The phone never stops ringing here at North Fulton Exterminating when it comes to frantic people having attic bug issues. It’s amazing… especially in winter when it’s cold. Occasionally, it turns out to be a raccoon or opossum, but the vast majority of the time, its rodents… rats, mice, and squirrels!

Rodents (animals that gnaw) love the attic. Yes. It was definitely made for rodents. That’s mainly because the attic provides “shelter from the storm,” if you know what I mean. The attic is dry, warm, quiet… no predators or people. Perfect for snuggling up for a cold winter nap and having lots of babies in a safe environment. Insulation also makes a great nesting material!

The two most common rodents found in attics are roof rats and gray squirrels, but flying squirrels are also frequently found there. And, sometimes, you find all three inhabiting the same attic. Oh… I forgot to mention the mice. That makes four!

People don’t like to hear bug activity in the attic at night. The sounds of gnawing, scratching, banging, banging, and screeching overhead when you’re trying to sleep can be distracting. You wonder if the little bastards will end up in your bed at some point. (We’ll get to that later!)

When we inspect an attic for rodents and find evidence of an infestation, the first thing we do is try to identify the particular species. It makes a big difference in the method of treatment. You have to find out how they got in, but getting rid of the ones that are there is the first thing we need to worry about. After removing the infestation, we can worry about plugging all the holes and cracks so others can’t get in later.

The most common way they get in is through the gap between the fascia and the roof deck, though they’re not above chewing a hole through the siding. This space is supposed to allow ventilation in the attic. Sealing it up with galvanized mesh or flashing is a really big job and usually costs a lot of money. Very few people know how to do it properly because they don’t understand the sheer manic tenacity of squirrels and rats once they’ve decided to do something… like go back to their warm and cozy attic! (especially if your babies are there)

As I mentioned earlier, treatment methods vary depending on the species you are dealing with. We can eliminate rats with lethal traps and poison baits, but baits don’t work on squirrels because, for one thing, squirrels just don’t like the bait, and second, it’s illegal to poison squirrels because they’re classified as an animal. hunting in Georgia. Rats are considered vermin. Like I said, squirrels don’t eat the bait in most cases, simply because they don’t like it. Dogs will eat many things that a cat would never touch, and vice versa. So it is with squirrels and rats.

The quickest and safest way to get rid of rats is to bait them and the best way to get rid of squirrels is to catch them alive and release them somewhere else (at least 15 miles away or they’ll be right back). Baiting rats with poison kills them quickly in most cases, but sometimes leads to an unpleasant odor problem. This can be very distracting, but it is temporary and in most cases is preferable to living with live rats in the house.

Rats and squirrels, while both are rodents, are very different critters when it comes to how they treat your beautiful home. Squirrels live in forests and trees and only come in to sleep and have their babies. They spend almost all hours of the day outside foraging for food…mainly nuts and seeds…in the trees and on the ground. During the summer, they may avoid the attic altogether, preferring to build nests high on tree branches or inside hollow trees. If a squirrel is ever found inside the rooms of your house, it will soon panic and start destroying the entire room in an attempt to get out. It will chew through window frames into thousands of chips and splinters and knock over anything that isn’t nailed down as it climbs and bounces back and forth, ripping curtains and tearing curtains to shreds in a desperate attempt to break free. I’ve seen the inside of houses after a panicked gray squirrel was trapped inside for a day or two while the owners were out and all I can say is… I’m glad it wasn’t my house! The destruction is incredible. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen very often because squirrels just don’t like to explore the entire house. They are usually quite content to stay in the attic overnight and return to the woods in the morning.

Rats, on the other hand, are a completely different story. Roof rats are classified as commensal rodents. Diner means “lives with the man” or “shares the man’s table”. And they will share the man’s table!

Roof rats don’t live in the woods. No sir. They live in houses like yours and mine. They have lived in our homes for thousands of years and are perfectly suited to an indoor lifestyle. They live in our houses and eat the food we provide them. (If you have a bird feeder, and especially if you provide sunflower seeds for the birds, you can almost be sure that roof rats will come to the feeder at night to collect the sunflower seeds.) from one of his neighbor’s houses. And, if you get rid of your rats and don’t take the necessary steps to seal the cracks and gaps that allowed them access, others will follow. You can be sure of that.

I once found evidence of a rat on my porch and as an experiment I put out three rat traps and left them there 24 hours. one day for 2 years. During that time I caught 36 roof rats… all of them trying to find a way into my house. You could do the same thing in any neighborhood and get similar results. Most people would simply be surprised at how many rats there really are out there!

If there are rats in your attic and you don’t get rid of them, they will eventually invade the rest of the house and take over. They will get into your pantry. They will drag your bananas and apples from room to room. They will eat your bread and poke holes in every non-metal food container they find. They will urinate and defecate on everything in your house. They will chew holes in your sofa and recliner to get the stuffing for nesting material and they will chew holes in rugs and gnaw on the bottoms of doors to gain entry to other rooms. They will cause major flooding when they chew holes in the water hoses behind your dishwasher and washing machine. They chew through electrical wires and cause short circuits and, in some cases, fires. Eventually, your whole house will reek of urine and rat droppings and you’ll be opening dresser drawers and cabinets and finding litters of little pink naked baby rats wriggling around and big, huge, ugly rats jumping right in your face!

This would be an extreme case and most people just aren’t going to let things go that far. They will take steps to catch the rats before the rats catch them. However, we caught 53 rats in a house over a 5 night period once and it was not a pretty sight. The owners had already moved out!

Rats are associated with the spread of serious diseases such as salmonellosis, typhoid fever, and bubonic plague. Breathing the invisible dust from their droppings (feces) can cause serious respiratory problems, and mice droppings have been directly linked to the deadly Hantavirus. Rats and mice shed thousands of hairs everywhere.

Oh…and you wouldn’t believe what a rat or even a mouse can do to the interior of a car. (They are attracted to the heat of the engine after you park it, and will settle in there in no time, literally destroying your upholstery and wiring!)

Bottom line… you don’t want rats in or around your house under any circumstances. If you have them, do not complicate yourself. They are extremely difficult to catch and you do not need to play with poisons unless you are a trained and licensed professional. Every year in this country, well-meaning people try to use pesticides and rat poisons in an attempt to save a few bucks, and this leads to disappointing and, in some cases, tragic results. My advice… Don’t do it! Leave rodent control to professionals who are trained and equipped.

Once the infestation is eradicated, you MUST have all gaps and holes sealed that allow rodent access to the structure. If you don’t do it fast, there will be more rodents… you can bet on it! If your rodents are eradicated and you don’t do the follow-up exclusion work and you end up with more rodents of the same or different species, don’t be upset when you have to spend more money to do more rodent control work. .