fever. Their urine droplets can worsen allergies and asthma in children, and coming into close contact with them through DIY traps can put your household members at risk for contracting these diseases.

If you’re wondering how mice get into your home, you should know that these small creatures can fit through holes the size of a dime or cracks as wide as a pencil.  As prolific chewers, they can also work through wood, cardboard, and plastic without issue. For their nests, they like to drag insulation, fabric, and paper from wherever they can find it.

As you can imagine, their chewing abilities can cause problems for support beams and electrical wires that may put a home at risk of a fire. One mouse sighting may be an indication of major renovation going on inside your walls.

5 Signs Of Rodents In The Home

House mice are just one species of many dangerous rodents to be found in the Bay Area. Looking out for signs of rodents can protect you against the house mouse and its often more dangerous cousins.

1. Gnawed and chewed through wood and packaging, often accompanied with greasy rub marks from their oily fur.
2. Rod-shaped feces are often found in clutter and storage boxes or on their highly-traveled pathways.
3. Tracks through runway areas, either four or five-toed.
4. Odor. In large numbers, mice and rats can be identified by their strong-smelling urine.
5. An actual rodent. There’s almost never “just one” hanging around. If you’ve seen one, you’ve likely got an infestation.

Once you’ve identified the signs, it’ll be time to call for professional help. The ideal way to avoid the expense is to practice pest prevention that will keep your home safe.

10 Rodent Prevention Tips

Rodents come indoors for the same reason any pest does; food, water, and shelter. By limiting their access to these things, you’ll be most of the way to a rodent-free home. Therefore, good sanitation and home maintenance practices are the means to peace.

1. Store food in glass or metal containers and clean spills inside the cabinet immediately.
2. Take indoor trash out regularly. Keep indoor and outdoor trash in a sealed container, and keep outdoor trash away from the property. Sanitize the bins once a week.
3. Woodpiles and yard decorations should be stored at least twenty feet away from the home.
4. Trim your lawn and bushes, and don’t leave bushes directly underneath windows.
5. Seal cracks and holes around the exterior of the home with silicon-based caulk or steel wool.
6. Maintain door and window screens by making sure there are no holes. Doors and windows should also be able to seal properly.
7. De-clutter. If you must have stored items, store everything in sealable plastic containers. 
8. Vacuum and sanitize surfaces regularly. Even small crumbs and sticky spills are enticing to rodents and other pests.
9. Keep trees trimmed back away from the roof or house.
10. Take care of moisture issues in attics, basements, bathrooms, or laundry rooms. Around the outside of the home, fix drainage issues, leaky pipes, or landscaping problems where water can collect.

Don’t Rely On DIY: Contact Bay Pest Solution

It can be tempting to try and take care of rodents yourself; unfortunately, DIY methods will never be able to tackle an entire infestation. House mice live in colonies with numerous members of both sexes, and other rodents usually come in numbers, too. DIY methods are not only ineffective, but they can also be dangerous to your health, and with poison traps, can attract more pests or endanger your pets.

Call Bay Pest Solution for safe and effective rodent control. At Bay Pest Solution, our 40 years of experience and love for this community will help protect you and your Bay area home now and for years to come.