Dangerous Droppings: Rat and Mouse Poop in the Home

A mouse trapped in a corner looking up at the camera

Rat and mouse poop, from a distance, they can look like tracks of dirt. It’s upon closer inspection that you can determine whether or not it’s evidence of a rodent infestation. It’s not pleasant to have any kind of animal leavings in your home – but act carefully. You can’t sweep up rodent droppings like you would other forms of poop. It might look easy, but it’s actually a health hazard. At Garrie Pest Control we’re experts on rodent control in the Lower Hudson Valley, and if you have evidence of a rodent infestation, we can help. Before that happens, though, you may want to know for certain if the droppings in your home are mouse or rat poop. We can tell you the indicators, how to clean their mess safely, and what our expert exterminators can do to help.

What Does Rodent Poop Look Like?

Though they’re both considered rodents, rats and mice are very different creatures with different habits. Mice are tidy poopers that tend to designate a particular space outside the nest to serve as their toilet. This might look like your silverware drawer, or in the space behind where you store your food. Mouse droppings are small and brown – similar to cockroach poop, only pointed at either end like a grain of rice. Rats, on the other hand, drop much larger pellets shaped like a grape or coffee bean. They are sometimes mistaken for squirrel poop, only squirrel poop is rounded and will lighten over time. And while mice will pick a place to defecate in, rats will spread their waste everywhere they go.

Whether mouse or rat, rodent droppings are unpleasant and frustrating to come across. But before you reach for the broom or vacuum, stop and breathe a second. There’s a better way to clean it up.

How to Clean Mouse and Rat Poop

Most feces carry some kind of illness-causing bacteria, and rat and mouse droppings are no exception. One of the most dangerous possibilities that can come from exposure to rodent droppings is the threat of Hantavirus. Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a respiratory disease that is transferred from rodents to humans and which has a fatality rate of 38%. At first symptoms present like the flu or a bad cold, with a fever and fatigue, but if left untreated it could result in your lungs filling with fluid. Not all rodent droppings are infected. If they are, though, and you disturb them with a broom or vacuum cleaner, you’ll be sending virus particles into the air. So, what should you do instead?

First, you’ll need protective gear, mainly eye goggles, a face mask and plastic or rubber gloves. Spray the area, droppings and urine, with bleach or a disinfectant and allow it to soak for five minutes. Then you can wipe the mess with a paper towel and throw it away, along with your mask and gloves. After that, you can continue cleaning as you usually would for the area in mind. But before you do that, you should take a moment to call a professional rodent exterminator like the ones at Garrie Pest Control.

Garrie Pest Control Rodent Exterminators

For over 50 years, Garrie Pest Control has been helping to keep homes and businesses in the Lower Hudson Valley pest-free. We know the damage that rats and mice can cause if left untreated. They can tear through your insulation, wood and wiring – causing risk of an electrical fire. Rodents can ruin your belongings and contaminate your food. To put it simply, they are trouble, and our team knows exactly how to deal with them. Your Garrie Pest Control expert will craft a removal and prevention plan that’s personalized for you, and your home’s needs. When we’re done, you’ll be able to live with the ease and comfort that comes from not always being on the lookout for mystery poop. To get started, contact us today!

5 Preparation Steps for Rodent Control Service

A mouse in Peekskill NY - Garrie Pest Control

All homeowners dread the moment that they see a mouse or a rat scurrying across the floor. Unfortunately, where there is one rodent, there is almost always a family of rodents. This means that when you find one, your best option to get rid of them quickly is to contact a local mouse or rat exterminator.

If you’re expecting a visit from an exterminator soon, you might be wondering how you can get your home ready for your appointment with the technician. We’ve laid out our 5 most important steps to prep your home for professional rodent control! Read on to learn from our experts at Garrie Pest Control. 

How to Prepare for Rodent Removal

Your rodent exterminator will be able to work most efficiently if you take a few steps to help them with their process. These 5 steps will let you and your technician find all of the rodents on your property quickly and easily:

  • Prep the kitchen: Rats and mice are always out for a meal, so preparing your kitchen is a crucial step. Make sure that all of your food is sealed and securely stowed away in your pantry or refrigerator. Throw out any damaged or rotten food items and clear out the spaces on top of and around your fridge, stove, and sink.
  • Clean up trash and boxes: Sweep, vacuum, and clean all around your house next. All of the trash should be taken out and you should place lids on your trash bins, both indoor and outdoor. Boxes, bugs, and other storage items should be folded or closed and stowed away to prevent any unnecessary hiding spots. This will give your exterminator the best opportunity to lay effective bait.
  • Seal visible cracks and holes: Walk around your home and inspect all of the walls and baseboards. Look for small holes, cracks, and spaces that do not seal correctly. Mice can fit through gaps as little as a quarter of an inch, and rats can fit through spaces measuring one-half of an inch, so fill and repair these cracks if you can, or report them to the landlord if you live in an apartment.
  • Take notes of rodent sightings: Write a list of all the places where you or anyone in your family has seen rodents or noticed signs of them. Let your technician know where the rodent sightings took place, along with the evidence of rodent activity in particular locations. The technician will then be able to target their search to the areas where the rodents are likely active.
  • Safety prep: If you find any rodent urine or feces around your house, depose of it quickly and carefully, being sure not to touch it with bare skin or prolong your exposure to it. Rodent waste can carry many diseases and should be dealt with delicately.

Ready for Rodent Control in Peekskill NY?

If you’ve seen or noticed signs of rodents around your property recently, it’s time to reach out to your local rodent control company. Given the many dangers and constant nuisance that rats and mice pose, it’s important to have any infestations dealt with swiftly and professionally. For a free quote, contact our rat and mice exterminators today!

Warning Signs of Rats and What You Can Do About Them

A rat on the street near Peekskill NY - Garrie Pest Control

There are many reasons why you don’t want to deal with rats in your house. They cause a general disruptance, spread filth, chew through wires, and cause property damage. They can even pose a health risk by carrying diseases! What’s worse, they are active all year long in Peekskill NY. Because their activity peaks in the colder months of the year, we have to be on high alert against rodents during the winter. If you think you might have a rat infestation in your home and you’re wondering what to do about it, read on. The rodent control technicians at Garrie Pest Control have put together advice for recognizing signs of rats and keeping them out of your home.

Common Signs of Rodents in Peekskill NY

Unfortunately, rats tend to stay in the structures of our homes, crawl spaces, attics, and other hidden places, so it can be harder to tell if your home is infested than with some other pests. Hearing scratching noises in your walls is a good indicator of rodent activity. You might have also found rat droppings in corners of your home, rub marks where rats run along your walls, or nests in your attic made of shredded cardboard insulation, or similar material. 

If you’ve noticed any of these signs, check around your home for holes that rats could have squeezed through. Keep in mind that they can fit through gaps the size of a quarter! Here are some things to check for around the outside of your home:

  • Cracked foundation and siding
  • Broken pipes and gutters
  • Broken or loose shingles
  • Gaps around windows and doors

How to Prevent Rat Infestations

Whether you’ve found rats or you’ve found ways to get in, it’s time to seal off these entry points. Here are some important ways to go about this: 

  • Use a silicone-based caulk to seal cracks. Small gaps in your foundation or around your windows are easily dealt with using a bit of caulk.
  • Block off large holes with sheet metal. Larger openings that need repairs can be temporarily covered up with sheet metal and screws.
  • Use lath screens for irregular holes. If you have an odd-shaped hole that sheet metal can’t contort to, lath screens are a pliable option.
  • Complete general repair work. The present is always the best time to handle repairs. Especially in the winter when the threat of a rat invasion is looming, you should take care of any exterior issues.

Professional Rodent Protection

If you have rodents in your home that you can’t get rid of or you’re just looking for a professional touch for your rodent prevention this winter, reach out to your local pest control company. The rat exterminators at Garrie Pest Control are experts in both rodent removal and prevention—we have been assessing homes in Peekskill NY for rodent activity for almost 50 years. For a free quote, contact our team today!

How Quickly Can Rodents Reproduce?

Group of mice in Peekskill NY home - Garrie Pest Control

Many pests are just that—pests—due to the fact that they can get inside your home and reproduce at a rapid rate. This is especially true for rodents (mice, in particular), whose rapid reproduction rate can quickly turn a small mouse problem into a full-blown infestation. Mice have a life cycle that enables them to reach sexual maturity at just four or so weeks of age. Needless to say, this means just a couple of mice in your property can turn to dozens or even hundreds in a short period of time. For this reason and more, it’s imperative to learn how to keep mice away from your home in the first place. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know with the experts at Garrie Pest Control!

