Rodent infestation of rats chewing on books Rodents like mice and rats are among the most common household pest invaders in the United States. Unfortunately, they’re also one of the most dangerous and damaging, both to the homes they infest and to the people living inside them.

With the advent of the internet, saving money by finding a DIY solution to your household problems has never been easier or more appealing. However, while this is the case for many household fixes, the same cannot be said for rodents. Rats and mice should always be left to the professionals. Here’s why:

Ineffective Traps

Rodent traps are cheaply available both online and in many department stores, but can be ineffective for several reasons. You could use the wrong type of bait or accidentally leave your scent on the trap, thus deterring rodents from coming near. You could also use too few traps for the infestation at hand or position them incorrectly throughout your home, thus failing to effectively treat the entire infestation.

Also, all traps are not created equal. Some are more effective than others, but without a professional background, it can be next to impossible for the average person to tell one from the other. In other words, you won’t know you’ve bought an ineffective trap until you realize days later that the rodents aren’t biting. Unless you know both the specific rodent that’s gotten into your home and the specific trap best used to defeat it, you can’t be certain that your efforts aren’t going to waste.

Lastly, rodents are naturally averse to new environments, so even if your traps are ultimately effective, it could take days before the rodents take the bait - during which time they’ll be finding food elsewhere throughout the home, even if that means gnawing into your walls and insulation to do so. And even once your traps no longer turn up dead mice, you still can’t be certain there aren’t more somewhere in your home.

Difficulty Reaching Them

Due to their small size and impressive climbing ability, rodents are adept at getting into hard-to-reach areas of the home, where they can rest and raise young undisturbed by humans. This means that rodent infestations are most common in areas like the attic, basement, garage, and other areas around the home. Reaching the spaces where these rodents hide can pose a significant challenge to the untrained.

Cleanup

Rodents are more than just an annoying nuisance; they are outright dangerous. Coming into contact with live rodents or biological elements they leave behind such as hair, body oil, or droppings can all be hazardous to the people involved.

Even if everything goes perfectly and you’re able to kill all the rodents in and around your home, your job is only halfway done; you’ll still have to deal with the damage and debris they left behind. This can include property damage as well as harmful biological factors such as oils, droppings, and carcasses, all of which can pose health risks to your family and pets.

Costs

Finally, even if you can correctly identify your rodent problem, find the right traps and apply them effectively, and clean up the mess they leave behind, you’ll still be faced with a final burden: the price tag. DIY methods can quickly add-up, and because they are seldomly effective at treating the entire problem, you could find yourself having to purchase the same equipment over and over again, racking up big costs in the process.

Why Professional Rodent Treatment Matters

Unfortunately, these factors taken together mean that the average homeowner generally isn’t prepared to handle a rodent infestation on their own. Luckily, a professional rodent control service will have both better tools and more experience that they can use to quickly treat an entire rodent infestation. A professional service will be able to:

Apply traps safely and effectively to hit rodents at their heaviest areas of activity.
Monitor rodent activity both to find them inside the home and to ensure that the infestation is truly gone.
Cleanup any hazardous leftovers.
Save you money by eliminating the entire problem the first time.

If you’re experiencing rodent problems or fear you might be, don’t wait: contact the pest professionals at Pestmaster^® Services today and send rodents packing.