Does the thought of rodents living in your home send shivers up your spine? If not, it most certainly should!
If one of the many types of rodents is able to invade your home, it could do a lot of damage to it. It could also pose a series of health risks to both your family and your pets. Rodent types like rats and mice are known to help spread about 35 diseases when they’re running around inside of homes.
With these things in mind, you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled for signs of the different types of rodents in your home. You’re also going to want to send the various types of house rodents packing as soon as you can once you spot them in your house.
You’re going to be asking for trouble if you don’t. You might find that a small rodent infestation will turn into a big one in no time at all.
Take a look at the ten most common types of rodents that might be sharing living quarters with you in your home right now.
1. House Mice
When you think about rodents invading your home, there is a good chance that the mighty house mouse comes to mind first. These are the most common types of small rodents found in a home.
At first glance, a house mouse might not seem as though it would pose much of a threat to your home. It’s going to be less than four inches in most cases, and it’s going to have some big ears like Mickey Mouse.
But don’t be fooled by a house mouse’s cute and cuddly appearance. It can still wreak serious havoc on your home if you’re not careful!
House mice tend to congregate in attics, wall cavities, and other out-of-the-way spots throughout a home. They’ll gnaw through almost anything in their path, leave droppings all over the place, and potentially spread diseases.
And as if all that wasn’t enough, house mice can multiply fast if you don’t get rid of them in a hurry. You should reach out to a rodent control service ASAP if you stumble upon one or more of them.
2. Deer Mice
While house mice often gather in busier residential areas, you’re going to find a lot of what are called deer mice out in rural areas. These mice are often bigger than house mice—they can grow to be right around eight inches—and they also spend most of their time living outside.
When it gets cold outside, though, it’s not uncommon at all for deer mice to spring into action and try to seek warmth inside of homes. They can squeeze into tiny cracks and holes in the exteriors of homes and set up shop in attics, basements, and other places throughout a house.
Just like house mice, deer mice won’t be shy about doing damage to the inside of a home and leaving their droppings wherever they go. They also won’t be shy about distributing diseases all throughout a home. They’re carriers of the hantavirus and can spread it to humans and pets through both their urine and their dead bodies.
3. Norway Rats
Having a mouse in your house might not be the end of the world. Most people have come to expect mice to some degree and don’t freak out too much when they see them.
But having a rat in your house? Well, that’s a different story! Rats have a much worse reputation than mice and can strike fear into even the most hardened of hearts.
One reason why people hate rats so much more than mice is because they can grow to be quite large. Norway rats—which are also sometimes referred to as sewer rats—can get to be ten inches long or more in many cases.
People also dislike rats because of the ridiculous amount of damage that they can do in a home. Norway rats can chew through metal and PVC piping like it’s nothing and leave a huge mess in their wake.
And then, there’s the fact that Norway rats can carry so many different diseases. They’re known carriers of:
- Rat-bite fever
- Salmonellosis
- Trichinosis
- Jaundice
- And more
It can be challenging to kick a congregation of Norway rats out of a home. They’re social creatures that reproduce very quickly.
But you should be able to rid your home of Norway rats by catching onto their presence early and working with a rodent control company to eliminate them from your home.
4. Roof Rats
The good news is that roof rats aren’t as large as Norway rats. They only grow to be about eight inches in length most of the time.
But the bad news is that roof rats—also known as house rats, black rats, and ship rats—can climb, which is where they got their name from. This makes it possible for them to get up onto roofs where they can gain access to homes without a problem.
Once you have roof rats living in your home, it’s going to be tough to part ways with them. Much like Norway rats, they can reproduce fast and add to their growing colonies in an instant.
They can also leave shiny black droppings all over, chew up electrical wiring, and spread tons of diseases, including the as-scary-as-it-sounds bubonic plague. Having roof rats in your home will be, in a word, a disaster.
But you should be able to stop roof rats in their tracks with the right rodent control service on your side. You can also stop them from returning by sealing up any cracks and holes you might have in and around your roof.
5. Squirrels
It can be a lot of fun to sit and watch squirrels running around in your yard. You’ll really enjoy seeing them climb up and down trees and gather things to eat.