Mouse Reproduction Cycle

To understand how severe a rodent infestation can be, it’s important to know just how quickly mice can reproduce. It only takes a single male and female mouse to ignite an infestation. Here’s what to know:

  1. A young female mouse can begin mating and reproducing at just 4–6 weeks old.
  2. One mouse can give birth to 5 or 6 babies after just a three-week gestation period—and can do so up to 10 times a year.
  3. Right after giving birth to one litter, female mice can begin the cycle right over. This means mice can birth a second litter in as little as 25 days after the first. 

Rodent reproduction infographic - Garrie Pest Control in Peekskill NY

Rodent Infestations Inside Your Property

The life cycle of a mouse makes it easy to see why these rodents are such common pests in our region. On average, mice live about a year when they live outside. However, they can live for nearly 2 or 3 years in an indoor environment. Living indoors also enables mice to breed more rapidly, as they are unable to reproduce in the winter if outdoors. Inside the comfort of your home, rodents are safe from predators like owls, hawks, and cats. This is why a small rodent problem inside your home or business can quickly become something much more serious if action isn’t taken.

Preventing Mice From Reproducing Indoors

If you don’t want mice multiplying by the dozen inside your property, you need to make your property less attractive to them in the first place! Even more important is learning how to recognize the early signs of rodents in your home—noises, droppings, and more. By stopping a small mouse problem, you can avoid the inevitable infestation. The rodent exterminators at Garrie Pest Control are happy to help by implementing the best rodent exclusion tactics. Get started today!

Do You Know How to Prepare for Fall Pests?

A rat in someone's home in Peekskill NY - Garrie Pest Control

When the weather starts to cool down for the first time in many months, all sorts of pests begin their preparations for a harsh winter. Looking for warmth and shelter from our chilly New York winters, countless kinds of insects and rodents try to take refuge inside our homes and on our properties. If you’ve lived around Peekskill for a while, you know how susceptible to pest problems our homes can become. Looking for a way to combat them? Read on for advice from our expert technicians at Garrie Pest Control!

Common Fall Pests in Peekskill NY

All sorts of pests live in New York, but there are a few to note that commonly cause trouble for homeowners come autumn. Here is our list of pests to watch out for this fall:

  • Roaches: Cockroaches make their way indoors when the temperatures start to drop. The problem with roaches is that you may not notice that your home is infested until the size of the outbreak grows quite large.
  • Beetles: Ground beetles, powderpost beetles, and carpet beetles are all more prominent in the fall. These beetles can cause all different sorts of slow-developing damage to your property.
  • Spiders: Spiders get into our homes looking for cluttered places to hide and insects to eat. Having an infestation of smaller pests can quickly lead to a spider outbreak, too.
  • Rodents: Most infamously, rats and mice love to get into our walls, attics, and crawl spaces to take shelter and forage for food during the fall.

How to Pest-Proof Your Home for Fall

Once a pest infestation is already underway in your home, you won’t find much success getting rid of them without professional help in most cases. The best way to enjoy a pest-free fall and winter is to take steps beforehand to reduce your risk of an infestation. There are several ways you can prepare your home for fall:

  1. Close any gaps that pests could get through. This could mean weather stripping your doors, fixing screens on your vents and windows, sealing cracks in your pipes, fixing broken roof tiles, and more.
  2. Keep your yard tidy. By clearing out yard waste promptly, cutting your grass short, reducing standing water buildup, and more, you can reduce the number of pest hiding places and food sources.
  3. Clean up promptly. Wash all of your dishes after eating, clean up spills when they happen, and store your food away in airtight containers.
  4. Seal your trash. Use trash cans with lids that seal or close tightly. Also, be sure to take the trash out of your house often and keep your bins as far from your home as you can.

Professional Help with Fall Pest Control

If you’re already mid-infestation in your home in Peekskill NY, you can count on your local pest control company to handle the problem. The expert technicians at Garrie Pest Control are well-versed in the particular pest pressures in our climate and have been removing pests from local residences for almost half a century. For a free quote, contact us today!

There’s a Mouse in the House!

A mouse found in Peekskill NY - Garrie Pest ControlAs the weather starts to become less and less forgiving, all sorts of animals start looking for places to spend the winter. Here in Peekskill NY, this means the start of rodent infestations of all kinds. In particular, we have talked to lots of people year after year about not being able to figure out the sources of their problems with mice. Since they are so small and even more nimble, it can be quite tough to figure out how they are getting into your home. To learn more about how they do so and what you can do to stop them, read on for advice from the Garrie Pest Control team!

