Rodent Control

Charlotte Rodent Control Services

Rats and mice can carry dangerous diseases, spread through feces, urine, bites, and saliva, so they’re the last thing you want to find hunkering down in your home. They can also chew through wires, presenting a fire hazard, and gnaw on drywall, flooring and more, damaging your home.

Several rodent species call North Carolina their home—and if you suspect an infestation in your house, responding proactively is key. If you live in the Greater Charlotte metro area and you need fast and effective rodent removal services, contact us online for help or call 704-499-9922.

Keeping Rodents Outdoors

It’s much better to keep rodents out of your home than to need to get rid of mice and rats who have found their way indoors. Because rodents can slide inside in some pretty small spaces (as tiny as a quarter), it makes sense to look for openings of that size or more throughout your Charlotte home. Seal them up, using materials that are appropriate to the job. This can include caulk, plaster, cement, or something else. Check around your doors and windows, as well, and weather-strip cracks.

Here’s another strategy. Rats and mice seek food, drink, and safe shelter, things that are essential for their survival. So, the more you can do to keep them from getting what they want, the less appealing your home will seem to them. Outdoors, make sure that garbage cans are tightly lidded and that no scraps of food are lying around. As fruits and vegetables ripen in your garden and on your trees, pick them and bring them indoors. Compost ones that begin to rot. If you feed animals outdoors, don’t leave extra food out there after they’re done eating.

Also, don’t make it too comfortable for these rodents to build nests outdoors. Keep wood piles and lumber at least 18 inches from your home, clean up tree limbs and other debris, and trim tree branches and shrubs so that they’re four feet or more away from the house.

If, despite your best intentions, these disease-carrying pests get inside, here is more information about the likely species.

mouse and rodent control

Common Types of Rodents in North Carolina

There are two types of rats and two of mice that are commonly found in our state.

Black Rat (Roof Rat)

The black rat is the creature that likely spread the Black Plague across Europe during the Middle Ages. These rats, as one of its names implies, are great climbers and often get into homes through the roof. A rat can fall long distances, even as much as 50 feet, without getting hurt, so roof walks aren’t especially risky for them. In fact, these creatures are pretty adaptable, learning to live in a variety of environments (which can make them harder to get rid of, DIY).

Black rats are dark in hue, from a dark brown to black, measuring nearly a foot and a half from nose to tail tip. So, if you spot a rodent fitting that description, you may well have a black rat infestation.

Norway Rat (Brown Rat)

Ready for some other nicknames? This critter is also called a street rat, or a sewer rat. These rodents have heavy bodies that prevent them from climbing well (although they can do some climbing). So, they’re much more likely to enter a home through a lower level. They do have the ability to run and swim well, the latter of which likely gave it the sewer rat designation.

They are brown in color, with the area beneath their bellies a lighter shade. They are about the same size as the black rat, with blunt noses. If you see them in your home, it’s time for rat extermination.

Deer Mouse

When you think of this species, think quick. Think agile. Deer mice are small with big back feet, ones that allow them to easily jump. Their fur has contrasting colors, with fur on top being a shade of reddish brown, anywhere from light to dark. Their bellies, legs, and feet are white. Although their smaller size (at least in contrast with rats) can make them seem less threatening, they are a carrier of a nasty hantavirus strain.

House Mouse

The name alone can provide clues about where they like to live: in homes and other buildings. This small rodent grows to about seven or so inches in length, with light brown fur and a lighter shade on their underbellies.

Here’s a big problem with rodents, overall. They can reproduce quite quickly. A female rat can, for example, have as many as 20 babies in just one litter. Then, in some species, that same female can go into heat again within a day. A typical female rat gives birth six times a year, with a female baby able to get pregnant herself within nine short weeks. This is why a pair of rats can grow exponentially, up to about 1,250 per year. Have two or three pairs of rats? You can do the math.

As for a typical mouse, she can give birth five to ten times each year, with about half a dozen babies per time. As you can see, this also can cause exponential growth pretty quickly.

Signs of Rodent Infestations

Sometimes, you actually see the rats or mice in your Charlotte home. Other times, it takes a bit more detective work. One of the more common signs of an infestation: the droppings. Rats can produce three dozen or more droppings per night apiece, and they can usually be found in clusters. They can look like dark grains of rice.

Or you may hear rodents before you see any evidence of their presence. You might hear scratching noises, especially at night. It may sound more like a scurrying noise if they’re beneath flooring. Rodents also make an odd grinding noise with their teeth, known as bruxing.

Although rats like to scurry about at night, they don’t see especially well then, so they often re-use the same routes when they walk—such as along baseboards and walls. So, check those areas, low to the ground, to see if you notice dark, greasy smudges.

Rats like to huddle in warm places, so they might shred old newspapers to make a nest. They often build them close to food sources (such as your pantry or kitchen), so check under appliances and other hidden places.

Also look for gnaw marks on plastic, wood, electrical cables and more. If you see plastic food packaging chewed through, that’s another sign. Rats’ teeth never stop growing so they can grow by five inches each year, allowing them to gnaw through material as tough as cinder blocks.

More About Rodents and Diseases

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns of several diseases that can be directly transmitted from rats to humans. They are:

  • Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
  • Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
  • Lassa Fever
  • Leptospirosis
  • Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM)
  • Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
  • Plague
  • Rat-Bite Fever
  • Salmonellosis
  • South American Arenaviruses (Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Sabiá-associated hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever)
  • Tularemia

There are also diseases that are indirectly transmitted from rats to humans, perhaps through flea and tick bites. They include:

  • Babesiosis
  • Colorado Tick Fever
  • Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
  • Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis
  • La Crosse Encephalitis
  • Lyme Disease
  • Murine Typhus
  • Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
  • Powassan Virus
  • Scrub Typhus
  • Rickettsialpox
  • Relapsing Fever
  • Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
  • Sylvatic Typhus
  • West Nile Fever

Clearly, rodents can bring dangerous diseases into your home, so it’s important to efficiently address their presence with rat exterminators.

The Noosa Approach

We approach our treatments in a conservative way, proceeding with great care when it comes to exposing people and the environment to insecticides. We provide quality training to our technicians so that they are knowledgeable about the:

  • Latest pests in our area
  • Newest insecticides
  • Best application methods

We use full-sized trucks, packing them with whatever our technicians might need to solve your pest control problem.

Choosing Noosa for Your Rodent Removal Services

If you live in the Greater Charlotte area and are looking for rodent control near you, then we invite you to contact our trained professionals at Noosa Pest Management. Our locally owned and operated company is headed up by “Chief Bugman” Fred Wingate and our focus is on providing customers with the highest possible level of pest control service. In fact, we guarantee an immediate response during business hours.

You might wonder why we go so far above and beyond when it comes to customer service. The reason is simple. We consider our customers to be part of our family, and we treat them like we’d like to be treated. When you have a mouse control or rat control problem (or any other kind of pest control problem), our team will spend as much time as you need to answer your questions and address the issues. If you want to talk to our owner, just ask! He’d be happy to chat.

If you need mice control or rat control services, contact us online for help today or call (704) 499-9922.

Rat Control FAQs

You might need Noosa’s rodent control services if:

  1. You see dark, moist, rodent droppings, which eventually become hard pellets.
  2. There is an unpleasant odor, likely from rodent urine.
  3. Rodents have gnawed holes, left bite marks or chewed through cardboard, drywall, or other materials while seeking food.
  4. You discover rodent nests made of organic matter.
  5. You hear scratching or scampering sounds.
  6. You observe small rodent pathways through your home.
  7. Your pet’s behavior has changed, likely due to new smells or rodent movement.

Hantavirus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, tularemia, and plague are among the most common rodent-associated diseases. Several other conditions are also directly or indirectly connected with wild rodents inside people’s homes.

So, if you believe you have a rodent infestation, call a mouse or rat exterminator immediately. The sooner you get the infestation under control, the less worry you’ll have about contracting a dangerous disease in your home.

The most effective rodent control is Noosa’s two-pronged approach. We recommend removing food sources, water, and rodent shelters as the best way to stop rodents from entering your home. And to get rid of a current rodent population, professional extermination services are highly recommended. Here at Noosa, we incorporate integrated pest management (IPM) with our rodent control techniques.

The rat and mouse exterminators at Noosa Pest understand the nuances of IPM and how it balances the pros and cons of rodent control. Our first priority is keeping people safe in their homes; the second is preserving the natural environment.

Domesticated dogs and cats live to protect their homes and owners. So, you might find them “gifting” you with a dead rat or mouse. But the more “gifts” you receive, the more likely you have an infestation and will need professional rodent control in your home—the best way to get rid of a rodent infestation is to call in the experts!

Yes, rats can come back after professional rat extermination services. If a rat’s nest is undisturbed, they will return to it. Even if the nest has been disturbed, rats can still return. Since rats are warm-blooded animals, they will go to great lengths to shelter in the warmth of people’s homes. And even if they’ve migrated to a more desirable location, they are unlikely to abandon the nests they’ve built.

After a professional has exterminated the rats in your home, the key to keeping them out is through prevention:

  • Seal cracks and holes larger than a dime or gaps under doors over a quarter-inch wide.
  • Store food in airtight containers.
  • Keep your home and storage areas clutter-free.
  • Dispose of household garbage regularly.
  • Replace crumbling mortar and loose weather stripping around the foundation and windows.
  • Ensure attics, basements, and crawl spaces are dry and well-ventilated.
  • Attach door sweeps and repair damaged screens, pipe leaks, and drain clogs.