Is Your Home Crawling With Rats And Mice?
Having rats and mice in the home is one of the worst pest infestations that you could develop. Most people have a phobia for these rodents and with good cause too. Not only do they have the propensity of spreading numerous diseases, but also they are also quite destructive.
Nevertheless, rats and mice are very discreet. Chances are you may not even know you are at risk of an infestation unless you see them scurrying about because they are nocturnal critters. If you suspect that your home could be at risk, you should have a look at the following signs that would suggest a potential rodent infestation.
Dark coloured droppings around your property
If you have never had to deal with rodents before, you may not be aware of what their droppings look like. Thus, it would be easy to confuse them with clumps of dirt, particularly if they are outdoors. The droppings of rats and mice tend to be shiny and black, and they are about the size and shape of rice. The older the droppings are, the more lightly coloured they become.
There are smear marks on your walls
Rodents can easily breach your home, as they are capable of squeezing through the smallest cracks and crevices in your walls. What allows them to do this is oily secretions on their coats of fur that makes their bodies greasy enough to pass through these spaces. As a result, the leave behind smear marks wherever they pass through. Look out for these smear marks on your walls and seek to have any cracks sealed as soon as you can.
Unexplained gnaw marks in your home
Rodents eat a lot, and they eat most things that they come across. Moreover, the rodents use gnawing as a method of keeping their incisors at a manageable size as the process helps in filing the teeth. Therefore, if these pests have infested your home, chances are you will have numerous gnaw marks in various places such as on furniture, food packaging, wood trimming and more.
Strange rustling noises
Rodents may be great at keeping themselves hidden, but they are not silent. When they come out at night to forage for food, chances are you will hear them scurrying about behind walls, in the pantry as they disturb food packages, in roof spaces and more. If you keep hearing these weird sounds in your home but do not see any other signs of rodents, it is still advisable to seek pest control services.