Why Do Mice Come in the House?

Mice are just like any other wild animal; they have to make sure that they are set to last through the winter with everything they need to survive. Unfortunately, our homes usually have all of those things, and if mice find your home suitable, they will not hesitate to invade. Mice are on the hunt for these three things:

  1. Food: Although it’s commonly believed that mice love cheese more than anything else, they actually prefer foods that are rich in carbohydrates. However, mice will eat just about anything that’s left out in your home.
  2. Shelter: Mice play a vital role in their ecosystems as prey for all sorts of predators. To keep safe, they have to find a reliable shelter.
  3. Warmth: Because mice do not hibernate, they need to find a consistent source of warmth during the colder winter months.

How to Keep Mice Out of Your Home

Mice are one of the stealthiest and most adaptable pests in Peekskill NY. This makes DIY mice control quite difficult, but possible if you are diligent. Here are our top tips for at-home mice control:

  • Seal any holes that could give them access to the inside of your home. This could mean installing brush strips on doors, screens on windows and vents, and sealing holes in your roofing or plumbing.
  • Store and seal your food as soon as you are done eating, and be sure to clean dishes and spills promptly after meals.
  • Maintain your lawn to keep the grass short and yard waste cleared. Mice can find hiding places and food to eat in your yard.

Rodent Control for Peekskill NY Homeowners

Do you know what to do if there’s a mouse in the house? In the fall here in New York, one mouse probably means many more. The larger the infestation, the harder it is to tackle it on your own. That’s where the rodent control experts at Garrie Pest Control come in. With top-tier tactics crafted to handle the specific rodent issues that we’ve seen dozens of Peekskill residents face, we promise to have your home mouse-free before the winter sets in! For a free quote, contact us today.

Your Leaky Pipes May Be Attracting Pests

Cockroaches are attracted to plumbing fixtures in Peekskill NY - Garrie Pest Control

Having leaky pipes or plumbing issues in your home is bad enough without the added bonus of a pest infestation. Unfortunately, pests love excess moisture and will readily infest a home that is experiencing a plumbing problem. This is why it’s crucial to stay on top of plumbing repairs in your home. When you don’t, you run the risk of potentially leaving yourself vulnerable to pest infestations. The experts at Garrie Pest Control are here to help. Read on to learn everything you need to know about preventing pests and leaky pipes in your Peekskill NY home!

Moisture-Loving Pests

Pests are drawn toward areas that provide them with their main sources of survival: food and water! This is why pests are commonly found in bathrooms, crawl spaces, laundry rooms, and more. The most common pests that are going to be attracted to areas with excess moisture are as follows.

  1. Termites: If a broken pipe has caused water damage in the very structure of your home, you can be sure termites are to follow. Subterranean termites in particular are attracted to moist wood and soil. When there are unattended-to leaky pipes or plumbing issues, you could be leaving your home vulnerable to termites.
  2. Ants: These tiny pests will appear seemingly out of nowhere when excess moisture is abundant. Leaky faucets or spilled water from a pet’s bowl can bring ants out in the hundreds. In addition to your typical house ant, water can be a main attractant to the wood-destroying carpenter ant as well.
  3. Cockroaches. Roaches may be known for their resiliency, but they aren’t as strong as you’d think. Without water for a week, a roach will not survive. Cockroaches also love to linger inside of pipes and plumbing fixtures. An issue can quickly introduce roaches into other parts of the house.
  4. Rodents: Rats and mice alike are always looking for a water supply. Leaky pipes or broken faucets in your crawl space or laundry room can provide a haven for rodents. The last thing you want is rodents scurrying around when you have a plumbing issue, making it important to prevent them.

How to Prevent Pest Infestations From Leaky Pipes

Leaky pipes or plumbing issues can quickly bring a plethora of problems into your home. This is because almost all pests are attracted to water. In fact, some will die without a source of water within a few days. If you want to help prevent pests in your home, the best thing to do is keep an eye out for leaks and address any issues right away. Regularly inspect to ensure your faucets aren’t dripping, your drains aren’t clogging, and there are no leaks from your fridge, washing machine, or dishwasher.

Dealing With Pest Problems in Your Kitchen or Bathroom?

If you’re already noticing the signs of pests from a plumbing issue or leaky pipe, it’s important to contact your local exterminator for assistance. At Garrie Pest Control, we will work hard to get rid of any pest problems and provide you with tips to prevent future ones.