Rats and mice are well-known species of rodents. They’re known to be year-round pests that can often be found in homes and businesses at different times throughout the year. Rodents like to live in groups so if you find one in your home or building, it could mean that you have several family groups living in the property and very likely have a very serious rodent problem at hand.
It is not advisable to handle a rodent infestation without professional pest control services. A rodent can bite you to defend itself and transmit bacteria, viruses and diseases through their saliva. At Petty Pest Control Services, we provide affordable mice exterminator and rat control services in Southern Ontario to help homeowners and building landlords to safely and effectively get rid of these sneaky little creatures and keep them away all year round.
Rodents can be hard to keep out of a home or building. They’re one of those annoying pests that can be very difficult to control and exterminate.
- They’re very adaptable creatures. Rats and mice can thrive in almost any environment as long as there is access to food and water. They will eat just about anything that they can get their teeth on – grass, weeds, twigs, bark, and other plants in their surroundings, grains and seeds, nuts, fruit and berries, meat, poultry, and fish, vegetables growing in your garden, garbage scraps and trash, and even inedible materials such as worn clothes, leather, soap, electrical wires, building materials, cardboard boxes and paper. They can also survive for long periods with very little food.
- Rodents are very flexible and agile. They have a skeleton structure that allows them to move and bend easily without breaking. They also have a relatively small size. This allows them to squeeze through tiny holes and cracks and fit through extremely tight spaces. They are also expert jumpers and climbers and can access even hard to reach areas in homes and buildings. They can travel and hide anywhere, making it very difficult to get to them and catch them to keep them out of the property.
- Rats and mice are fast breeders. Some species breed year-round, but typically one single pair is capable of multiplying to as many as 200 in just one year. This means that it’s possible for them to quickly increase in large numbers and become a major infestation.
- They’re also hard to kill because they’re becoming more and more immune to baits and poisons. Some breeds have developed resistance to the standard rodent poisons that are usually used to kill them off. These poisonous baits are sometimes no longer effective that mice and rats can just keep on feeding on them without dying.
The best way to deal with a rat and mice infestation in your property is through a pest control professional. At Petty Pest Control Services, we can do the job right the first time. Our rat exterminator and mouse control services are guaranteed to get rid of mice and rats from the property and then seal any entry holes shut, so you won’t have to worry about these nuisance pests any more.
Residential and Commercial Mice Exterminator and Rat Control Services
Rats and mice are very common pests in large cities such as Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener and Waterloo. The three most common species that can be found in homes and buildings in Southern Ontario are:
Norway Rats
These rats are natural burrowers and will dig their way inside homes and buildings just to get to water and a food source. They prefer living in ground levels, such as in basements, crawl spaces, cellars, and piles of debris or undisturbed clutter inside of homes and commercial properties. Outdoors, they dwell under concrete slabs, in garbage dumps and woodpiles and in gardens, fields and farmlands with tall grasses and thick shrubbery.
House Mice
Much smaller than rats in size, but they breed much faster. They reproduce all year long and can give birth to as many as 5 to 10 litters per year with up to 3 to 14 pups per litter, so they can increase in large numbers very quickly.
Roof Rats
Smaller than Norway rats in size, but they move faster. These rats are very good climbers. They can easily climb on tree branches and balance on power lines to get on the roof and attics of homes and buildings.
No matter what their size or how they look like, one thing is clear — rats and mice are dangerous to people and property.
- They cause damage to building structures and personal belongings by their constant gnawing and chewing. They will persistently dig and gnaw away on parts of a home or building to make potential entrances bigger and wider just to obtain food or water. They can gnaw through almost anything – paper, cardboard, plastic or lead pipes, aluminum, sheetrock, soft cement and asphalt.
- Rats are also capable of burrowing as deep as 1.2 meters underground and can cause damage to foundational walls, sidewalks and support structures.
- They carry diseases and can transmit bacteria and viruses to humans directly through contact with their feces, urine, or saliva, and through rodent bites. People can become infected with potentially life threatening diseases such as Hantavirus, jaundice, rat-bite fever, leptospirosis and lymphocytic choriomeningitis or LCM infection.
- Rats and mice can contaminate food through their saliva, droppings and urine and transmit foodborne illnesses such as salmonella and rat lungworm.
- Rodents can also bring in ticks and fleas into homes and workplaces that can subsequently carry bacteria and viruses that infect people, such as the bubonic plague which is one of the most well-known rat-related illnesses arising from fleas.
- Some people, especially children, can develop allergic reactions to the presence of mice and rats as their fur or hair and droppings are highly allergenic.
Rodents in your home or building can become a serious pest problem if not dealt with quickly. Petty Pest Control Services can provide mice exterminator and rat control services for residential and commercial properties that have rodent problems.
Customized Rodent Control Hamilton
Mice and rats infest any type of home or building. It is possible to have both rats and mice infest the same property at the same time. You can have Norway rats living in the lower floors of a home or building, and roof rats on the upper levels and house mice living in different places and feeding at different times than the rats all in the same property.
They can be found anywhere inside or outside of a home or building. Once they have built their nest and become established in a certain place it may be difficult to find them and get them out of homes and buildings.
In many cases of pest control, you would usually find signs of a possible infestation first than see the actual pest scurrying around the property.
Signs of rat and mice infestations:
- Rat droppings in specific locations
- Scratching noises
- Footprints or running tracks in dusty, less-used areas
- Distinctive ammonia-like smell in hidden areas
- Rub marks of grease and dirt on their bodies that smudge surfaces
- Gnaw marks or damage of chewing on wires, cables or stored items
- Rat holes or burrow systems for shelter, food storage and nesting.
- Rat nests made up of shredded cardboard, loft insulation or other soft materials inside walls, cabinetry or hollow ceilings
At Petty Pest Control Services, our expert technicians help homes and buildings in the Toronto, Hamilton and the Niagara region get rid of mice and remove rats from the property and prevent them from coming back.
We use our comprehensive rodent control program:
- Inspect the property thoroughly to find out what species are present and where they’re nesting.
- Use the latest and safest pest control techniques designed to eliminate existing rodent activity, such as strategically positioning bait stations in areas where rodents actively visit.
- Exclusion repairs to eliminate all potential entry points and help prevent future mice infestations.
If you spot the warning signs or actually see a house mouse or rat running around or eating in your home or building, call Petty Pest Control Services right away. We are pest control experts for rodent control, bed bug treatments, ant extermination & control, cockroach extermination & control and much more.
Petty Pest Control Services provides comprehensive pest control and removal services for residential and commercial properties in Southern Ontario, including Hamilton, Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville, Guelph, Kitchener- Waterloo, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Fort Erie, Simcoe and the surrounding areas. We also provide immediate pest control emergency services anytime 24-7. Call us now at (289) 439-4343.