rodent-cartoon

Rodent Control

Imagine being a homeowner, sound asleep in your bed after a long day of work. You’re suddenly woken up by scratching and squeaking coming from inside the walls. You can only guess what it is, and you barely sleep while your imagination runs wild. Morning comes and you pull out your favorite box of cereal, open it up, and there is a big hole chewed through the bag along with the telltale droppings of a rodent infestation. You hope that you’ve discovered the issue early enough to catch them before breeding, but it isn’t likely due to the 20-24 day gestation period of common mice and rats.


The word rodent comes from the Latin rodere, which meant “to gnaw.” They got this name due to their continuously growing incisors, which are worn down by constant use. This grinding down prevents the teeth from eventually growing right through the creature’s skull while also giving them razor-like tips due to the back of the teeth wearing off. Mice are smaller than rats, with thin, hairy tails and usually weighing just up to three ounces. Rats have thicker, hairless tails and normally weigh about a pound and a half. As the New York City Subway has proven, given an ample food supply, they can grow up to 2lbs. That may not seem like much, but it is, but it is 1/3rd larger than normal.


There also are differences in their behavior around their counterparts. Mice tend to be standoffish around each other, sometimes becoming aggressive if spooked. Rats are less territorial and seem to be more friendly.


Rats have even been known to chew through metal pipes and cinder blocks to get into a home or find a food source, which sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Recently they have even been making their way into automobile engines, causing blown fuses at best, fires, and totaled vehicles at worst.


The four most common pest rodents that people encounter is the house mouse, white-footed deer mouse, black rat, and Norway rat. Knowing when some little furry annoyances have invaded your property isn’t too difficult when you know what you’re looking at. Small brown droppings are the most obvious of the bunch, although these pellets, are far from the only sign. Shredded material such as plant matter, cardboard, paper, or fabric is often used as nesting materials, along with holes chewed through walls or baseboards where they might make a hidey-hole their new home. Stale, musty, and urine smells coming from unoccupied or undisturbed parts of the house are usually a dead giveaway that there are rodent intruders. Finally, damaged food such as chewed-through boxes, food containers, or garbage bags are common.


Luckily for the folks of Bergen, Passaic, and Essex, and counties, New Day Pest Control has everything you need to make your home free of rodents, insects, and whatever other pests are giving you headaches. Contact us today for a free estimate and to discuss what services we can provide for you. Our many 5 star reviews are a tribute to the hard work we put in. 

Share by: