Are there Rats or Squirrels in my Attic?
Living in the great state of Florida, particularly Brevard County comes with an enormous amount of benefits but with anything, there exists a second side of the coin, we will call it the dark side of Florida. This may be different for many people but in our line of work, the trade-off for ample sunshine and warm weather year round is that people are not the only ones who enjoy these conditions, animals do as well. Animals living in Florida enjoy the weather just as much as humans do, they don’t have to worry about sub-zero temperatures as it never gets that cold here, there is no hibernation season, and plant life grows year round here giving wildlife a bounty to eat from no matter what season is upon us. Unfortunately for many people in Melbourne and Palm Bay, these critters not only love the weather here, but our homes and businesses offer them a plethora of choices when it comes to shelter, and they do utilize these options without hesitation.
As the population continues to skyrocket in Florida in the last ten years, the problem of wildlife gaining entry into homes and businesses has increased dramatically as well, most likely due to massive construction projects tearing down their natural habitats. There are many types of nuisance animals living in Florida that can cause headaches for homeowners but dealing with them does not always look the same. We are seeking to help the Florida homeowner better understand how these animals act, what you can do to mitigate problems, and most importantly, how to determine what type of animal you are dealing with.
With Florida’s climate the way it is, it should be no surprise to anyone that life thrives down here, just come here during the summer months and walk outside; either day or night, there is always some type of wildlife activity going on. Whether the trees are teaming with squirrels running around, or a variety of bugs trying to drain you of your blood, wildlife activity never stops in this state, so it is important to know how to protect yourself and your home from potential risks. In the world of wildlife removal, two animals that generate a lot of calls for pet control companies are rats and squirrels, the customers however often complain about these animals in similar fashion. It is very typical to talk to a customer on the phone and going off what information they have given, having no idea what type of animal they are dealing with.
This is why an onsite estimate is always required to pin point the problem so that it can be addressed. From our experience, we often hear from customers saying they have a squirrel in the attic, when it is actually rats, and vice versa, but fear not, we are here to help. We never suggest dealing with wildlife as a DIY project, always hire a professional, but for the sake of education, here are some ways of determining if you are dealing with a squirrel or a rat in your attic.
Noises at Night or Noises during the Day?
This is the first and usually easiest question for a customer to answer when talking with a professional about the animal in the attic, this can even usually be answered over the phone, but again, on-site inspections are always required. This is one of the first questions that we ask when we come to a house and begin discussing with a customer what kind of problem they are dealing with. If you have a critter in your attic, then it is 100% of the time going to make some sort of noise when it goes about its routine, and a homeowner is usually very easily able to tell if they are hearing noises at night which may keep them from getting to sleep, or if they are hearing noises during the day while up and about during their day. Although strange things can happen when dealing with wild animals and they can occasionally be unpredictable, most of the time the stick to their natural habits and we can easily determine what kind of animal it is just be hearing when the client is hearing noises. We explain it in simple terms when trying to figure out if it is a rat or a squirrel we are dealing with. Simply put, rats are nocturnal and squirrels are diurnal. Rats will be inactive and sleeping during the day and will begin to become active around dusk and remain active and awake throughout the night while squirrels are exactly the opposite, squirrel’s sleep at night and are active during the day. With just one simple question, we can already eliminate one of the two, if you hearing scratching and scurrying during the night, it is a rat issue, and if you hear noises in the attic during the day, it is a squirrel issue.
What does the attic space look like?
Imagine you are a homeowner in the Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera or Suntree area of central Florida, every night as you enjoy the wonderful weather outside, you begin to notice consistent a large number of bats that always seem to be flying around your home at dusk or just before sunrise. You do some investigation and figure out that these bats not only like flying around your home, but they enjoying nesting in it as well, Uh-Oh, what to do now. We know that the first thing to do is find a licensed and insured company to come out and perform an inspection. They will be able to pinpoint the problem areas on your home that either already have bats living inside or could potentially become a home for them in the future.
