How to Get Rid of Rats and Mice (and When to Call a Pro)

Step 1: Confirm what you have

Rats and mice need slightly different traps and sealing. Before you buy anything, check the droppings:

• Rice-sized droppings, scattered: mice.
• Half-inch droppings with pointed ends, often in the attic: roof rats.
• Three-quarter-inch blunt droppings, often in the garage or crawl space: Norway rats.

Our signs of rats and mice guide has a full droppings chart, and roof rats vs Norway rats explains the two rats we see in Vallejo.

Step 2: Find how they are getting in

Every rodent problem has an entry point. Mice fit through a gap about the width of a pencil. Rats fit through a hole about the size of a quarter. Walk around your home, inside and out, and check:

• The roofline, eaves and corners where rooflines meet
• Roof, gable and crawl space vents with torn or missing screens
• Gaps around pipes, cables, dryer vents and AC lines
• The bottom corners of the garage door
• Gaps under exterior doors
• Cracks in the foundation and holes in the soil next to it
• Tree branches, ivy or fences touching the house

Mark what you find. You will seal these in Step 5, after the rodents inside are caught.

Step 3: Trap the rodents

Traps are the most effective and reliable way to remove rats and mice from inside a home.

Snap traps

Classic wood or plastic snap traps work best for most homes. They are cheap, quick and you know when they have worked.

• Use the right size. Rat traps for rats, mouse traps for mice. A mouse trap will not hold a rat.
• Use a lot of them. One or two traps is not enough. Set several along every active path.
• Place them right. Set traps along walls, behind appliances, in the attic along beams and next to droppings. Put the trigger end against the wall, where rodents run.
• Bait well. Peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit or a bit of bacon. For roof rats, fruit works well.
• Pre-bait. Roof rats are wary of new things. Leave baited, unset traps out for two or three nights, then set them.
• Check daily. Remove caught rodents wearing gloves, and reset.

Electronic traps

Battery-powered traps work well indoors and are easier to empty. They cost more per trap.

What about glue boards?

We do not recommend them. Rodents can suffer for a long time on glue boards, and UC IPM discourages their use. They also catch pets and other animals by accident.

Live traps

They catch rodents, but releasing them just moves the problem, and releasing rats elsewhere is not a good idea for your neighbors or local wildlife.

Step 4: Why we do not recommend poison inside the house

Rat poison seems like the easy option, but inside a home it causes more problems than it solves:

• Rats die where you cannot reach them. Inside walls, ceilings and under floors, leaving a smell that lasts for weeks and attracts flies.
• Pets and children. Poison bait is a real hazard in a home with kids, dogs or cats.
• Wildlife. Owls, hawks, foxes and other animals that eat poisoned rats can be poisoned too. California has heavily restricted the strongest rat poisons for this reason, and many are no longer sold to homeowners.
• It does not fix the cause. New rats move in through the same gaps.

Traps plus sealing is the better route for almost every Vallejo home.

Step 5: Seal the entry points

This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that ends the problem. Once traps stop catching and the noise is gone, close every gap you found in Step 2.

Use materials rodents cannot chew through:

• Hardware cloth (1/4 inch mesh) for vents and larger gaps
• Sheet metal or metal flashing for roofline and eave gaps
• Copper or stainless steel mesh packed into holes around pipes
• Concrete or mortar for foundation cracks
• Door sweeps and new garage door seals

What does not work on its own: spray foam, caulk, wood, plastic or steel wool by itself. Rats chew through these quickly. Foam is fine as a finish layer over metal mesh, not as the barrier.

Never seal a gap while rodents are still inside. They will die in the wall or chew a new way out.

Step 6: Remove what attracted them

Rodents come for food, water and shelter. Take those away and your home becomes much less appealing.

• Keep food in sealed glass, metal or thick plastic containers.
• Do not leave pet food out overnight, inside or outside.
• Pick up fallen fruit from citrus, plum and fig trees. This is a big one in Vallejo yards.
• Use bird feeders with trays, or take them down for a while.
• Keep garbage and compost in bins with tight lids.
• Trim tree branches and ivy at least three feet from the roof and walls.
• Move woodpiles and stored items off the ground and away from the house.
• Fix leaky outdoor faucets and irrigation.

Step 7: Clean up and watch

Clean droppings and nests carefully: wet them down with disinfectant first, wear gloves and a mask, and never sweep or vacuum them dry. Then watch for new signs over the next few weeks. Fresh droppings or noise mean there is still an open gap.

Things that do not work

We hear about these all the time. Save your money:

• Ultrasonic repellers. Research has not shown they keep rodents out for long. Rats get used to them.
• Peppermint oil, mothballs and dryer sheets. The smell fades fast, and mothballs are a health hazard indoors.
• A cat. Cats catch some mice, but they rarely solve a rat problem.
• Waiting for them to leave. Rodents with food and shelter do not leave on their own.

When to call a pro

DIY works best for a mouse or two in an easy-to-reach space. Call (707) 000-0000 if:

• You hear rats in the attic, ceiling or walls. See rats in the attic and walls.
• You have trapped rodents for two weeks and still see new signs.
• You cannot find the entry points, or they are on a high or steep roof.
• There are droppings in several rooms or in the kitchen.
• Insulation in the attic or crawl space is soiled.
• You run a rental, a home daycare or have someone at home with health concerns.

We inspect from the roofline to the crawl space, trap the rodents, seal every entry point with rodent-proof materials, and come back to confirm the job is done. Our rodent control in Vallejo page explains the full process, and the rodent removal cost guide explains what goes into the price. Our before and after pest control guide explains how to get ready for the visit.