The Easiest And Safest Way To Get Rid Of Rodents In Tampa

Identifying a Rodent Problem In Your Tampa House

Knowing how to detect rodent activity before and after treatments is useful. Before a treatment, detection helps with targeting key areas. After treatments, it helps to make sure no rodents remain in your home. Whether you work to control rodents yourself or you hire someone to do it, you will want to know that the rodents are gone. Rodents in Tampa are often tricky to control. Here are some ways to find evidence of activity.

Droppings: The best way to evaluate a rodent problem is to find and inspect rat and mouse droppings. We know; it's gross. But droppings can tell you what type of rodents you have in your home, whether they are currently active, and what areas they're exploring. You'll find droppings in hidden or secluded spaces. 

• When you find droppings, examine them for freshness. Black, moist droppings are fresh. Old rodent droppings will appear gray and will crumble when you squish them. Wear a mask and gloves when dealing with rodent droppings.
• Clean droppings up when you find them. Doing so can help you detect activity. When you return to an area you've cleaned and you find new droppings, you know rodents are still active in the area.
• Rats and mice rarely infest a structure at the same time, so you're likely to have one or the other. Mice droppings are smaller than a grain of white rice. Rat droppings are larger.

While unpleasant, detecting and evaluating rodent droppings is a crucial skill to have if you hope to stop rodents.  

Holes: The second best way to evaluate a rodent problem is to look for holes. Look for holes in your exterior wood, around exterior doors, baseboards, food packages, and objects stored in your attic.  

• When you find holes in building materials, seal them. The tool for this job is usually a can of expanding foam. Be cautious when applying expanding foam as it adheres strongly to skin and it is difficult to get off. Once the hole is patched, check back in a few days to see if rodents have chewed through the material.
• When you find holes in food packages, clean the area and throw the food package away. Also, check for holes in pantry walls or the backs of your kitchen cabinets.
• When you find holes in store furniture, you're likely to also find rodents, droppings, and other easily recognizable signs. 

As you consider holes, keep in mind that a full-sized rat only needs a hole the size of a quarter to get through. Mice only need a hole the size of a dime.

Grease Marks: When rodents run along baseboards or across pipes and timbers, they leave grease marks. They do this because the places they explore are often dirty places. The darker the grease marks, the more rodents you have in your home.

Nests: When you inspect your attic, you might find nests up there. Rodents create nests from gathered materials, such as clothing, paper products, insulation, foam, cotton, etc. Look for nests in recesses, nooks, and holes.  

Urine: If you have a rodent infestation, you're likely to smell urine. The more rodents you have, the stronger the scent will become. Unfortunately, detecting a urine scent won't help you determine whether or not you have an active infestation. You'll need to look for the other warning signs listed above if you smell rodent urine.

When you find evidence and properly evaluate whether or not the evidence is fresh, you'll know if rodents are still inside your home. While there are several types of rodents in Tampa, all rodents provide these warning signs.