Problems Rodents Can Cause In Your West Palm Beach Home

What's The Big Deal With Rodents?

While mice and rats are relatively small animals, they can create big problems when they get into West Palm Beach homes. Some of the ways rodents can impact your life might surprise you. Here's what you should know about West Palm Beach rodent control.

Bacteria & Parasitic Worms

Would you be surprised to open a dumpster and see a rat crawling around inside? Of course not. You know that rats crawl around in dumpsters. Mice do this as well. When rodents get into dumpsters, trash cans, and trash heaps, they come in contact with microscopic organisms.

These invisible pests can be harmful to you if a rodent brings them into your home. There are many bacteria that can cause food poisoning, and parasitic worms can lead to serious stomach ailments.

Ectoparasites

Microorganisms aren't the only critters mice and rats can pick up. As a rodent moves around outside, it can have fleas, ticks, and other ectoparasites take them as hosts.

Fleas

As a rodent explores your home, it can drop flea eggs and flea dirt. Flea dirt is the feces of adult fleas, and a required food source for flea larvae. If there is a concentration of flea dirt near and egg, a flea can develop in your home. These fleas can take a dog or a cat as a host, or bite you.

If fleas bite a rodent before biting you, you could become sick with a flea-borne illness. Some flea-borne illnesses can be spread to you without a flea bite. If you have an open wound and it is exposed to flea dirt, you could contract Murine typhus. If your cat gets bartonellosis, you could become infected by the saliva from your cat.

Ticks

A little mouse can have up to a hundred seed ticks on its body. As that little mouse explores your home, those ticks can detach and look for larger hosts within your home, like your dog or cat.

While ticks don't take humans as hosts, they can bite you. Some of the many diseases spread by ticks in the United States are Lyme diseases, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, Powassan virus, southern tick-related illness, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and anaplasmosis.

Structural Damage

Below are a few key ways rodents including Norway rats, roof rats, and mice can cause structural damage in your South Florida home.

The entry points and holes rodents create on the exterior of your home allow other pests like cockroaches a way to get inside.
Exterior rodent entry points create a pathway for rainwater, which can lead to wood rot, mold, and other serious issues.
The interior holes rodents create in baseboards, sheet rock, and other building materials are unsightly and can be costly to repair.
The holes rodents create in food packages can allow food to spoil and spill out.
The holes rodents create in stored boxes can lead to the items inside becoming damaged by further chewing, or by urine and feces.
The holes rodents are prone to make in stored furniture can ruin these items. When rodents nest inside, it can cause stains and tears and scratches that are irreparable.

House Fires Caused By Rats & Mice

It is estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of all property fires that originate from an unknown source are considered to be rodent-related. Why? Because rodents have been observed chewing on electrical wiring and also gas lines.

Rodent Waste

As a rodent moves about your West Palm Beach home, it will leave its waste. Rodents dribble urine as they explore. This is how they mark their territory.

They also leave their droppings everywhere. Urine and feces left by rodents can be a source of disease. They can contaminate your food, your food-prep surfaces, your dishes, and they can also become airborne when left in ventilation ducts.

Fortunately, in addition to rodent removal and rodent proofing of homes, we provide insulation replacement and attic disinfectant services to remedy this issue.

What To Do When Rats Or Mice Are In Your Home?

At the first sight or sound of a rodent infestation, contact Native Pest Management for rodent control and exclusion. It is never good to allow mice or rats to live in your home with you.

There are far too many ways they can impact your health and damage your property. Our licensed home pest control and commercial pest control professionals can get those rodents under control using the most advanced methods and products. Call us today and schedule a FREE pest control and rodent control inspection at your home, and learn more about our pest control services in West Palm Beach, FL.