Updated: Dec 26, 2022
“Rodent” refers to a large variety of mammals with big front teeth and chewing side teeth. Especially in California several species are found. Some of them live in wilderness, while others live in or near urban areas. They eat crops and gardens, damage lawns and buildings, even steal food supplies, making pests of themselves.
Actually, rodents are everywhere, but sometimes they end up inside our homes. Rodents may come indoor for a variety of reasons. Here are the types of rodents that you can find in your home in California.
Rats
There are two types of rats that you can meet – Norway and Roof Rats. The Roof Rat is dark brown or black in color. Their ears are large and nearly hairless. Norway Rats are the larger of the two species. Their fur is brownish and scattered with black hair on the upper surfaces. And they have a naked, scaly tail.
The first sign to suspect that the rats in your garden is often chewing damage to almost-ripe and ripe fruits and vegetables. In structures, another indication of rats in a house is often a scrabbling, scratching, or gnawing sound from the attic or walls. Rats make a distinctive scrabbling and loud noise as they run, louder than you can expect. In addition, rats eat a lot and poop a lot. An individual rat may produce 10 to 40 fecal pellets per day.
Mice
House mice are among the most troublesome rodents in the US. You can find them in homes, open fields, and agricultural land. House mice are small rodents with large ears and small black eyes, they have typically brown to gray body color.
While the common house mouse is not as dangerous to your health as a deer mouse, they can still spread disease, such as hantavirus, and listeria through their urine, droppings, saliva and nesting materials.
If you have discovered mouse droppings or nesting material, heard noises in your walls or attic mostly at night, or have seen signs of food packaging being chewed, then probably you have mice in your home. Mice can fit through spaces much smaller than they appear. They can also jump, climb and swim, making it nearly impossible to prevent them from getting inside.
Squirrels
For a majority of Californians, you can meet three species of the tree squirrels in neighborhoods: the native western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus), the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), and the eastern fox squirrel (Scirus niger). The best way to distinguish them is that the Western grays are cool gray and white and don’t have brown on their faces. At the same time, the two introduced species have a lot of orangey-brown all over their faces.
Tree squirrels are active during the day, primarily live in the trees. They feed on seeds, nuts, insects, eggs and young birds. They make pests of themselves by feeding on crops, caching their food in lawns and gardens, gnawing on telephone cables and chewing into buildings.
Squirrels can chew through aluminum and wood siding, which can provide access to a home’s attic, where it is warm and dry atmosphere to build a nest. On the other hand, an open window or a door can also become a reason for squirrels to appear in your homes.
Rodent Problems
Both roof rats and Norway rats are capable of causing electrical shortages, flooding due to damaged plumbing, and structural damage if they invade your home. In addition, roof rats and Norway rats are also capable of transmitting several harmful bacteria and diseases to humans, which can be fatal in some instances, including Leptospirosis Salmonellosis, Hantavirus, Plague, Rat Bite Fever.
When frightened, squirrels tend to run around a room with reckless abandon, knocking over anything in their way.
Rodent Control
“Right now, is the perfect time to rodent-proof your home,” said Marc Potzler, Board Certified Entomologist. “Make sure to repair any gaps on the exterior of your home, such as around garage doors, windows or pipes.”
The simplest way to fight rodents is the rodent trapping. Just place rodent traps that are out of reach of people and pets, but in areas that rats or mice frequent. For rodent problems outside your home or business, you can use tamper-resistant traps that will capture the rodent but are safe for wildlife, pets, and children. There are also natural repellents to repel rodents.
The next solution that we will suggest is rodent baiting. You need to place bait stations on the interior and exterior of the property. When rodents consume the bait, they die.
