How to Control Rodents

Rodents found in your home can cause immense damage to your house while also bringing in hazardous pathogens that can take a great toll on your overall living conditions. Before taking action on the situation, understanding what types of rodents you are dealing with and what signs to look for is important in taking the correct approach when dealing with rodents in your home. In this article, get all the information you need to prepare for controlling rodents.

Common Types of Rodents Found In Most Canadian Homes

While there are many different types of rodents that can be found across the country, the two common types of rodents found in most Canadian homes are mice and rats. These two types of rodents share similar interests in why they thrive in urban areas and why they would find their way into homes.

common types of rodents found in most canadian homes
Type of Rodent	Where They Typically Nest	Type of Damage to Your Home	What They Choose to Eat
Rats	Underneath decks, in garages, near buildings, in homes and in gardens	Chewed drywall, furniture, electrical cables, grease marks on floors	Omnivores that eat things discovered outdoors, but also human food and pet food
Mice	Tall grass, thick shrubs, inside homes and buildings	Chewed drywall, baseboards, electrical cables, furniture, food packaging	Cereal grains and seeds, but also human food and pet food

Mice

Mice prefer dark areas of your home that are less frequented and are more likely to be found by the droppings they leave rather than seeing them for yourself. Mice have gerbil-like characteristics and can also be purchased from pet stores as a domesticated pet that is unlike wild mice that can be found outdoors. Wild mice entering your home can induce damage to your drywalls, chew on home appliances and bring in unwanted disease that they’ve obtained from being outdoors.

Rats

Rats are much larger than mice and can grow up to 16 inches in total length. Rats are resilient and can thrive in many unsanitary places such as in sewage and amongst garbage bins which is the reason behind their oily fur that leaves trails of grease wherever they go. This toxic trail of grease can greatly damage home flooring alongside the droppings and urine that also carry hazardous pathogens. Some species of rats can also climb to the roof of homes and can greatly damage the structural foundation of your house.

For a full list of rodents, read our article to learn about how to identify rodent problems in your home.

Signs of Rodents In Your Area

Inside Your Home

Rodent droppings on the ground, especially in dark areas that are tucked away from humans and pets.
Rodent urine in similar areas that you would have identified droppings in. Fresh urine and dried up urine both have a very pungent smell that can easily be identified.
Food packaging that has been damaged and chewed through.
Squeaking and scratching sounds coming from inside your walls.
Pets are alert and paying unnatural attention to areas of your home such as ceilings and walls.
Chewed cables, baseboards and furniture.
Rearranged home insulation.

Outside of Your Home

Chewed up cables, outlets and pipes around the outer perimeter of your home.
Chew marks around cracks and corners of your home that can be used as entry points.
Mouse or rat nests in corners of your home and near the garage.

For more information on signs of rodents, read our article to how to handle rodent droppings in your home.

Rodents leave more than enough evidence for you to identify that they’ve entered your home. The sooner you can identify signs of rodents in your home, the sooner you can control the rodent issue and stop the chance of an infestation. To better identify rodents, here are the most common signs of rodents inside and outside of your home:

Infestations

It is important to immediately act upon any suspicions that rodent activity is happening in your home before an infestation occurs. Infestations can lead to many dangers in the home; Both damage to your house, as well as the chance of disease infection. Controlling one, or a few mice or rats is much easier than dealing with multiple rodents entering your home. Should you suspect an infestation, large amounts of droppings will be found in addition to physically seeing rodents at different times of the day.

The Dangers of Living With Rodents

Home Damage

In order to enter your home, rodents will chew their way through drywall in pursuit of food and water. By doing so, it is common for anything of eye level to also be gnawed at in the process. Cables, baseboards, furniture and even the wooden foundation of your house can be chewed and are very difficult to repair and replace. Amongst the things that rodents find to chew, wires and electrical cables are one of the most common things to be chewed and can lead to electrical fires and other electrical complications.

Diseases

Rodents can scavenge through the most unsanitary of environments in order to find a reliable source of food and water. With an affinity to consume just about anything in sight, rodent droppings and urine are extremely hazardous and carry toxic pathogens that can poorly affect the air quality and living conditions of your home. Rodent droppings also carry toxic diseases that can affect humans and pet animals when touched or when rodent fumes are accidentally inhaled.

Some of the most common diseases found in rodent droppings are:

HPS (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome)
Leptospirosis
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis
Plague
Typhus
Lyme Disease

For more information regarding rodent droppings, read our article to learn more about how to handle rodent droppings in your home.

