Rats and mice may seem like cute, harmless creatures, but behind those beady eyes and twitching whiskers lie expert survivalists capable of causing extensive damage to homes and properties. As urban pests, rats and mice not only spread disease, they can destroy structures, contaminate food, and even cause fires. Knowing how to identify signs of an infestation, the potential risks, and ways to prevent damage can help protect your home or business.
How Rats and Mice Enter Properties
Rats and mice are constantly seeking shelter with warmth, food, and water. They can squeeze into buildings through remarkably small cracks and holes. Some common entry points include:
- Openings where utilities and pipes enter – Even gaps as small as 1/4 inch wide allow mice entry, while rats can crawl through holes the size of a quarter. Any uncapped openings for electrical wiring, plumbing, vents, gas lines, sewage pipes, or drainage systems provide easy access.
- Doors, windows, or walls – Damaged weather stripping, loose siding, worn door sweeps, and unscreened vents or chimneys can all provide access. Rats can even scale brick or siding walls to the roof and enter through openings.
- Floor drains and sink overflow drains – Drains connected to the sewer system, as well as shower overflow drains, offer another pathway inside. Rats can crawl through drain pipes from the sewer into buildings.
- Roof openings and eaves – Missing roof tiles, unscreened roof vents, gaps around flashing and joints, and openings where cable or utility wires enter through the eaves give rats and mice roof access.
Identifying and sealing up any exterior gaps and holes denies rodents easy entry points into homes and commercial establishments.
Signs of Rats and Mice Infestations
Detecting the presence of rodents early can help control infestation size. Signs that may indicate rats or mice include:
- Droppings – Rodent feces are dark, pellet-like, and the size of rice grains (mice) or around 1/2-inch long (rats). Look along walls, in cupboards, under sinks, in the attic, and in the garage.
- Gnaw marks – Rats and mice gnaw through wood, plastic, pantry boxes, insulation, wires, pipes, and other materials. Look for shredded surfaces with teeth marks.
- Tracks and smears – Greasy rub marks along frequently traveled routes appear from body oils and dirt. Footprints may also be visible in dust.
- Burrows – Outside, small mounds of dirt around holes are signs of burrows and nests alongside foundations.
- Musky odor – Rodent urine gives off pungent, musky odors, especially in enclosed spots like wall voids or attics.
- Sounds – Rats are especially noisy at night, with scurrying in wall cavities, gnawing, or even fighting.
- Evidence of nesting – Shredded paper, fabric, packing materials, and other clutter indicate nest building.
Taking note of any signs of infestation should prompt thorough inspection and immediate pest control measures. An established rodent colony can quickly multiply in numbers without aggressive action.
Diseases Spread by Rats and Mice
Rats and mice do not just damage property, they can spread serious diseases through parasites like fleas, mites, and ticks, contaminated food, or direct contact.
Hantavirus
Hantavirus is carried in rodent droppings, urine, saliva, and nesting materials. People generally become infected through breathing in contaminated dust while cleaning or disturbing rodent nests. Hantavirus can be deadly, with initial flu-like symptoms leading to potentially fatal respiratory failure.
Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis bacteria thrive in rat urine and can enter the body through mucous membranes, eyes, cuts, and abrasions. It can also contaminate food and water sources. Symptoms include fever, chills, vomiting, headache, and rash. If untreated, kidney or liver failure, meningitis, respiratory distress, and even death can occur.
Rat-Bite Fever
This bacterial infection is transmitted through bites or scratches from infected rodents, especially rat and mouse droppings contaminating food. Symptoms include rash, fever, muscle pain, vomiting, and headache. Joint, heart, brain, or other organ damage can develop if untreated.
Plague
While rare, plague outbreaks still arise in rural rodent populations. Rats, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and other wild rodents can all host plague bacteria in their blood and transmit it through fleas. Without prompt antibiotic treatment, the bubonic plague can spread quickly and turn fatal.
Salmonellosis
Mice can carry Salmonella in their gastrointestinal tract and spread bacteria by contaminating surfaces or foods they contact. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps starting 12 to 72 hours after ingesting.
Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCMV)
This viral infectious disease is transmitted through the urine, droppings, saliva, or nesting material of infected mice and rats. Most cases cause mild flu-like symptoms, but organ damage, bleeding disorders, neurological issues, or death can occur. Special risks are posed to organ transplant patients.
Proper rodent control and proofing homes against further entry are crucial to reducing risk of disease. Any rodent infestation poses a health hazard, underscoring the importance of effective pest management.
Structural Damage from Rats and Mice
The powerful teeth of rats and mice enable them to chew into almost any material to gain shelter or access food. In your home or business, this can mean extensive damage requiring repairs.
Chewing and Gnawing Damage
Rats and mice gnaw to file down their continuously growing teeth and also to gain entry. Materials at risk include:
- Wood – Rodents can chew through wood doors, window frames, siding, support beams, flooring, furniture, and more. Their sharp teeth make chewing wood easy.
- Insulation – Mice and rats will gnaw through walls to nest in insulation. This damages wiring and allows entry between floors and walls.
- Wires and cables – Rodents rip at plastic covering to access the copper inside for nesting material. This can completely sever power and cause fires. Phone and internet cables are also at risk.
- Plastic or rubber – Any plastic, PVC, or rubber wiring, piping, plumbing, or tubing are prone to teeth marks and holes. Rats can even chew through sprinkler heads.
- Bricks and concrete – While challenging, rats will gnaw into bricks, concrete, and other masonry materials to create access points or burrows.
Burrowing Damage
Rats are accomplished burrowers and can tunnel extensively next to foundations, under patios, or beneath gardens. Holes 2 to 3 inches across are signs of burrowing activity. This undermines soil stability and can lead to:
- Foundation cracks – Tunnels can shift and settle foundation soil, resulting in cracks in cinderblock or concrete.
- Erosion and flooding – Surface runoff drains into burrows and can create sinkholes. This also causes erosion and soil loss.
- Tree and shrub loss – Extensive burrowing deprives roots of support and stability in the soil. Plants can lean and topple over.
- Weakened walls or floors – Burrowing along foundations undermines retaining walls, while tunnels under concrete flooring make it prone to collapse.
Sealing up external holes and removing burrow networks helps curtail underground damage.
Contamination of Food and Surfaces
Rats and mice defecate and urinate wherever they go. As they traverse kitchen countertops, storage shelves, utensils, and food containers, they contaminate surfaces and stored goods with bacteria-laden feces and urine. Rodent hair and dander also collects in foodstuffs. Even if containers appear sealed, gnawing may create unseen punctures that allow contamination.
This spread of germs and harmful microbes makes any exposed food dangerous for consumption. Surfaces where food is prepared or served also become serious health hazards if rodents access them. Proper sanitation and sterilization are essential.
Dangers from Rats and Mice: Fires, Floods, and Falling Debris
Beyond spreading illness and directly damaging structures, the behaviors of rats and mice can indirectly cause additional hazards:
Electrical Fires
Rats and mice gnaw constantly to wear down teeth. This leads them to chew on electrical wiring inside walls, appliances, vehicles, and other equipment. Insulation damage and severed copper wiring create dangerous shorts that can spark electrical fires. Warning signs include flickering lights, buzzing noises, and scorched insulation odors.
Flooding
The burrowing habits of rats undermine soil stability, which leads to sunken holes, erosion, and water drainage issues. Their tunnels into levees and dams also weaken critical infrastructure. Collapsed burrows can rupture pipes and cut off flow, while nest debris can clog drains. Any of these scenarios leads to flooding and water damage.
Falling Debris Hazards
Rats and mice take any shreds of materials they can find to build nests in walls, vents, ductwork, attics, and other concealed spots. Over time, this debris builds up and can dislodge, causing a risk of objects falling and striking people or property below. Nesting materials can also fall and provide fuel for fires.
Vehicle and Equipment Damage
Chewing damage to electrical wiring and fluid lines in cars, trucks, farm machinery, boats, and aircraft poses serious safety and functionality hazards. Leaking fluid lines combined with electrical shorts create conditions ripe for catastrophic failures and accidents.
Staying vigilant for signs of rodent damage and nesting helps reduce these indirect risks. But preventing access in the first place is key.
