Rats!
Yes, we have rats…these would be of the roof rat variety. We first noticed droppings around 1 to 2 months ago in our garage. Then we started hearing scratching between our 1st and 2nd floors. The droppings were small so I thought they were mice. I setup a few mouse traps - BTW, these things are brutal on your fingers.
I did catch one rat - a small roof rat. This kill occurred about a month ago, but I haven’t been diligent in keeping the traps set. I finally started calling around to local pest control companies yesterday. I called the biggies like Orkin (they just kept me on hold) and Terminix (only wanted to use poison). I also called some local places but I ultimately settled on A Wildlife Pro. This is a company operated by Sean Met, a trained nuisance wildlife control specialist.
I am very, very happy with my choice for this job. Sean is very professional and I believe his technique to be the most effective. He came to our house and inspected all possible entry points. He found the point where the rats are getting into our garage and eventually into our house. He installed some metal netting to block off access point and installed a one way door at the main point of entry. He took the time to explain why he believed the location to be the main entry point and his work was very professional. He finally setup numerous traps in our garage and attic. BTW, as he pulled away from our house, one of the traps already caught a rat - I called him back to pick up the carcass and reset the trap.
As of this morning we tallied two more dead rats in the garage…I’m not sure what we have in the attic. Anyway, Sean will return two more times over the next two weeks to pick up the carcasses and reset the traps. Between that and blocking the entrances, we would have hopefully resolved our rat problem.