I鈥檝e lived in an old house sheathed with cedar shingles for decades, throughout which I鈥檝e often (but never intentionally) shared it with mice, flying squirrels, chipmunks, and, occasionally, Norway rats. What to do? Here’s advice for identifying, controlling, and preventing rodents in the home.
How Do Rodents Get In?
Rodents can enter through impossibly tiny openings: A rat or flying squirrel can squeeze through an opening the size of a quarter, and a mouse the size of a dime. They enter through soffits, vents, and openings in chimney flashing.
The word 鈥渞odent鈥 derives from the Latin root rodere, which means 鈥渢o gnaw鈥濃攁nd gnaw they do. Their upper and lower incisors grow continuously throughout their lives, which means that the rodents must constantly gnaw. They will chew their way through wood, cinder block, brick, mortar, and even aluminum, not to mention all manner of plastics.
Why Do Rodents Invade the Home?
Rodents enter homes for the same reasons that people live in them: to meet their needs for shelter, water, food, and protection (in their case, from predators such as foxes, coyotes, cats and dogs, weasels, hawks, and owls).
Signs of a Rodent Problem
If you have rodent guests in your home, you might:
- Find a stash of dog kibble or sunflower seeds tucked behind the socks in your drawer.
- Discover that the plastic has been chewed off electrical cords or wires.
- You may encounter evidence of nesting materials, such as chewed-up toilet paper, newspaper, wrapping paper, or old term papers tucked away in a paper box in the attic.
- Find chew marks, shreds of chewed materials, or holes chewed or partially chewed through in sills in the corners of doors, cupboards, mattresses, couch cushions, or rag piles.
- See droppings, especially in areas where rodents have come into your living space to feast on available food and crumbs. Mouse droppings are the size and shape off a grain of rice; rat and squirrel droppings are sausage-shape and up to three-quarters of an inch long. (Note: A rodent will pass 50 to 75 fecal pellets in a day. It鈥檚 rare to host a single rodent.)
- Hear scratching, chewing, squealing, or rustling sounds inside walls.
- Hear them shrieking, squealing, and chasing each other through your walls after dark.
- Find your pet(s) staring at a wall for a length of time if they hear or sniff rodents inside.
- Detect a rank, musky odor in areas where rodent droppings and urine have built up.
How to Remove Rodents From Your House
Once you鈥檝e detected a rodent problem and identified the invader(s), you鈥檒l need a removal strategy.
- Some people like having a cat or cats to deter and dispatch household rodents. This can work, but it can become a problem when cats bring live rodents in for your approval, and the prey escapes, especially when the cat enters through a cat door while you鈥檙e not home. Cats may also leave half-dead prey or unmentionable rodent parts on the living room rug.
- I prefer snap traps for mice. Properly set, they kill quickly and humanely.
- Rats are hard to trap in any device. They鈥檙e very smart and wary. You鈥檙e more likely to catch one if you bait a trap but don鈥檛 set it for a few days, replacing the bait when it鈥檚 eaten. In my experience, rats lose interest if you鈥檙e meticulous about keeping all food and water unavailable.
- We鈥檝e found that live traps work pretty well to lure squirrels but don’t work for mice or rats. We release the squirrels outdoors, even close to our home鈥攖hen check carefully to find where they came in and seal the opening. But after two or three are captured and released, they seem to take the message back to their group.
- Research has shown that sonic-repellent devices are not effective at keeping rodents from your home, although the same devices in the household.
I don鈥檛 use glue traps or poisons because they subject the animals to excruciating deaths and may have unintended effects. Poisons may also kill domestic cats, birds, and other wildlife that eat the rodents who die outside.
How to Prevent Rodents in the First Place
Exclusion is your first line of defense.
- Twice a year, inspect your sills, siding, vents, soffits, and chimney flashing for openings that could serve as rodent entryways. Also, check for holes where water lines, drains, and cables have entered the building鈥攕tuff smaller openings with a plug of fine steel wool sealed with caulk. Fasten small-mesh hardware cloth or sheet metal to seal large openings.
- Prune all tree branches that hang over or close to your roof to prevent squirrels from jumping or flying over.
- Keep brush and leaves away from the sides of your house to provide less cover for rodents to burrow in from below or to detect burrow openings when they do.
- Rodents have a terrific sense of smell. Don鈥檛 leave food items on counters or tables. This includes fruit bowls, ripening tomatoes, and anything enclosed in a plastic bag or fiberboard container (cereals, whole grains, bread).
- Sweep up all food crumbs.
- Don鈥檛 put meat scraps into your kitchen compost bucket or trash container.
- Keep bags of pet food in covered metal containers鈥攕tore grains and seeds in glass jars.
- Pet food and water dishes are especially attractive to rats. If you have an infestation, don鈥檛 keep the bowls out at night.
Seek Help From Professionals
If you live in a rodent-prone home or rural area, you鈥檒l probably need more technical/professional advice. is an excellent fact sheet from the Massachusetts Humane Society.
Learn More
Rats and mice can also be a real danger if you have a barn or outdoor structures; they contaminate animal food and chew through wires in cars and tractors. See three steps to banish rats and mice outside around farms, animal barns, garages, and garden sheds.
