Rat and Mouse Extermination and Control

Norway rats are among the most notorious public health pests and have been involved in the disease deaths of countless millions of people.

Rodents are notorious public health pests. Their filthy habits, the diseases they carry, and the damage they cause make rodent control one of the most important jobs performed by exterminators worldwide.

The modern science of pest management traces its roots back to the “Black Death” of the 14th Century when the association between rats and the plague pandemic was first identified, and armies of “rat catchers” set out to reduce rat populations throughout Europe. (We now know that fleas, another serious public health pest, were also involved in the transmission of plague.)

Rodents are still important public health pests. They’re known to be involved in the transmission of murine typhus, hantavirus, salmonellosis, leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, Lyme disease, plague, and probably other diseases, as well.

Rats and mice also contaminate millions of pounds of food and feed with their filth and cause thousands of fires and communications outages yearly when they chew through the insulation on wiring.

Pest Rodent Species

There are many species of rodents, but the three species that Texas rodent exterminators deal with are the Norway rat, the roof rat, and the house mouse. These three species are “commensal rodents,” meaning they “eat at the same table” as we do. (This is another saying that they are closely associated with humans.)

Norway Rats

Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are brown, heavy-bodied rats with small eyes and ears, blunt noses, shaggy fur, and tails slightly shorter than the head and body combined. They have poor vision but excellent senses of touch, taste, smell, and hearing. They can jump several feet if necessary, have good balance, and are good swimmers. They’re also known as brown rats, sewer rats, or wharf rats.

Norway rats will eat almost anything. But they’re xenophobic and avoid new objects in their environments for several days, including food that mysteriously pops up where it wasn’t before. This makes trapping and baiting a challenge.

Norway Rats are burrowing rodents by nature. But in cities, where the most ground is covered by concrete, they have adapted to living in and around human-occupied buildings and other structures. They can often be found in basements, crawl spaces, wall voids, sewers, man holes, utility chase ways, and other protected areas close to their sources of food and water.

Norway rat control consists of correcting sanitation problems, removing food and water sources, trapping, exclusion (sealing rats out of homes and other buildings), and, when necessary, poisoning.

Roof Rats

Roof rats (Rattus rattus) are also black, although their coloration ranges from light brown to jet black. They’re more slender and graceful than Norway rats and have smooth, almost silky fur. Roof rats also have pointier noses, more enormous eyes and ears, and longer tails relative to their bodies than Norway rats. An adult roof rat’s tail is slightly longer than its head and body.

Roof rats are believed to have better vision than Norway rats, along with excellent senses of smell, taste, hearing, and touch. And especially balance. They need that sense of balance because roof rats are accomplished aerialists. They live in trees by nature. In populated areas, however, they’re happy living in attics, basements, crawl spaces, barns, sheds, warehouses, and above-drop ceilings, often running along power wires to get in and out of buildings.

In commercial buildings, roof rats often use overhead pipes and beams as runways, making the placement of traps and bait stations a challenge. (Exterminators who frequently treat buildings for roof rat infestations spend a lot of time on ladders and forklifts.)

Although they will eat almost anything, roof rats prefer fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables. Roof rat control consists of correcting sanitation problems where necessary, removing food and water sources, locating and placing traps along their runways, exclusion, and (when necessary) poisoning.

House Mice

House mice (Mus musculus) are small, slender rodents whose length rarely exceeds three or four inches. They’re usually gray or brown, although there are many color variations. They have pointy noses, small eyes, and large ears. Their vision is not very good, but they have excellent senses of balance, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

House mice are omnivorous, but they strongly prefer seeds and grains. Unlike rats, mice do not need to drink water: They get enough from their food. But they will drink water if it’s readily available.

Because they’re small and cute, most people don’t realize that mice can be as severe a health threat as their larger cousins, the rats. Because they’re smaller, mice can get through tiny openings, which often brings them closer to humans. Mice often live inside wall voids behind cupboards where human food is stored, slipping in and out through tiny openings — and contaminating our food with filth and germs.

Extermination of house mice consists of correcting sanitation problems, removing food sources, sealing food in rodent-proof containers, exclusion (sealing the mice out), trapping, and (when necessary) poisoning.

Long-Lasting Rat and Mouse Control

Many pest control companies rely primarily on poisons to control rat and mouse infestations. That’s good for the company but not for the customer. When you rely on chemical poisoning, you don’t get permanent rodent control. The exterminator has to keep coming back to refill the bait stations, and you have to keep paying the exterminator to do that. Worse yet, even when all the rats or mice are dead, new ones will move in to take their place. And you’ll keep paying to poison them.

That’s not how we do things here at AllGone. Our rodent control programs are designed to provide long-lasting rat and mouse control. Here’s how we do it:

Inspection. We find out where the rodents are, how they got there, and what they eat.
Habitat Modification deprives rats and mice of food, water, and other necessary things.
I was trapping to reduce rodent populations rapidly.
Exclusion to seal rats and mice out of your home or business.
Baiting or tracking powders, when necessary — although often we can control rats and mice completely non-chemically.
(For some commercial facilities such as warehouses or food processing, or pharmaceutical plants, FDA or USDA regulations and industry standards may also require us to install exterior bait stations, rodent monitors, and interior multiple-catch traps.)

We also offer attic insulation replacement to remove the filth the rats and mice left behind, as well as to restore the lost efficiency due to the damage that rodents do to insulation.

For more information about how we can help you achieve long-lasting rat and mouse control without breaking the bank, please call us at 817-589-1632!

Dealing with a rodent problem? Call our expert team at 817-903-9109.

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