What Attracts Rats to a House?
Rats can enter even the cleanest homes, especially in Houston. Houston is one of America's largest cities, and rats are an inescapable part of city living.
Several properties in Houston actively attract rats, which, in turn, brings rats to other homes in the area. Right now, there are more than 3,700 property standards violations citywide.
Fortunately, you can control your property and look for ways to discourage rats.
#1) Food Sources
Rats come into a home in search of food first and foremost. The most likely culprits for a rat problem are pet food, birdseed, compost piles, and garbage.
Try to feed your pets at the same time every day so you can pick up unused food and seal it away. Keep pet food in a locked storage container. Auto feeders are convenient, but they do attract rodents.
If you feed the birds, keep bird feeders well away from the home. You should put bird food in a sealed container, too.
Look to human food. Keep compost in a bin or box. Keep trash can lids affixed to their cans. Wipe up spills and crumbs.
#2) Water Sources
You want to keep your pet watered all day long, so there's no picking up pet water bowls throughout the day. Fortunately, pet water bowls aren't usually the culprit when rats come to call.
Instead, rats like to drink their water from hidden sources, like leaky pipes. If your water bill starts to skyrocket, you might have a little rat drinking fountain somewhere in your walls.
Rats also like sources of standing water that might be in your yard. Keep bird baths clear of the home and address areas of your yard where standing water likes to gather.
#3) Places to Hide
Yards that are full of tall grass and mulch tend to attract rats. Inside, piles of clutter provide ample locations for rats to hide and scurry about.
They like any place where humans don't go very often, too, so you'll often find rats in the attic or crawl spaces. An attic looks like the ideal nesting place for a rat: it's warm, dry, and free from predators.
To discourage rats, you'll need to keep your home's areas as clean and well-maintained as possible.
#4) Entry Points
Rats can squeeze into the smallest crack in your foundation or the slightest gap in your soffit and fascia. They can contort their bodies until they can slip through openings the size of a quarter.
It takes a thorough inspection and reliable exclusion methods to help keep rats out of your home.
Have you got rats?
We can help you eliminate all the existing rats in your home while finding and blocking all the entry points that might let more inside.
Our methods are humane, so they're safe for children and pets. We work fast to help minimize the damage that rats can do to your home.
Call Elite Wildlife today if you need rodent control services in Houston, TX.
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Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Squirrel Removal needs, please contact us today.
What do Animals in the Attic Sound Like?
Do you hear thumps and bumps in your attic?
While you might be in denial—nobody ever wants to think they have a wildlife problem—sounds in your attic almost always mean some creature has moved in.
Here's how to tell what you might be dealing with.
Heavy Footsteps
If it sounds like someone is walking around up there, then there's a good chance you have a raccoon, especially if you hear the sounds at dusk and during the morning. Raccoons will leave their attic nests at twilight to go foraging, then return in the morning to sleep.
In the spring, you might hear fighting and chattering. Those would be baby raccoons. As cute as a baby anything happens to be, they'll soon grow into big raccoons, worsening your wildlife problem.
Rolling Sounds
Does it sound like someone is rolling and bouncing marbles across your ceiling all day?
Those aren't marbles. They're nuts. You're hearing squirrels rolling nuts for storage. Hearing marbles in your walls? They're throwing nuts into the wall as well. Squirrels will hide nuts anywhere!
Nuts in your wall are a massive problem because squirrels occasionally go after their stash and get stuck. They'll then die, releasing a horrific smell that is difficult to remove.
Flapping Wings, Banging, and Squeaking
You may think you're playing host to a family of birds. Chances are, you're hearing bats, especially if the noises quiet down at night. During the evening, bats are out hunting.
Of course, birds like human attics as much as any other animal. If you hear fluttering and cheeping, then a Momma bird might have decided your attic looked like the perfect place to raise her baby birds.
Chewing, Scratching, and Squeaking
You probably hear rodents, and they could either be rats or mice. Either species chews and scratches incessantly.
Usually, you'll hear rodent sounds at night.
You don't have to do guesswork!
Any noise in your attic is probably a bad sign. You don't have to try to figure out the specific animal.
Just call us. We'll inspect your attic, determine what might be living up there, and help you chase those critters away for good.
Running and Pouncing
A stray cat might have moved into your attic. A cat tenant is highly likely if you have rats or mice up there, as they will make the perfect prey.
