Are you concerned that rodents could be living in your attic or crawl space? Whether you have seen them yourself, heard them moving about, or spotted other signs, you should act sooner rather than later. However, DIY rodent removal solutions are typically more trouble than they are worth. Here’s why you should stick with the professionals for rodent proofing and removals.
Rodents Pose a Serious Health Risk
Rodents of all kinds can carry a wide range of diseases. This makes them a serious health risk, which is a big part of why you need them gone as soon as possible. However, it also makes dealing with them yourself potentially dangerous.
Several serious diseases can be spread by the common mice and rats that you may find in your attic or crawl space. Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM), hantavirus, rat bite fever, and more can be carried by rodents themselves or the variety of fleas and mites that come with them.
Remember that most of these diseases aren’t related to mouse or rat bites or scratches. Instead, just handling them in any way can pose a risk of infection. It’s not safe to handle live or dead rodents without the proper safety equipment and precautions. Professionals have that equipment to ensure everyone’s safety.
It’s Not Just About Direct Contact
When dealing with a rodent infestation, you have more to worry about than just a direct encounter with a mouse or rat. They also contaminate the areas where they live, which could mean your home. Digging through areas where you suspect there to be a rodent infestation can still expose you to potential health risks.
Rodents leave behind droppings that can spread disease. If you’re trying to remove a nest yourself, you’ll come into contact with those droppings. They’ll also be found throughout the insulation in your attic or crawlspace, where rodents are known to make nests.
Ideally, only professionals should enter any area with significant rodent activity. Along with rodent removal, sanitization is another important step to deal with the health hazards these pests bring with them.
DIY Solutions Aren’t Always Effective
The simple fact of the matter is that DIY solutions aren’t always effective. You can find yourself dealing with an ongoing infestation despite your best efforts. There are many fine details that go into dealing with rodents effectively, and simply picking up some product off a store shelf is unlikely to get the job done.
Rodents are fairly adept at avoiding traps. It’s essential to know where to place the traps based on the room layout, where infestation signs are found, and the type of rodents present.
It can also be difficult to tell if you’ve successfully handled the infestation at hand if you don’t know how many rodents you’re dealing with. You could find yourself playing an endless game of cat and mouse if you don’t go with the professionals and instead try to get rid of rodents yourself.
Poisons and Traps Are Potentially Harmful
The most common DIY solutions out there involve lethal traps and poisons. Even if you aren’t concerned with the ethical implications of these solutions, they also pose a risk to you, your family, and your pets.
Spring and glue traps are indiscriminate in the type of animals they target. This means that any pets that get into them can be seriously injured or even killed if they’re small enough. Depending on the strength of the trap you’ve chosen, it could even injure the hands or feet of unwary humans.
Poisons pose an even greater threat. Poisoned bait can also impact any pets that get into it. Using a poison gas can impact your whole family’s health. Even when deployed in an attic or crawl space, the gas can seep into living areas and cause a variety of health risks. Going with humane rodent removal from professionals is typically the safer choice.
Keeping Out Future Infestations Is Vital
Even if you successfully deal with every rodent infesting your property, you’ve only done half the job. Those rodents found their way inside somehow, and others will follow. It’s only a matter of time before you find yourself right back where you started. Sealing up those entry points is essential to ensure successful rodent removal.
Professionals have the tools and methods to identify the entry points that rodents use to get into your home. These can be found just about anywhere, as rodents require only a very small gap to make their way inside. There could be gaps around vents or chimneys, holes in ductwork, or parts of your roof sheathing that have suffered water damage or rot.
Patching up these entry points using the right materials can provide lasting protection against rodent infestation. Keep in mind that attempting these repairs yourself without the right materials could leave open the potential for future infestations. Mice and rats can chew through a wide range of materials to get back inside.
Professionals Can Provide Humane Removal
If you want rodents out of your home but don’t wish them any harm, then you can rely on experts to conduct safe and humane rodent removal. Capturing live rodents and handling them yourself can expose you to health hazards, so it’s best to go with the professionals instead.
They can capture rodents using live traps and safely relocate them into the wilderness. Everybody wins, with the rodents finding a suitable habitat and you enjoying peace of mind that your home is no longer infested.
Humane rodent removal also avoids the risks associated with lethal traps and poisons. You can find the best solution to safeguard your family’s health by keeping these other solutions out of your home.
Let Professional Rodent Removal Give You Peace of Mind
Tackling a rodent infestation on your own can be a serious mistake. Instead of dealing with health risks and subpar results, let the professionals at Attic Projects handle it for you. We offer humane rodent removal and rodent proofing, and we can carry out a free inspection to determine the extent of your rodent infestation.