How to Prevent Rodent Damage
Preventing damage means taking away food, water, and shelter that attracts rats and mice. It also requires denying entry and physically blocking access once inside the property. Useful tactics include:
- Seal all possible openings with weather stripping,concrete, steel wool, copper mesh, and other exclusion materials. Close gaps around windows, doors, foundations, roof eaves, ventilation grates, garages, pipes, drains, and vents.
- Install tight-fitting doors, windows, and screens. Replace loose weather stripping and worn door sweeps. Cover large drains and ventilation grates with 1/4 inch metal mesh.
- Clear all surrounding brush, debris, junk piles, and food waste. Remove woodpiles, compost, and hiding spots that give rodents cover.
- Secure potential food sources like pet food. Keep all human and pet foods in airtight containers and clean up any spills promptly.
- Remove moisture sources. Fix plumbing leaks and avoid excess landscape watering near foundations or walls.
- Set traps or use baits in affected areas. Trapping and poisons placed strategically inside and outside kill individuals and reduce populations. Follow all product directions carefully.
- Bring in pest management professionals. For heavy infestations, licensed exterminators employ the comprehensive measures needed to eliminate rats and mice and undo damage.
Permanent rodent removal requires sealing off every possible entry point into your home or building. Any remaining gaps invite recurring problems. Being vigilant for signs like droppings and gnaw marks also allows you to act at the first signs of renewed rodent activity.
Conclusion
Rats and mice may seem harmless, but these persistent pests can actually pose serious risks to homes, health, and finances. Their ability to squeeze through tiny gaps makes complete exclusion challenging. But sealing all cracks shuts down easy access and is the ultimate solution, combined with vetted extermination methods. Stopping rodents before they establish themselves, or addressing infestations quickly, helps limit the substantial damages rats and mice inflict through contamination, gnawing damage, structural undermining, fires, and disease. Protecting your property requires vigilance and assertive action at the first signs of droppings, rub marks, burrows, or other evidence of these destructive pests.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rats and Mice Damage
What diseases can rats and mice spread?
Rats and mice can directly or indirectly transmit dangerous bacterial and viral illnesses to humans, including hantavirus, salmonellosis, LCMV, bubonic plague, rat-bite fever, and leptospirosis. Fatal conditions like hantavirus are spread through viral particles in rodent droppings, urine, and nesting materials.
How do rats and mice get into homes and buildings?
Rodents gain building access through gaps in foundations and walls, openings around utility pipes, damaged ventilation covers, uncapped drains and ducts, holes in poorly sealed doors or windows, and through the roof and attic. Any crevice wider than 1/4 inch allows mice entry, while rats can squeeze through holes or gaps the size of a quarter.
What types of damage can rats and mice cause inside a home or business?
Rats and mice damage goods by contaminating them with urine, feces, and pathogens. They spread germs through direct contact with kitchen surfaces, utensils, and food. Rats and mice also gnaw and chew through wood, drywall, insulation, plastic, wiring, and piping causing both structural and fire hazards. Burrowing outdoors undermines foundations and landscaping.
How can I tell if I have a rodent problem?
Signs of rats or mice include droppings, urine stains, gnaw marks and holes, burrows, rodent sounds at night, and occasional sightings of live pests. You may also notice shredded materials from nest building or a musky odor from urine rubbing along frequently travelled paths. The presence of just one rodent likely means a larger infestation needing control.
What steps can I take to prevent rodent infestations and damage?
Sealing all possible indoor and outdoor entry points denies building access. Removing clutter and food sources takes away rodent attractions. Setting traps or utilizing poisons in affected areas kills existing pests. Cutting back vegetation and building materials around the exterior further reduces harborage. Consulting a professional exterminator provides chemical treatments and monitors for recurring problems.
Conclusion
Rats and mice outcompete other species thanks to their intelligence, adaptability, and reproductive rates. But the same behaviors that ensure their survival turn them into destructive pests within human dwellings. Only vigorous exclusion, sanitation, and population control keeps vulnerable structures, food supplies, and health protected from the extensive dangers mice and rats pose. Their ability to exploit the smallest gaps and openings means keeping them out requires continuous vigilance and maintenance. But the prevention of disease, damage, and contamination rodents cause is well worth the effort.