When getting estimates from any wildlife removal company in the Brevard County area worth their salt, the company should always involve a thorough attic inspection. The animals are living in the attic, therefore the professionals need to go inside and take a look to make sure what’s going on, if they do not, do not hire that company. Both rats and squirrels live in the attic spaces as they love the shelter and protection it offers, but they treat the spaces very differently, and it should be apparent what type of animal is living up there after inspection. The biggest difference between what an attic with rats looks like and an attic with squirrels is the animal droppings. Rats are notorious for leaving droppings wherever they go, and even around their very nests, while squirrels are known for leaving almost zero droppings in and around their living spaces. When we are conducting an attic inspection, the presence or non-presence of animal droppings is a dead giveaway of what type of animal could be living up there. If an estimator crawls up into the attic and immediately sees animal small animal pellets, then we know that it is not a squirrel as this is contrary to their natural behavior. If an estimator crawls in at attic that has “noises” coming from it and see a clean attic with nothing but drywall and insulation, we know that it is most likely a squirrel issue, as they are the cleaner of the two and leave their droppings outside their domicile. So by now, after asking just one question and taking a quick look inside the attic, a professional wildlife removal estimator should have a good idea of what type of issue is occurring and how to deal with it, but there are still more ways to tell.
Where are the Noises coming from?
One part of the process of putting together a plan for a customer to deal with their wildlife issue is asking plenty of questions, this is an integral part of understanding what they are dealing with and choosing the right avenue to approach the problem from, excluding squirrels is different from trapping rats and it is important to understand what exactly is going on before formulating a plan. One of the common questions asked of the customer is what part of the house are they the hearing the noises come from. The answer to this question will usually shed more light on what type of animal we are dealing with if we have not already determined what is causing the noises in the attic. The behaviors of rats and squirrels is similar but in the same respect quite different, they both live in attic spaces, but one sleeps and night and the other during the day. Both rats and squirrels live in attics, yet one leaves droppings everywhere and the other does not, and lastly, both rats and squirrels live in attics but they tend to be active in different parts of the attic. Rats are known to be little explorers, whenever they infiltrate an attic space, there is no crack or crevice they will not at some point explore, leading to homeowners hearing noises in all parts of the house, in the walls, over all the bedrooms, and over all living spaces. This varies quite a bit from how squirrels move through an attic as they tend to keep toward the outside edges of the house and tend to make their nests inside the soffits of a house. They enjoy the airflow to help regulate body temperatures, we all know how hot Melbourne Florida can get in summertime. So when asking a customer about the location of the noises, if they are telling us that they only hear it on the edges of the house, then that would lead us to believe that they are dealing with a squirrel running in the soffit versus if they are telling us that they noises seem to come from everywhere, this more often than not means rats in the attic. Rats will use the soffits as well, but squirrels tend to stay in the soffit areas while rats will go even into the central parts of the attic.
Conclusion
Through this blog it was our goal to educate the public on the do’s and don’ts of bat removal and what to look for when hiring a professional. We hope anyone who sees this becomes more informed but we especially want to reach out the people of Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera, and Suntree as we are aware of how bad the problem is in these areas of central Florida. Remember that whenever dealing with a bat issue in your home or business, always hire a professional, this is not the type of job to try yourself, you could get seriously hurt and potentially very sick even to death. When reviewing what company you want to hire to perform a bat removal, always make sure they are licensed and insured, have them explain to you how they perform a seal up exclusion in order to ensure they are sealing up the entire home and are conducting a humane bat removal, ask them about guano clean up and make sure they explain to you the protective equipment they use to ensure their health as well. There is obviously more we could talk about concerning bat removal as we will discuss more in later blogs, we just wanted to get this out there to educate the public on what options they have when dealing with bats in their homes or business. We hope this has been informative and we look forward to putting out more material in the future.
