In the fall and winter mice and rats invade homes in record numbers, looking for food and a more comfortable place to spend the cooler months. The question many people ask us is, “How do mice and rats get in?” The short answer is, “Very easily!”
Mice and rats have an amazing ability to squeeze through small holes. A young mouse can easily squeeze through a hole even smaller than a dime: a young rat can squeeze through a hole smaller than a quarter. Amazing! And if the opening is too small, they will often make it bigger by gnawing around the edges.
Openings around service conduits like electricity and phone lines, and water pipes, provide easy access indoors and between apartments. Dryer vents and gaps around window-installed air conditioner units are other common entry points. Rodents can also crawl up through drain pipes not properly capped, as well as under exterior doors that don’t seal well.
Rats reach roof areas easily by “tight-rope walking” along utility lines and tree branches, by climbing up pipes, and even through gutter downspouts. This enables them to enter through roof and chimney vents, cracks, around fireplace flashing, and through any other cracks and other openings.
Surprisingly, rodents sometimes are inadvertently brought indoors hidden in bags, boxes, and used appliances or furniture. And they sometime scurry in through an open door or unscreened window.
Rodents are persistent, and they find many ways to get indoors. If you have these common pests, give us a call to professionally control them.
