Rodents are a common nuisance in Fort Pierce, Florida. They are everywhere – in homes or businesses that have food sources, attics, and other areas where they can get into spaces that are not frequently occupied by humans.
The most common rodents you might find in Fort Pierce include the house mouse, Norway rat (also known as a brown rat), and roof rats. They can cause damage to your property and spread disease. Rodent control should initiate as soon as you notice that there are rodents in your home.
Rat infestations should not be taken lightly as rats can cause a lot of damage in a very short period of time. They contaminate food, gnaw through wiring and insulation, and can even spread disease through their urine and feces.
AAAC Wildlife Removal of Fort Pierce is the go-to company for rodent removal in Fort Pierce, Florida. We are experts in getting rid of rodents quickly and humanely. We use safe and effective methods to get rid of rodents without using poisons or other dangerous substances that could harm your pets or family.
Rat-Borne Diseases
The main vector for rat-borne diseases is droppings. Rats don’t really have a civilized sense of hygiene and will urinate and defecate wherever it pleases. Their droppings are a common cause of diseases such as salmonella, rat-bite fever, leptospirosis (rat-lung disease), hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, bubonic plague, or typhus.
Your attic, countertop, storage rooms, and other areas such as the garage or basement are ideal places where rodents can make a home. Mice and rats will look for places that provide food and water sources, hiding spots (nooks and crannies) amongst many others that suit their needs to survive.
The risk of disease transmission skyrockets anytime there is an accumulation of rodent droppings. Contact AAAC Wildlife Removal of Fort Pierce for safe and effective rodent removal in your area today!
Rats Transmit Hantavirus
Rodents such as rats, mice, and squirrels can carry hantavirus. This is a disease that is transmitted through contact with the saliva, urine, or droppings of an infected rodent. A person can get sick with hantavirus if the virus comes in contact with their eyes, nose, mouth, or broken skin while working on an infested building.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a potentially deadly disease that affects the lungs. Early symptoms of HPS include fatigue, fever, and muscle aches. These symptoms progress to coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, and vomiting.
Even though hantavirus can be treated with antiviral medications, it is important to seek medical help as soon as symptoms appear. The danger this disease pose makes it necessary for you to control rat infestations.
Fort Pierce Pest Control: Hazards and Damage from Rats
Rats will cause all types of damage, both short-term and long-term. They contaminate food sources with their urine and feces, which can cause disease. Rats also gnaw through wiring, insulation, and other materials in order to control the growth of their teeth. This can create a fire hazard as well as damage your property.
Rats in Fort Pierce, FL have no issues tearing your roofing and siding apart to get into your attic or wall spaces. Once they are in, they can quickly reproduce, causing an even bigger problem. Here are some of the ways rats can cause damage:
• They chew through pipes – Rats will chew on, dig through and tear apart anything that suits their needs. This includes any type of piping. Rats, just like other rodents have front teeth that never stop growing so they need to gnaw on things constantly to keep them worn down.
• They contaminate food – Not only do rats contaminate food with their urine and feces, but they also spread bacteria and diseases. Rats can contaminate an entire area just by walking through it. This makes it difficult to control disease and illness.
• They cause electrical fires – Rats can chew through wires insulation or any other materials that surround electricity sources. This creates a fire hazard as well as damage to the wiring in your home. Chewed wires lead to the risk of fire and electrical shock.
• They destroy insulation – Rats will tear apart any material that they can find in order to build their nests with it. Sometimes this includes your insulation, which is meant to keep you warm and safe. When rats gnaw at the fiberglass or other materials used for insulating a house, damage occurs leaving your home less energy efficient.
• They damage property – Rats will scratch and bite through surfaces in order to get food or build their nests. This can include furniture, walls, ceilings, and more. These damages can be costly to repair so it is important to take action against rats as soon as you notice them.
Wildlife Entry Points into your House
Rats are so small that they can fit through any opening larger than ½ inch. Its ribs hinge so that it can squeeze through very small spaces. They often enter homes through cracks in the foundation, holes around pipes and wiring, or openings where roofing meets walls.
In addition, they will chew and widen any opening they find. Just like other rodents, rats have very sharp teeth and they’re not the least bit afraid to use them. This means that they can quickly and easily chew through your home’s defenses.
Rats are great climbers too! this enables them to climb up the exterior of your home and enter through upper story windows or attic space. A common entry point that rats exploit is the A/C tubing exhaust openings in the siding of homes. Many rats also get in through the roof and wall vents.
Garage doors are always problematic as they are not always kept closed and rats can find their way in through the small spaces around the door. Other access points like loosened screens, cracks in the structure, pipe openings, and gaps in the foundation are common entry points too.
