How to Tell If You Have a Mouse or a Rat in Your Home?
If you have noticed the first signs of rodents in your home, you may not be too bothered with what kind of rodent it is so much as getting them out as fast as possible. However, the methods of baiting and removing a rat and a mouse do differ and being able to identify them can save a lot of time.
Obviously, if you can spot the rodent, you will be able to tell which they are. Mice are much smaller, only growing to about seven inches from head to tail. However, rats are much larger in body, even when young. Unfortunately, actually being able to spot these rodents can be difficult. Other, more reliable ways of determining what is in your home include:
Droppings
Like the size of their bodies, the droppings, which won’t run away when they hear you coming, also differ in size. If you see small droppings with pointy ends about the size of a grain of rice, then that is mice. If the droppings are larger and more the size of a bean, then that it is rats.
Noise
Both mice and rats make noise when they are active at night, but rats are typically much louder. You will hear them chewing and moving in your walls. Mice, alternatively, are rather quiet. You might hear a misstep in the wall or if they get into a bag of chips, but other than that, they can move rather quietly most of the time.
Holes
Mice typically don’t make their own holes. They squeeze through already existing gaps. Yet, the much bigger bodied rat will chew through walls to get in and out of an area. If you start spotting unexplainable holes, you have rats.
Regardless of which you have, you want both mice and rats out. If you want to make sure your home is rodent-free for sure and to help you keep it that way, contact us today to see what Home Run Pest & Termite Control can do for you.