Rodent Infestations in the Winter
As temperatures drop, homeowners are often faced with unwelcome intruders in their homes. In fact, every year approximately 21 million homes in the U.S experience a rodent infestation each year, especially in the winter. While these rodents may seem cute, they can create serious problems in a home and be dangerous to you and your family.
Why Rodents Invade Homes In the Winter
While many mammals spend the winter hibernating, rodents are among the minority that do not go into hibernation. Because of this, they spend their winters looking for warm places to live, where food is plentiful. This makes your home an ideal habitat. Mice and rats will find their way into your home through small cracks in the foundation, openings to the attic, and even garage doors that are a crack open. They then create homes in the walls and under appliances, and begin scavenging for food.
Why Rodents in the Home are a Problem
Besides seeing a mouse or rat scurry across the floor, you may not see the immediate impact of a rodent infestation. While the impacts aren’t immediately visible, if an infestation isn’t taken care of quickly you could have serious problems. For example, mice can give birth to half a dozen babies in a 3 week period, and can have nearly 40 babies in a year. In addition, rodent droppings can be extremely hazardous for your health. The feces can spread bacteria, trigger allergic reactions and contaminate food in the home. Moreover, the feces can spread diseases such as:
- Bubonic Plague: The cause of the black death, even with modern medicine can cause fever, headaches and swollen lymph nodes.
- Rat-Bite Fever: This potentially fatal disease is contacted by eating food that has been contaminated by rodents
- Salmonellosis: Salmonella is a type of food poisoning that can be contacted by eating contaminated food.
- Hantavirus: This potentially life threatening disease is transmitted by exposure to infected rodent urine and symptoms include fatigue, fever and muscle aches.
Signs of Infestation
Now that you know the dangers of a rodent infestation, it’s important to keep an eye out for signs of an infestation. Just because you haven’t seen a mouse, doesn’t mean that you are mouse free. Below are several common signs that you have a rodent infestation.
- Droppings: A sure sign of rodents is finding their droppings around your home. They will be brown or black pellets between 1/8th and ¼ inch long. Soft droppings mean you currently have rodents, dried droppings are at least 48 hours old, but may be months old.
- Damaged Goods: Mice and rats are constantly looking for food, and will gnaw their way into anything edible.
- Rub Marks: Mice and rats will leave oily rub marks along the walls where they travel
- Gnaw Marks: Rodents will try to gnaw their way through household items, and may appear rough or smooth
- Odor: If there is a large number of rodents in your home, you will be able to smell urine near where they live.
- Burrows: Piles of insulation, newspaper or wood chips in your home may be a mouse burrow.
- Sighting: If you see a rodent, you should call the professionals immediately.
When To Call an Extermination Service
The decision to call an exterminator for a rodent infestation can be daunting to homeowners, whether it is a monetary issue or you aren’t sure if you have an infestation large enough to call the pros. If you see a mouse in a high activity area of your home such as the kitchen, it may be solitary. If you find a rodent in a low activity area like the basement, you likely have a full blown infestation. Rodents are very social animals, and generally live in packs. If you see signs of a rodent infestation, call Fox Pest Control today at (833) 667-3785 for a free estimate and inspection. Let the pros do the work for you, and make sure that you and your family are safe.
