They may be small, but rodents can do big damage to your home if they decide to take up residence. Attracted by the potential for food and warmth, mice, rats, and squirrels find their way through small points of entry around doors and windows, gaps around pipes and vents, or via your home’s foundations. They can even chew their way through roofing or insulation materials.

Here are three of the most common rodent problems homeowners regularly encounter:

1. Squirrels

Squirrels like to nest and raise their young indoors. In addition to the noise they make while scurrying around, squirrels can damage your home’s infrastructure by gnawing at materials (to gain further access or to make up a nest). Their urine and feces also put your family at risk from allergies, hantaviruses, and diseases such as salmonella and listeria.

2. Mice

These rodents can enter your home through a hole smaller than a quarter. Once inside, they reproduce quickly and can be difficult to evict. Their droppings and urine can generate an unpleasant odor throughout your home and are considered toxic. Like squirrels, mice can spread disease among their human hosts. Some species (deer mice, for example) can pass on potentially deadly hantaviruses.

3. Rats

Rats are often associated with inner city litter and waste, but they are happy to move into your home as well. Rats can transmit serious diseases such as rabies, Lyme disease and rat bite fever (Streptobacillus moniliform) directly and their droppings can contain parasites that are harmful to humans.

Call the Experts

If you suspect that rodents have taken up residence in your home, take immediate action. Call a full-service professional like the ones at Critter Control® of Ft. Lauderdale to get rid of these unwanted visitors humanely, repair the damage they left behind, and ensure that the solution is permanent by sealing all of the holes they made. For your free consultation, call us today at 954-504-6467.