Cats would almost be welcome, except their urine is so potent that it's like toxic waste. Sooner or later, the smell will overwhelm the house. They are not as polite about their bathroom habits as their domesticated counterparts and will absolutely pee all over your attic floor.
Plus, one cat will not get rid of an entire rodent swarm. Any time you have a predator species hanging out in your home, you can bet there are plenty of prey animals, too.
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Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Squirrel Removal needs, please contact us today.
Are Squirrels in the Yard a Problem?
If squirrels are only in your yard, they may not be a problem at all.
In fact, squirrels can serve a vital ecological function. They take seeds and bury them.
Unlike some animals, squirrels aren't quite so adept at remembering where they stored all their treasures. They'll successfully dig some back up and eat them. The rest will be left in the ground, where they'll sprout. Essentially, they're little gardeners.
Some people just enjoy seeing squirrels. They're silly little creatures!
Squirrels don't necessarily overrun a yard. If you're only seeing them there, then there's no need to call us. They can go about their little squirrel lives without intervention.
Squirrels are only a problem when they find their way into your house. Here in Houston this happens most often in the spring and in the fall, when they are searching for places to bear their young.
Once they get into your home they'll chew up your wiring and insulation. In fact, roughly 20% of house fires are caused by squirrels. They do not have to chew all the way through a wire to cause a fatal short and spark.
The earliest sign that a squirrel has gone to work? One of your outdoor lights stops functioning. If this has happened to you, then you should call an electrician pretty soon after you call us.
They cause other damage as well, mostly to the insulation, as well as via their droppings.
We focus on blocking squirrel access to your home. You're never going to get squirrels out of your yard. We could trap them all day long and they'd just show up from other yards around the city. There is absolutely nothing you can do to keep them off your property entirely. They've successfully adapted to every aspect of urban life. We trap the squirrels inside of your home, but only to get them back out again.
You can make your house a little less attractive to them.
Put the bird feeders on the far side of your yard instead of close to your home. Trim trees and bushes that are near your home so you're not providing squirrels with a little superhighway that they can use to get into your attic. Address any wood rot quickly so squirrels aren't tempted to chew their way inside.
Once you've done all that, you can enjoy the antics of your yard squirrels without worry.
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Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Squirrel Removal needs, please contact us today.
Can You Shoot Squirrels in Houston?
If you're within the city limits, you can't shoot any animal at all. That goes for squirrels, raccoons, and any other critter you might find in your house or yard, even if you're using a .22 or other small caliber firearm.
Yet squirrels are a game animal. They are ubiquitous prey animals, which makes them a very sustainable food source. The environment tends to benefit when these sorts of animals are hunted responsibly. They once did so much damage to crops that at various times in our history bounties have been placed upon the heads of these animals, the better to keep them out of the fields.
There are multiple ways to cook them up and eat them. Once, squirrel recipes were a staple of community cookbooks. The Joy of Cooking contained squirrel recipes until 1996.
Outside of the city limits you will need a hunting permit to shoot squirrels, and you will need to observe hunting season. In Harris County, you may shoot squirrels in safe hunting locations in October through February, as well as in the month of May. Note: you should always check the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website to get exact hunting season dates. You'll also be able to use that website to find out where you may hunt within the county.
If you wish to hunt squirrels year round, there are certain parts of the state where you may do this.
In either case, you must make sure you are hunting the right species. Gray squirrels and red squirrels are fair game; other varieties are not.
Harris County also maintains a daily bag limit of 10 squirrels and a possession limit of 20 squirrels.
If you're not interested in eating squirrel then it's probably best to keep your gun in the gun safe. You certainly will not be able to control a squirrel problem with a weapon of any kind. There are just too many of them.
At best, you can make your house less attractive to them, trap them to get them out of your home, and block their entry points. The yard? That's probably a lost cause, though you can greatly reduce their presence simply by avoiding bird feeders and bird baths. If you want both, then you can expect squirrels to come in right alongside the birds. Hopefully you enjoy both!
They aren't dangerous in the yard, only in the home. If they're in the home, call us. Otherwise? They're nothing to worry about…even if you've secretly seasoned a few of them in your home kitchen from time to time.
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Our goal is to take time to evaluate each customers situation and customize proven results to solve it. If you are looking for a professional solution for your Squirrel Removal needs, please contact us today.
