Finding rodents in the attic is more common than you might think, and needs to be dealt with promptly in order to prevent them from causing any more damage than they already have. Finding rats and mice in your home, attic, crawl, or building is extremely common and may lead to health concerns for homeowners in Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.
Possible attic animal infiltrators
There are many different species of birds and other animals that can make their way into your attic. These are some of the most common culprits:
Racoons
Possums
Birds
Squirrels
Bats
Mice & Rats
How to identify the animal in your attic:
Ideally, you want to confirm the identity of your intruder by seeing them for yourself. But if they’re being sneaky and making it hard for you to catch them in the act, you’ll have to use other clues to narrow down your list of suspects. The types of noise they make and the appearance of their feces are two of the most useful ones.
Animals like bats, mice, rats, possums and raccoons tend to be nocturnal – so if your intruder is making noise primarily at night, it could be one of those.
Raccoons may sound like they’re thumping around up there – they’re heavier than smaller rodents, so tend to sound like they’re walking, rather than scampering about. Baby raccoons are known for making a distinctive chittering noise. Adults can be heard growling, hissing, screeching, or even purring. Their feces looks similar to that of a dog, long and cylindrical – it’s usually about six to seven centimeters long.
Bats are stealthy creatures – you’re unlikely to hear a peep out of them, unless you have the misfortune of finding a large colony in your attic that bickers with one another all night as they fight for space to sleep. The best way to confirm the presence of bats is to actually see them flying into or out of your attic. Their feces is generally found in piles of pellet-shaped droppings that turn to dust if touched.
Possums are yet another stealthy creature. Although they are a larger animal, the most you’re likely to hear from them is the occasional bump in the night. Their feces looks a lot like dog droppings (curved, cylinder-shaped).
Mice and rats tend to make pitter patter noises as they race around. Mouse and rat feces have a similar shape (long and almost cylindrical) and are usually found scattered all over the place – but while mouse feces are usually not more than six millimeters long, rat feces can be as long as one centimeter.
On the other hand, squirrels, and most birds are most active during daylight hours. Listen for a quick pitter patter of little feet scampering around and pellet-shaped droppings, if you have squirrels. Birds give themselves away with their chirping. Their feces looks like thick, liquid piles (older droppings will be hardened), and can vary in colour depending on what they eat (ex. white, green, or brown).
A final thing that can clue you in as to what type of animal is most likely in your attic is the size of the entry holes you find. Larger holes may mean you’re dealing with something like a raccoon. Smaller holes point towards little animals such as mice or rats.
What to do about animals in your attic:
Once you figure out which kind of animal you’re dealing with, you’ll need to get rid of them. For rats and mice, this generally involves setting traps (not poison as they many times just curl up, die, rot, then turn to maggots, and produce a sickening smell within your attic).
Lay Out Traps In High Activity Areas
This is probably the most critical part of getting rid of mice in your attic. The success of your trapping efforts depends on the type (live traps, snap traps, number and strategic locations of your traps. Laying out traps in the strategic locations can be all the difference. The best way to identify where these mice might be travelling is by following the droppings.
As mice are cautious creatures, as such you need to ensure that you are covering enough area with traps. Set your traps along the walls and corners to ensure that you are effective in capturing the mice and getting rid of the problem.
Check Your Traps Regularly
As may be the case, sometimes the elusiveness of mice may dodge or set off the traps . Checking your traps regularly, sometimes even once a day might be just what is required to get rid of your pest. As checking regularly can ensure that you are able to reset traps when necessary, while also being able to quickly and safely dispose of trapped mice if your traps have worked.
How Pacific Decontamination Services Can Help
We neutralize the rodent/animal urine and feces by applying our eco-friendly, safe chemical, focusing our efforts on the visible contaminated areas. Depending on the job, we apply our formula by spray, mist, foam, or fog. We further kill all airborne threats in your residence/property. The average time of our on-site service is approximately one hour. An additional four hours is required to achieve maximum effectiveness. We ask that you stay out for approximately 5 hours in total.
We also assist in root problem solving access issues regarding rodents/animals, and we HEPA vacuum mice and rat droppings, feces and clean up the contaminants as required.
Pacific Decontamination Services uses the world’s strongest, most effective and safe antimicrobial disinfectant, deodorization and chemical decontaminate. Our professional application will eliminate up to 99.99999% of any allergen, germ, bacteria or fungus that it touches. AND as powerful as it is, it is also completely safe.
What do you do next? How do you solve the challenge of rodents and associated health hazards?
Call Pacific Decontamination Services at 778-269-0208 or email us at contact at pacificdecon.com
Serving All of Vancouver Island: Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.