Fort Pierce Pest Control and Rat Behavior
Rats and mice have different eating preferences, however, you have to understand that both are omnivorous and will eat just about anything. In the wild, rats will mostly feed on seeds, nuts, and fruits. However, when they enter homes and businesses, they quickly adapt to what is available which usually means a diet of human food.
Rats, just like other rodents have teeth that never stop growing, so they gnaw on things constantly to grind their teeth down. This is why rats often chew through pipes and other materials. If you hear scratching and gnawing at night, you might have a rat problem.
Both rats and mice are nocturnal creatures and they usually only come out during the night when it is dark. Some factors can make rats go out during the day too, like if their regular food supply is being disrupted or they are being chased by a predator.
Rats are typically afraid of humans and they do their best to stay out of sight. Their extraordinary sense of smell allows them to detect if someone or something is nearby so they are usually well out of sight before you even enter the room. This makes it very unlikely that you will catch them red-handed trashing your home.
Rodent Removal Fort Pierce
Here are the steps we follow to get rid of rats in your Fort Pierce, FL home or business:
Evaluation
The most important step in rat removal is the examination of the property to identify all of the entry points that rats are using. We will check the attic, foundation, roof pipes, doors, windows, vents, and more to ensure that we have found every possible entry point.
We’ll also check for close-by trees, shrubs, and fences that rats could use to jump onto the roof or enter through a window. Once these access points are identified, we now have a good idea of how to seal up the home or building.
Exclusion
Now that the access points are identified, we are ready to make them rat-proof. Before extermination happens, the rats must be excluded from the property. This is a process of sealing up the home so that the rats can no longer get in. A steel wire mesh is used to seal up all of the entry points. This includes gaps in doors, windows, roof vents, pipes, etc. Wire mesh allows vents to stay open but prevents rats from entering through them.
Extermination
Now that we’ve rat-proofed your home, the time has come to do away with the rats themselves. It’s important to note that there is no method that is both effective and completely humane when dealing with a rat infestation so we use snap traps to handle the job.
We bait the traps with food that rats love like peanut butter, oatmeal, or chocolate, and place them in strategic locations where rats have been seen or heard. As soon as the rat takes the bait, the trap snaps shut and kills the rodent instantly.
We absolutely refuse to use poisons to control a rat infestation, especially inside the house. Most pest control companies in the Fort Pierce area use poisons because it’s easier to do and less expensive. The problem is that the chemicals are highly toxic and can cause a number of health problems for you, your pets, or your children.
In addition, poisoned rats often crawl into hard-to-reach places and die. This can lead to a whole host of problems as the dead rat decomposes including the spread of deadly diseases, unpleasant odors, maggots, etc. Not to mention the dying rat will track the dangerous substance all over the home.
Rat Feces Clean Up and Decontamination
Once all of the rats have been exterminated, we will clean up all of their droppings and decontaminate the area. Rat droppings can contain harmful bacteria and parasites that can cause serious illness, and it’s also just plain gross.
Our Fort Pierce wildlife specialists use personal protective equipment (PPE) including rubber gloves and HEPA filtered respirators to keep them safe when cleaning up after the rats. We also use an industrial-grade disinfectant to properly sanitize the area and prevent the spread of any diseases.
Rat Damage Repair
After living in your house for a while, the rats will surely have left some damage behind. They’ve very likely trashed your insulation, chewed on your wires and pipes, and even ruined your drywall.
Our wildlife experts are all masters at carpentry and home repair. Using the highest quality materials, we can repair any damage left behind by rats. We’ll restore your home to its pre-infestation condition and make it completely rat-proof so that you can rest easy knowing they won’t be coming back.
Wildlife Removal in Fort Pierce, Florida
AAAC Wildlife Removal of Fort Pierce is a trusted and reliable pest control services company that specializes in wildlife removal services as well as rat removal. We have been in the pest control business for over 20 years and have a team of wildlife experts who are licensed and insured. We understand the complicated process of rat removal and how to effectively get rid of rats from your home or business.
If you are experiencing a rat pest problem, or need a wild animal removed, please do not hesitate to call us. We will rid your property of rats and prevent them from returning. We’ll also clean up and decontaminate affected areas and fix interior and exterior damage caused by the rats. We offer the best personal service and the most affordable rates in the Fort Pierce area. So don’t wait, call us today!
We also offer armadillo removal, bird control, dead animal removal, critter control, raccoon removal, squirrel control, removal of venomous snakes, nuisance animal removal, control of nuisance animals, wildlife trapping services, exclusion services, attic restoration and re-insulation, wildlife damage repair, removal of dead animals, and more. Our animal rangers are ready to help solve your wildlife problems.
We proudly offer our nuisance wildlife removal services in the Fort Pierce area and the surrounding communities of West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm City, Port Saint Lucie. Palm Bay, Jensen Beach, and anywhere else in the Treasure Coast.