Getting Rid of Rodents With Useful Products

There are a variety of rodent control products to choose from that each control rodent issues in different ways. Understanding the right rodent control product for you is the right step towards a rodent-free home.

Getting Rid Of Rodents With Useful Products
Rodent Removal Product	Product Is Ideal For:	Will You See Dead Rodents In the Trap?	Does it Require Poisonous Ingredients?	Is it Child & Pet Resistant?	Can It Be Reused?
Bait Stations	Mice & Rat Infestations	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spin Traps (Mechanical)	One Mouse	Yes	No	No	No
Snap Traps (Mechanical)	One Mouse or Rat	Yes	No	No	No
Wooden Traps (Mechanical)	One Mouse or Rat	Yes	No	No	No
Glue Traps	Up to 4 Mice or Rats	Yes	No	No	No
Catch & Release	One Mouse	No	No	No	Yes

Bait Stations

Rather than trapping rodents, bait stations hold a poisonous bait block in place that mice and rats can freely feed from and also bring back to their colony’s nest. Read our article to learn more about bait stations.

Mechanical Traps

There are a variety of mechanical traps that are designed to control rodent activity by luring rodents into the trap with a bait of choice and catching them in their tracks and killing them instantly. Read our article to learn more about all of the types of mechanical traps.

Humane Mouse Traps

Humane mouse traps are designed to catch mice so that you can then release them back into the wild without hurting any of these rodents. These come available in single-catch and release, as well as multi-catch and release options. Read our article to learn more about humane mouse traps.

Glue Traps

By placing glue traps for mice and glue traps for rats in areas that mice and rats frequent, rodents become stuck to the glue-like adhesive which is also formulated with a pesticide-free bait scent that rodents are attracted to. Read our article to learn more about glue traps for rodents.

Cleaning Your Home Post-Rodents

Although you may have controlled the rodent issue in your home with some of the rodent controlling products, it is important to immediately clean up after them while also keeping yourself safe from any hazardous pathogens that you may be in close contact with. Consider using the following products when cleaning and sanitizing of any droppings, urine or other remnants that rodents may have left behind:

cleaning your house post rodents
Cleaning Supplies	Purpose
Rubber Gloves and a Face Mask	Avoid the possibility of skin irritation and the inhalation of pathogens that mice and rats have brought into your home.
Dustpan and Broom	Sweep up all rodent droppings and other remnants that rodents have brought into your home.
Disinfectant Spray	Disinfect all areas that rodents were frequenting during their time in your home. This includes table surfaces, cabinets and floors.
Paper Towel	Use paper towels for wiping down surfaces and disposing of soiled paper towels easily.

Disposal of Droppings

Securely apply protective gloves and facemask and be mindful of cross contamination as you proceed to handle droppings carefully. Use as many gloves and masks as needed to avoid touching many areas of your home with equipment that may have been in close contact with rodent droppings.
Sweep up any physical droppings that you find in your home and dispose of them immediately in a garbage bag that is designated for cleaning up after rodents.
Once areas of your home are clear of droppings, disinfect the areas using a disinfectant spray.
Allow the spray to settle into the contaminated surfaces to allow the spray to disinfect the areas on its own. Typically, this waiting period is over 30 seconds to allow the area to be disinfected.
Proceed to wipe down surfaces once enough time has passed to let the disinfectant sanitize the areas of your home that need to be cleaned.

Read our article to learn how to dispose of rodent droppings properly.

Disposal of Dead Rodents

It is possible to see dead rodents in your home over time and especially in cases of an infestation when there are many rodents entering your home at once. To avoid any chance of cross contamination during the cleaning process, continue to use personal protective equipment and use the same dustpan and broom to assist with picking up any dead rodents. During this process, it is important to be using gloves and a face mask at all times while being extremely careful during disposal.

Preventing Rodents From Coming Back Again

After controlling the issue and cleaning up after them, the goal is to stop rodents from ever coming back again. Taking the necessary steps towards making food and water more difficult for rodents to get to is an important part of deterring rodents from entering your home in the first place. Follow these steps to prevent rodents from entering your home again:

Remove any sources of water and food to make it less enticing for rodents to enter your home.
Declutter your home and remove any potential areas that rodents may consider nesting in. Boxes in basements and other storage areas are common places for rodents to burrow nests.
Seal any potential areas that you suspect rodents can be entering your home from. Doing so will significantly decrease the chances of rodents in your home.

For more information on rodent prevention, read our article to learn how to prevent rodents from entering your home.