The Most Effective Rodent Control Solution For Your Del Rio Property

Seeing a rodent in your home is more than a bit alarming. Wouldn't you agree? Even tiny rodents can make most people feel uneasy. But how uneasy should you feel? Is there reason to be concerned about rodents coming into your yard or exploring every level of your home? Will they come out at night and bite you while you sleep? It isn't likely. But there are other ways they can cause harm. When you see a rodent in your home or out in your yard, you should know what to expect and what works to control rodents effectively. Let's look at the types of rodents in Del Rio, the dangers they present, and how to rid your home of them.     

Before we get started, we want you to know that you don't have to read a long article about rodent control to get control of rodents. You can quickly navigate to our contact page for rodent pest control in Del Rio. We have highly trained and super-friendly service professionals standing ready to do the hard work of rodent control for you.

When it comes to rodent pests, two rise to the top of the most-wanted list—or perhaps we should say the most-unwanted list. Rats and mice are in a class of their own. They don't just cause trouble in your yard; they can get into your home and cause trouble. But all rodents are not created equal. 

House Mice: As their name implies, these rodents love to live inside houses. When they get inside, it is hard to convince them to leave.

Deer Mice: These mice have the coloration of a deer—tawny hair on the top and white hair on the belly. Like a deer, these mice don't prefer to infest your home. You'll find them getting into sheds, barns, outbuildings, or your garage. While it is good that they don't prefer to infest your home, there is some bad news. These mice are strongly associated with Hantavirus, which can cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome(HPS), a potentially fatal illness.  

Norway Rats: These are the big, fat, brown rats that lumber through your yard. While they can infest your home, you are more likely to find them infesting your yard. Norway rats are burrowing rodents that prefer to establish their burrows underneath garbage piles and other piled objects. Stacked wood is a strong preference. It is good that they tend to live in the ground, but not so good that they readily go in and out of structures, a behavior that can have them bringing harmful microorganisms into your home from the outside. Norway rats don't have a problem exploring unsanitary locations or being around smells you would never allow in your home.

Roof Rats: You may see these black rats climbing trees in your yard or running across your roof. Once they get inside your home, they're likely to stay, a behavior that has caused many to refer to these rodents as common house rats. Like a house mouse, you'll have a hard time getting roof rats to leave.  

While each of these different rodents is unique, they all present a threat to your property and health. Some are worse than others, but you should never allow rodents to live in your home or yard. Let's take a moment to examine a few ways these common rodents can impact your life.  

Rodents Can Spread Disease And Damage Property 

There are many ways rodents can cause harm. In almost all cases, the harm they cause is indirect. It is essential to keep this in mind.

• Rodents chew holes to get into your home. It costs money to repair these holes.
• The holes created by rodents can allow rainwater and moisture into your home. This can lead to wood rot, mold, fungus, and other issues.
• The holes created by rodents can allow other pests into your home. Some of these secondary pests can cause direct harm to you and your family.
• When rodents come into your home, they don't come alone. They bring ticks, fleas, and other parasites into your home. A single mouse can have as many as a hundred seed ticks on its body.
• When rodents climb in dumpsters or crawl through sewers, they can pick up organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. Some of these organisms are associated with human illness, such as salmonella and E. coli. In your home, rodents spread these microorganisms to surfaces, dishes, silverware, food packages, and other items that should remain clean.
• The worst outcome of a rodent infestation is a house fire. Rodents chew on wiring, which can spark a fire in your walls. Experts assert that 80 to 85 percent of fires that start from an undetermined source are likely rodent-related.

Rodents are not domesticated animals. When they get into your home, they will not behave themselves. They're wild animals. It is best to deal with them with appropriate and effective control methods. 

How And Why Rodents Find Their Way Into Our Homes

Before we discuss how a licensed service professional addresses rodent problems, let's look at effective steps you can take to get rodents out and stop them from getting in, keeping in mind that house mice and roof rats will be much harder to control.

Why Rodents Get In: A mouse or rat wants to find food and water in your home. Removing these resources can drive rodents out. Here are some tips to help you:

• Keep your kitchen and pantry as clean as possible. Rodents can feed on food debris.
• Get a kitchen trash receptacle that seals. Not only does this keep rodents out, it holds the smell of food in.
• Put your pantry and kitchen foods in sealed plastic containers. While mice and rats can chew through plastic, they don't know there is food if they can't smell it.
• Put pet food down only during meals, and never leave food overnight when mice and rats are active.
• Put dishes in soapy water. A little rodent can get a meal off a dirty plate.

Consider every possible food source and protect food sources at night. Along with these steps, address plumbing issues in your home, particularly leaking faucets or showerheads. While rodents can derive all the moisture they need from food, they're happy to find water.  

How Rodents Get In: After removing food and water, turn your attention to the exterior of your home. Look for potential entry points and seal them. Here are some common ways rodents enter Del Rio homes.

• Gaps underneath exterior doors. Install door sweeps to prevent rodents from squeezing under your doors.
• Gaps in weatherstripping. Over time, gaps can form around your doors. It is also possible for a rodent to chew a hole. Replace damaged or worn-out weatherstripping.
• Vent openings. If you have an unprotected vent, don't underestimate a mouse or rat's ability to get to it. These animals can scale your exterior walls like Spiderman. Make sure all vents have covers.
• Seal gaps between wood members, such as gaps below your sole plates. 
• Use a caulking gun to fill in rotted holes. Mice and rats explore holes.
• Trim tree branches away from your roofline to prevent rodents from getting onto your roof.
• Put wire mesh in your downspouts to stop tiny rodents from working their way up to your roof.
• If you have lattices or vines, be aware that rodents can scale these. They can also scale pipes that run up the sides of your home.

Your primary tools for keeping rodents out are a caulking gun, cans of expanding foam, metal flashing, steel wool, and hardware cloth. It is hard work to perform exclusions, but these alterations provide long-lasting protection from rodent pests.  

The Most Effective Rodent Control For Your Home

It is hard work getting rodents out and keeping them out. Fortunately, you don't have to do all this work yourself. You can contact Gold Star Exterminators for rodent pest control in Del Rio. Our technicians use a multi-pronged strategy to capture and remove rodents and monitor rodent activity. Your service is likely to include some or all of the following:

• We inspect your property and look for rodents, warning signs, conducive conditions, entry points, nesting sites, and other factors.
• We set traps and bait to capture rodents, putting traps in locations where kids and pets can't come in contact with them. And we put bait boxes around the exterior of your home.
• We perform follow-up visits to check for activity and evaluate the control program. If rodents do something tricky (which happens), we alter our strategy to ensure they don't evade the treatment.

Rodent control is far less about the products used and more about the knowledge needed to apply the products properly and monitor the results. If you're in Del Rio, reach out to Gold Star Exterminators and tell us about your rodent control issues. We can help you find a solution that works. Help is just a few clicks away.   

Gold Star has been spraying our house for a few years now and I can't express how much it has helped.  I was spraying Demon WD myself and barely made an impact on the scorpions and spiders.  after they started doing it, we have very few sightings now.  Great company.

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