Rats and mice are some of the most common pest threats home and business owners have to face anywhere in the world, and Phoenix is no exception. Over the millennia, rats and mice have shared human habitations and lived off human activity to the point that some rodent varieties are semi-dependent on us. That means they’re highly motivated to get into our homes and businesses so they can access food, water, shelter, and climate control. Here in the desert, where water is often scarce in the wild, rodents especially need human water sources for this vital resource. They’re not picky. Your pool, pet bowls, toilets, and leaky plumbing will all do just fine.
What’s The Difference Between Rats And Mice?
Rats and mice are pretty similar looking, but they do have a few key differences. Size is the most obvious distinction; rats are much larger than mice – often several times larger. Rats typically have thinner, courser hair than mice. Rats have proportionally smaller ears and larger feet than mice. And rats have scaly, hairless tails while mice often have furry tails.
Why Are Rodents Coming Into My Home?
As we said above, during a dry spell one of the main attractants to your home is going to be water. If they can’t get it anywhere else, they’re going to try to get it in your home. Food is another major resource that mice and rats come seeking. Rats aren’t picky – they’ll root through your garbage and eat just about anything. Mice prefer pantry staples like grains, dried fruit, seeds, and nuts. Of course, rodents are also attracted to the safety and shelter of your home. Unless you have a cat, there are way more predators outside your house than inside.
What Can I Do About Rodents In My Home?
If you wind up with a rodent infestation, there are a few measures you can take to try and deal with it yourself, though these measures are not typically effective because they don’t do much to reduce the rodent population – they just make room for new rodents. Traps are a common way homeowners try to get rid of rodents. Typical snap traps use bait to lure in the rodent. Then they snap down on it and kill it. The main problem with this is the traps only work once before you have to remove the rodent body and reset the trap. For a large rodent problem, this is a pretty inefficient solution.
Rat poison is another common solution to rodent infestations. Rat poison tastes good, tricking rats into eating it. It then slowly kills them as it works its way through their system. Rat poison can be effective for larger rodent infestations, but the main problem with it is that rodents often die in your home after eating it. They might crawl into your attic, your crawlspace, or even your ventilation system to die – stinking up your home for days as they decompose and exposing you to all the pathogens that come with a rotting rat corpse. Body removal might not always be possible for an amateur since rats tend to hide in tight spots when they know they’re dying.
Expert help is better when dealing with rodent problems. Here at Green Flash Pest Control, our professional rodent control process goes from evaluation to exclusion to repair, monitoring, attractant removal, and sanitation so you not only get rid of the rodents in your home, but all the disgusting things they leave behind like droppings and shed hairs. So give us a call at (760) 334-4313 or visit our contact page to request your inspection today!