It can be distressing to wake up to rat droppings and chewed items all over your home. Unfortunately, spotting a rat during the day can be difficult as these pests love to stay in out-of-sight places and are nocturnal, which means they are active mostly at night.

Thus, it is probable that rats are nesting in the walls and ceilings, or crawl spaces in your home, away from predators and the elements. Besides, these rodents will gnaw on anything that comes their way, causing a lot of damage to your property.

Having rats in the ceiling is an indication that they have already built a nest and started breeding. And as they are capable of reproducing at a very fast rate, it won’t be long before their numbers grow exponentially and become an infestation.

Keep reading to find out if you have rats living in the ceiling and how to deal with the rat infestation, if detected.

 

How Do Rats Get In The Ceiling?

Rats can enter the ceilings through small holes as they can fit through a half-inch diameter opening. Sometimes they might chew their way through the cracks and crevices in the ceilings and other entry holes. Some species of rats tend to live exclusively on the roof, and you will find them running in high places such as trees or telephone lines, and climbing into the attic and ceiling in your home.

 

Can Rats Climb On Ceilings?

Considered to be excellent climbers, the rats can climb on surfaces such as ceilings. In fact, rats are able to climb most rough and smooth vertical surfaces, up to 13 inches in height. Thus, they can climb up the walls and find openings in the ceilings. The ability to jump even 20 times their height or walk on pipes, wires, and thin ropes, allows them to easily get up onto the rafters in your home.

Moreover, they can access climbing objects from the outside and use them to climb onto the roof, before entering through openings into the ceilings.

During the dry or cold winters, the rats will look for climbing materials to access the ceiling. When living in the ceiling, they can easily come out and get downstairs at night to find food and water in your house.

They can also stay on your roof and climb up the ceiling during the winter season. As they are warm-blooded animals, they would stay on the roof as long as they are protected from the harsh weather outside.

 

 

Can Rats Chew Through The Ceiling?

If a rat has found its way from the outside into your home, it might chew through the ceiling to get into any space in the house. In fact, it happens quite often that a rat that lives in your home to chew through the ceiling.

The chewing often happens in house structures that are made from materials such as drywall. Typically, ceilings and walls are made from drywall. The rats’ sharp front teeth, the incisors, can easily eat through drywall, as well as plaster, wood, and plastic. They will bite through the ceilings when they recognize a food and water source in your home.

Thus, if you hear chewing sounds in your ceiling at night when it’s quiet in the house, it might be best to call a pest and wildlife control expert to investigate. It can be challenging for a homeowner to find the entry spots made by a rat in the ceiling. This is because rats tend to be discreet and won’t chew on the obvious spots in your ceiling. They might chew about a half-inch hole in the ceiling, close to the wall, and find their way into the house by climbing down and up the walls.

These rodents prefer cluttered places in the house, so it would be better to check these spots for rat bites and find ways to exterminate them from your property. What’s worse, the rats might chew on electric cables on the roof, which can lead to a fire hazard, so you should deal with the rats on your roof immediately.

 

Can You Hear Rats In The Ceiling?

The roof rats can be quite noisy and will make scratching and squeaking sounds when nesting or running in the crawlspace of your ceiling. You can easily distinguish the rat noise from the noises made by the home appliances.

Because rats are very fast, it’s likely that you hear them scurrying quickly around the crawlspaces. They also tend to follow the same runways over time, thus, you may hear noises coming from the same area in your house structure.

In addition, your pets will hear the sounds before you hear them, so you should observe their behavior if you suspect a rat infestation on your property. Your dog might be looking up the ceiling constantly or bark while staring at the roof.

Moreover, apart from hearing animal noises on the roof or ceiling, you can notice rat droppings in your home, and they might host pathogens leading to health issues. Also, if you have fruit trees in your backyard, you might notice half-eaten fruits. If these pests enter your home, you might find that leftover foods in your kitchen are gone. You might be lucky to see the rats climbing the walls up the ceiling if you wake up at night.

 

If you can hear strange noises on the roof or in the ceiling, especially during the night, you should have a pest control technician inspect it as soon as possible to find out whether there is a rat infestation.