But what’s not fun is realizing that you have squirrels setting up shop in your house. And that’s exactly what you might find if you have any openings near your roofline that will allow squirrels to sneak into your attic.
Squirrels will have absolutely no problem making their way up to your roof and building a nest in it. They’ll also feel free to make themselves right at home by chewing through everything in sight, including wiring, insulation, and so much more.
Suddenly, squirrels aren’t going to be so cute to you anymore. You’re going to want to do whatever it takes to get them out of your attic and away from your house.
6. Chipmunks
Chipmunks spend most of their time running around trying to find things to chew on. They need to chew on as many things as they can to prevent their incisors from growing more than they should.
This isn’t going to be a problem for you as long as you keep chipmunks out of your house. But if they manage to make their way into it, their incessant chewing is going to prove to be a huge problem.
Some chipmunks will find a way into a basement or an attic space. When they do, they’ll begin chewing through everything from insulation and pipes to wiring and flooring.
And they won’t stop doing it for the duration of the time in your home. If you don’t kick them to the curb, they could ruin all of the things in your basement or attic in a matter of just a few weeks.
7. Voles
All of the different types of wild rodents that we’ve talked about thus far are only going to present problems for you by getting into your house. There are, however, some rodent types that can pose a threat to your property without ever setting foot in your home.
Take voles, for example, which are also called field mice or meadow mice. They’re not usually going to be all that interested in trying to get into your home. But they will build a network of tunnels right outside of your home and chow down on things like plant roots and bulbs.
Voles are also known for reproducing almost as fast as regular house mice or deer mice. This could lead to them taking over your entire yard if you’re not determined enough when it comes to getting rid of them once and for all.
8. Prarie Dogs
Most people aren’t going to have to worry about prairie dogs invading their property and doing damage to it. But you might need to keep prairie dogs on your radar if you live in the Great Plains area.
Those in this part of the country will often get unwanted visitors in the form of prairie dogs. And while prairie dogs won’t usually try to sneak into their homes, they will do all sorts of damage outside of it.
Prairie dogs will create big underground networks beneath your lawn. They will also plow through grass, flowers, and anything else that is growing on your property. It won’t be long before your yard is a mess when prairie dogs attack it.
Prairie dogs can be difficult to evict from your property. But you should be able to do it by putting up the right kinds of fencing and strategically positioning hay bales in the right places to impact the views that they have of your yard.
9. Groundhogs
Groundhogs—or woodchucks as some people call them—are very chunky types of rodents that can get to be up to two feet long. They also have claws that are long and curved for digging, which is what makes them such a nuisance for homeowners.
If you have groundhogs living on your property, they’re often going to create tunnels that run underneath your yard. But they can also sometimes build tunnels that will lead directly into the crawlspace under your home.
When groundhogs are able to make it this far, that’s when they’ll really become a problem. As they tunnel, groundhogs will sometimes bust through electrical wires and whatever else might get into their way.
Fortunately, you’re not typically going to have tons of groundhogs living on your property at once. But even if you only have one or two of them, they might be able to do a significant amount of damage to your lawn and to some parts of your home if they gain access to it.
10. Gophers
Gophers look a lot like smaller versions of groundhogs. They also act a lot like groundhogs when they invade a piece of property.
You’re probably going to find that you have gophers living in your yard if you see a bunch of dirt piles popping up in your lawn with small holes leading into them. These holes often lead to a series of underground tunnels that gophers use to get around.
As they move around in these tunnels, gophers will chew through things like flower bulbs, tree bark, and more. They’ll also reproduce quicker than you might think and add to the damage that they’ve already done as their population increases.
The one silver lining is that, unlike groundhogs, gophers shouldn’t be able to get anywhere near the inside of your home. But that’s really the only positive thing about having gophers on your property.
Call a Pest Control Company to Get Rid of These Rodent Types
As you’ve seen here, there are many rodent types that might be living in and around your house right now. It’s going to be up to you to do something about them if they ever become an issue.
The best way to deal with almost all of these types of rodents is by touching base with a pest control company. They’ll be able to identify how bad your issue is and come up with a plan for getting rid of it.
Want to get your hands on more useful tips for taking care of a pest problem? Find them by browsing through the other articles posted on our blog.
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