Rodents or Squirrels
 

I think we may have a problem with either rats or Squirrels in the walls of my home.
Hubby has been hearing scratching but at night time only. He has been up in the attic, can't see or find any signs other than the scratching noises.
I'm deaf, can't hear anything.
He has inspected the outside of the house for possible entry into the attic .
Does anyone know who we could call to have the home inspected for verification of these unwanted guests ?
Thanx for your help.

Deans Services does rodent control and they are quick to respond. We use them for everything however we have not had rodents to date. If it is a squirrel, you should see it around your house from time to time during the daylight hours as they go back in at dusk. Rats, I don't know about except they do need a food source, I have heard there are a lot of them around but we have not seen any yet. Good luck with it and keep us informed.

Get a pest control out there pronto

Don't jump to any conclusions; vintageogauge is correct.
Squirrels during the day; rats at night.
Have you seen any droppings?
If they are there, you will see them and if they are there, you will always find them
Put a food source (cheese?) in your attic.
If it is gone within a day or two, you know pretty much, it's rats.

Don't be so fast to call a pest control company.
For sure -- they will find some reason to sign you up, regardless of any problems.
And if you do have a problem, treat the problem only and don't sign a contract .

Thank you for your help.
We had to be out of town this past weekend, but will be home on Tuesday.
Definitely will call someone to come out.
Hubby said he did see droppings but thought they were from those little gray chameleons.
He didn't know.

We have Massey for our pest control, but I don't see where they handle, wildlife removal.

We'll let you how we make out.

Good move. and an aside gum drops work better than cheese. if the droppings are small it may be mice instead of rats

We have Massey's and they are so good at controlling bugs, etc we get our flu shots from them:D

I had Massey do a thorough inspection of my property and attic for no other reason then prevention. There is a rat problem here and I had Massey provide two black bait boxes. they told me that there has been so many calls that they ran out of bait boxes and were ordering more.

Could someone please give the number of a good exterminator. I hear scratching in my attic at different times of the day, I believe it is squirrels.
We have oak trees around us and I see squirrels running my property. I've put cheese and nothing yet. Thank you. Gkilts

Had Massey come out and check. They said the droppings appeared to be mouse / mice. I'm hoping for mouse not mice.
He installed bait traps. Will come back on Saturday to check.
He also inspected the property for a way they could be entering. He did find one spot on the back corner of the house near the Ac unit.
So this will get fixed, once we take care of the mouse. He said not to fix it until the mouse problem has been resolved.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank You for all your help and suggestions.

Massey pest control good people.

We lived in Memphis. Homes their the hot water heaters A/C, etc sit in the attic . So the entire attic has a floor. We had 3 mice built into our house. so i made a deal with my young son. I would set the traps smear gum drops on the and he would empty them. In less than 2 days trapped all three mice . They love gum drops

Caught one !!! Hubby took a look this morning and found one stuck on the sticky trap. Ewwwww !
A rat.
Called Massey. He came and got it. Laid more traps. Will come back on Saturday and check, unless we call him first.
I hope there isn't anymore.

Was told last week of another home about 1/2 mile from ours were the new owner discovered attic was rat infested. their dog has killed 4 so far.

didn't want to worry you about this hoping that it was something else

I am the poster who has been skeptical of rats. Today we saw one coming out of the foundation planting near Laurel Manor Rec Center. Granted, this is the second rat I have seen in almost ten years here, but it was a ratty looking creature, be it palm rat or whatever. It was at nine in the morning and it scooted from one area of ground cover to the other.

I do not like rats, snakes or alligators. NOPE.

Bug service
 

[QUOTE=vintageogauge;1461957]Deans Services does rodent control and they are quick to respond. We use them for everything however we have not had rodents to date. If it is a squirrel, you should see it around your house from time to time during the daylight hours as they go back in at dusk. Rats, I don't know about except they do need a food source, I have heard there are a lot of

Bug and Rodent service. Well, I can tell you something interesting. We have a very nice senior lady next door, and her downspouts were dumping water at her foundation and I was concerned for the possibility of settling at that point in her foundation. So, I picked up an extension and a runoff plate to direct the water to the street. I did this voluntarily just to be a good neighbor. She is out of state a lot for long periods. Well, along comes DEANs Tech. And when he sprays, he steps on and breaks the downspout extensions. So I bought another and now he has broken it too, again. I have called his firm, the office 5, yes five times, about this and it still continues, the office said the supervisor will be out to see me, twice. He has not shown. There is more to this, it is so sloppy of them. So, enough said, if you are going to call Deans, well, I sure would not pay them to do anything.
bbbbbb :sad:

Rats etc.
 