Rats can be really hard to remove once they have entered your house, thus, specialist help is needed. At American Pest Control, we provide homes in Northeast Georgia with reliable and effective pest control services specific to your homes’ needs. So don’t hesitate to contact us today for a quote and a free inspection!

 

 

Mice are notorious wild animals that can be a big problem to get rid of when they get into your home. These small creatures are able to use any tiny hole to access the house in order to look for food, warmth, and shelter for survival.

Thus, it is necessary to take precautions when moving house so that you avoid a mouse infestation in your new home.

 

Can Mice Travel With You When You Move House?

Mice can travel from one house to another and they are very smart when it comes to hiding. They can hide in furniture like sofas, beds, and closets, and will create a comfortable nest for themselves and their babies.

When you move house, you most likely don’t even realize that there might be rodents hiding in your storage boxes, bags, and containers. They create a cozy nest in sofas and armchairs mostly because they find soft and warm fabrics, foam, stuffing inside.

These pests can reproduce while nesting in there and will have many young ones at once. Keep in mind that is not wise to poison the mice nesting in the sofa because it can cause serious health problems in people. The best way is to set up traps where these rodents go for their food and water.

 

Can They Hide And Travel In Furniture, Boxes, Or Bags?

Don’t be surprised that mice can follow you, travel in your belongings, and move with you into your new house. This is because they squeeze into your boxes and bags that they find to be warm, cozy, and dark.

Mice can climb surfaces up to about 79 inches and jump up to 9.5 inches in height, which means they could jump and climb from one item to another with ease to find shelter. They are capable of climbing and jumping any smooth and rough surface, which makes it easy for them to travel to new locations.

It is very easy to notice the presence of these rodents in the house when you hear strange noises and see mysterious holes in the boxes. Additionally, there is a probability of spotting chewed clothes and shredded papers when you start unpacking in your new home. They will do this to build a comfy nest for themselves. Mice will also leave their droppings anywhere in the house.

 

 

Can They Survive The Move?

When you relocate to a new house, the mice will also travel together with you. Once in your new house, these animals will have to learn about their new surroundings and ways to find food and water.

Provided there is enough food, the new environment will automatically suit the rodents and they will be able to survive there. However, a relocated mouse may find it hard to survive in the new environment and may not survive if there is not enough food and water in the new location. If it’s not able to find anything to eat or drink, it’s going to eventually die.

 

How Do Mice Get Into The House?

Mice are clever, inquisitive, determined, and opportunistic, thus, they will search for tiny openings and cracks to squeeze through in search of food. For this reason, it’s important to take care of small gaps in the house structure to ensure that mice are not getting inside.

 

They can climb the ladders, walls, cables, and can swim through the water pipes to get indoors. These rodents can quickly adapt to the new environment that is your new home if they can easily hide and find a meal. On top of that, they can be very destructive because they can easily damage your belongings, furniture, clothes, and food supplies.

 

Surprisingly, mice can potentially come up through the toilet. They can also enter into a home through the bathtub drain and sink if the drainage is not properly sealed. They can access through windows, ceilings, and walls as well because they’re able to climb rough vertical surfaces.

 

Because of their small size, they can squeeze themselves through a small, 1/4 inch gap. They will sneak in very small spaces as they have a sharp sense of smell, hearing, and touch which enables them to find food and be difficult to trap. Since human housing is the best place for these rodents in terms of shelter and food, they hide very well and usually come out at night or in dim light.

 

They are most attracted to messy and cluttered homes because they can easily get into rubbish, get scattered food and various materials to build nests. They will also get inside clean and tidy houses, although they don’t favor them as much as unkempt houses.

 

Thus, if you want to avoid mice infestation in your new home, take the time to finish unpacking from your recent move as soon as possible. If you leave your unpacked possessions still sitting in the attic, garage, or in an undisturbed corner of your house, these rodents will get a perfect place to make a nest.

 

Your new home is supposed to be a place where you can relax, and feel comfortable and safe. This may be difficult to do if you suspect that you have mice roaming around your clean house. If you think there might be a mice infestation, don’t hesitate to call the exterminators at American Pest Control in Athens, GA, for a free inspection or an estimate.