Top Rodents In Knoxville

Top Rodents In Knoxville

This is the time of year when many folks are thinking about resolutions and starting fresh. If you have had to deal with rodents in your home or business in 2017, perhaps you are ready for a fresh start at being rodent-free. Any time rodents get into man-made structures, problems are a certainty. Chew holes, droppings, and food and surfaces being tainted with bacteria are just a few things that rodents are famous for.

  • House Mouse – This mouse has dull greyish-brown fur with a tail that is the same length as its body and is thicker and more scaly than other species. Its presence can be detected by a distinctive strong, “stale” odor. The voice of this mouse is a familiar high-pitched squeak. When these mice get into homes and multiply, they chew holes through wood and other things, which can cause heat or cool air to escape. They also chew on wires, which may spark a fire. When they get into food storage and food preparation areas, they can spread harmful bacteria, which can spread disease. And, they also carry secondary pests such as mites, ticks, and fleas.

  • Norway Rat – A Norway rat can grow to be 8 inches in length and it has a body which is covered in shaggy fur that is brown or gray in color. Its ears and tail are covered in scales. Its tail is shorter than its head. And its body and its droppings are capsule-shaped. One of the problems these rats bring is that they spread diseases such as murine typhus, babesiosis and RMSF (via the ticks they carry), and even leptospirosis.

  • Roof Rat – A roof rat has thick fur and ranges in color from brown to black with grey to white fur on its underbelly. This rat can grow to be around 16 inches long with a tail and body each being of equal length. These rats like to be up high and will typically chew their way in through rooflines, but can make holes anywhere. When they get into man-made structures, they pose the same issues as other rodents.

Rodent Prevention

If you would rather not be dealing with mice and rats inside your home, there are several steps you can take to prevent them from entering. Remove trash from your property and keep garbage in tightly sealed containers. Keep your yard neatly trimmed and free of overgrown weeds and clutter. Seal up any entry points in the exterior of your home. And keep bushes and other vegetation trimmed back from your walls and foundation.

How Russell’s Can Help

If you are already seeing or hearing, the signs of rodent presence in your home, the best course of action is to partner with a professional pest control company. Russell’s has been providing folks with rodent solutions since 1971. Contact one of our friendly associates for a free estimate today.

Why Rodents Enter Our Homes

Why Rodents Enter Our Homes

Winter is on its way, we can feel it in the air as it is getting colder outside. Unfortunately, pests are feeling the same temperature change and will be in a search for a warmer place to call home throughout the winter months. Besides warmth, these pests are in search of shelter to raise their young, as well as food and water to survive. These particular pests are rodents, like those mischievous mice and rascally rats that scurry about and skulk around the pantry foraging for food. And here’s the problem with rodents inside your house: they carry diseases, chew everything in sight, and cause damage to your home. Not a creature you want to have around.

Let’s start by talking about the diseases they can carry, like the deadly hantavirus, which can lead to hemorrhagic fever or acute respiratory failure. You and your family could be at risk for other diseases as well, like leptospirosis, lymphocytic disease, and salmonella as a result of a rodent infestation. Rodents can also bring parasites like mites, fleas, and ticks into your home that can affect the health of your family and pets too. On top of this, rodents are looking for food, and will contaminate anything they can get their claws into.

Since rodents have incisors that continuously grow, they chew incessantly to prevent overgrowth of their teeth. They can chew the legs of furniture, picture frames, books, clothing, wires, pipes, insulation, and much more. Normally the chewing would just damage single items, but if an electrical wire is chewed, it could spark a fire in your home. Likewise, if a plumbing pipe is chewed through, you could experience a lot of water damage.

So, how do you prevent rodents from entering your house in the first place? You will need to block off all entry points by caulking all gaps and holes around your foundation and exterior walls, the preferred method is to stuff a hole with steel wool and then caulk it, as rodents can chew through the caulk alone. You will also need to fix or replace all damaged vents, screens, chimney caps etc… Try to keep trees and bushes trimmed back away from your house and eliminate piles of wood and junk near your home. Your garbage cans should have tight-fitting lids as well. Inside your home, keep all of your food secure in containers with tight-fitting lids, and never use food that has ripped, torn or chewed packaging. You should also be on the lookout for rodent droppings that look like small black rice with tapered ends. As an extra precaution, you should clean up food and drink spills right away and repair leaky pipes and faucets.

If you already have an infestation, you should contact a professional pest control service in your area. If you live in the Knoxville and Eastern Tennessee area, call on Russell’s Pest Control for full-service pest management. Our year-round home pest control services effectively address all rodent activity to ensure proper eradication of the rodents and keep them away with a multi-step process. So, if getting rid of pests for good is what you are looking for, look no further. Russell’s Pest Control has solutions that will give you the peace of mind you need, that ensures you a rodent free home all year long.

What To Do, And Not Do, About Rodents In Your Home

What To Do

If you are hearing, or seeing, the evidence of rodents inside your home, this is not an issue to be taken lightly. The scritch-scratching sounds inside your walls, the tiny (or perhaps not so tiny) droppings you are finding in your cabinets, and the chew holes appearing in the Cheerios box are not things that should be ignored. Rodents are not only a nuisance to have around, they pose very real dangers to you, your possessions, your family, and even your pets.

Rodents are famous for foraging in filthy places, but they also forage in your kitchen. This means that they carry all sorts of disease-causing pathogens into your home and deposit them everywhere they roam. Rodents are known to transmit diseases, some of them fatal–as well as secondary pests, like ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease. And, rodents are a danger to your possessions as well. Since they constantly have to chew on things to wear down their ever-growing teeth, they will damage or destroy anything from treasured possessions to your whole house, if they accidentally chew on the right electrical wire.

If you have a rodent infestation, it is imperative you get professional help right away. Although some do-it-yourself rodent control strategies can get rid of some rodents, to completely eradicate these pests, so they don’t keep coming back, a pest control company is the way to go.

Why DIY rodent control doesn’t work

  • While many products will kill some rats and mice, killing all the rodents in a home can be tricky. And many products can be dangerous to humans or pets if not properly handled. At best, you can reduce your rodent population, at worst, you could end up with dead, rotting rodent carcasses inside your wall voids, which will only draw more pests into your structure. Many bugs are drawn to dead, rotting things.

  • Using chemical products can result in rodents picking up the chemicals on their fur and then tracking it around your pantries and food preparation areas.

  • While snap traps may catch some rodents, it is impossible to know if you have gotten them all. These critters have a threat avoidance instinct that will cause them to lay low for a while and grow their population to come back later when the threat is gone. If your family is dealing with flu-like symptoms, it may be rodent related, even if you think you’ve gotten rid of your rodents.

If you are hearing and seeing the signs of a rodent infestation, and you live in our East Tennessee service area, call or click today. With over 40 years experience in pest prevention and elimination, Russell’s Pest Control can make your home rodent-free with rodent control you can depend on. Life is better without rodents.