Rodent Control in Lemon Grove, CA

How to get rid of rats and mice

Roof rats climb. They travel along fences, utility lines and tree branches, and they get in at the roofline — a gap at the eave, a vent with torn mesh, a gap where a pipe passes through. They nest in attics, in wall voids and in dense outdoor cover like palm skirts and ivy.

House mice are a different search. Lower, smaller, and through a gap about a quarter of an inch across. Rats need something closer to half an inch.

Which one it is decides where the sealing happens — the roofline or the ground floor — and it decides the trapping too. Mice are curious and go to a new object quickly. Rats avoid anything new for days, which is why a first night with no catch means nothing until you know which you have.

Trapping without sealing is a subscription. Take the animals out and leave the openings and the food, and new ones move in. The exclusion is the part that ends it.

What the visit involves

A technician starts outside and looks up: the roofline, the eaves, vent screens, where cables and pipes enter, and any branch or wire that reaches the roof.

Then the attic and the crawl space, for droppings, rub marks along the runs, gnawing and nesting material. Rodents use the same route repeatedly and leave a greasy dark smear where they pass.

Traps go on the runs rather than in the open, and the openings get sealed with material that cannot be chewed through — hardware cloth, sheet metal, mortar. Foam alone is not a barrier.

Common questions

How do I know it is rats and not mice? The droppings. A house mouse leaves about a quarter of an inch, a rat closer to half. Photograph them next to something for scale before cleaning.

Should I use poison? Ask what happens to an animal that dies inside a wall. That answer matters more than most people expect.

Do I have to cut the tree? Not usually the whole tree. Cutting back the branches that reach the roof removes the bridge.

Who to call

Call and say where you hear them, at what time, and what the droppings measure. Overhead at night points at the roofline; under the sink points somewhere else entirely.