Regarding rats etc.
If you have critters in the attic or in the walls? We had that at another location. Here is a suggestion. Be very careful and inspect any opening, no matter how small. At the ground level and at any and all elevations. There is creek and lake water nearby, they can find water easily, they also want a nice entree. Foam from a can is handy for this and other items too. So, if they are in the attic and if it is sealed, they will starve and they actually try to eat the wood or other stuff in the attic.
They will not last long if they cannot get out or cannot get back in. They can get thru a very small opening, so do some hard looking, good luck. Also, if there is an access, then they will keep coming in, looking for food or a place to relax and chill out. Good luck.
bbbbbb
:yuck:

Skeptical? They are located all over The Villages.

I keep telling people that the pest guys agree there is a rat problem in TV. some folks are so enamored with their shang ri la that they rather go into denial then face the truth??????????????????

Last week in broad daylight I saw a rat run across a street and run straight up a tree and disappear. I was driving my car at the time and don't remember the street. Something needs to be done.

[QUOTE=bbbbbb;1463738]Have the owner that is actually paying the bills call them. They have been very responsive even if I see on mud wasp nest they are out within 24 hours to get rid of it. We have only lived here since May but very happy with them to date.

For the first two years we owned our TV house, I made sure the existing queen palms were well-tended. They required a lot of attention to look good, but, hey, they looked so Florida -- even though they are not native to our TV zone -- too far north.

Those queen palms grew fast and their lowest fronds turned yellow, no matter how much fertilizer I schlepped around for them. I had to hire people to climb up and trim. THEN those fronds got way too close to our roof.

(Notice all those past tense verbs I have been using.)

I evicted those queen palms, and while I was surprised at how much shade those tall trees had provided, I have no regrets. Although I never saw a palm rat, that does not mean they did not see me. (shudder)

And, as much as I like seeing birds, I will never have a bird feeder and I am glad my neighbors don't have bird feeders either.

I applaud your choices.

Rats
 

[QUOTE=Brugi;1461884]I think we may have a problem with either rats or Squirrels in the walls of my home.
Hubby has been hearing scratching but at night time only. He has been up in the attic, can't see or find any signs other than the scratching noises.
I'm deaf, can't hear anything.
He has inspected the outside of the house for possible entry into the attic .

Well, our nice neighbor lady showed me where she found rats. In some plants in the front planter. Yep, the small plants that look like very coarse grass. So, I put paint thinner on the plants for her and also on one we have, they will not bed down in a plant saturated with paint thinner, for sure. We are going to dig out those plants. Actually, they are almost totally dead from the rats eating the tender new shoots. So the thinner will hasten this process until we dig them out. Would you believe the rats chased her small, very small dog??
Luckily, her small dog moves like Lightning. :wave:

Squirrels are rodents!

We Already Know That
 

[QUOTE=bbbbbb;1464248]Get a pest control guy to investigate.

The pest control manager explained to me that rats live/stay within 100 square yards of a home and/or place in which they forge.

entry for a rodent can be anywhere and may not require any effort on the critter One homeowner built a doggie door and as predictable rats walked in just like their pet.
People leave their garage doors open all day long so its easy access for them

My pest guy also explained that easy access for rodents are downspouts. All my gutter downspouts are connected underground. However I have one downspout on the driveway. I screened the interior of that downspout extension.

I live on a championship golf course and the course has six tall pines behind my home. The first time I saw a rat coming down the trunk of one of those trees I called my pest control guy and asked for a bait box. I now have two bait boxes

In the last year I had activity but of late all is quiet on the western front

Personal Best Regards:

Massey came out on Saturday, and yup, caught another in the attic.
More traps were laid out, including some larger bait boxes. He will be back out on Monday to check again.
I'm hoping this is it.
After we are sure there are no more up there, then we will check all gutters and downspouts. Most of ours also run underground, but we do have a few that are not. We will make sure these are screened in also.
There is a large empty field in back of our home. I'm thinking this may be where they are coming from. Not sure.
We did not have a problem until after the hurricane came thru.
Thanks to all for your help and suggestions. They are appreciated.