Most rodent calls in Ottawa, the Toronto GTA and Hamilton come down to two animals. House mice are small, brownish grey, with a pointed snout, large ears and a tail about as long as the body. An adult weighs 12 to 30 grams and can pass through a gap the width of a pencil. Norway rats are much heavier, 200 to 480 grams and 30 to 45 cm including the tail, brownish grey with a greyish white belly and a blunt snout. They need a gap closer to the size of a two dollar coin. People also call about squirrels and chipmunks, which are rodents too, but those are handled as wildlife work because the approach is different. A young rat is often reported as a large mouse. The head settles it: small and pointed on a mouse, heavy and blunt on a rat.
Both want the same three things, and our climate hands them all three. They want warmth, which a heated building supplies from October onward. They want food, which kitchens, pantries, garbage areas, pet food and birdseed supply year round. They want a quiet, undisturbed place to nest, which wall cavities, attics, subfloors, garages and cluttered storage rooms supply. Both are mainly active at night, both breed quickly once established, and both have teeth that never stop growing, so both have to gnaw constantly to keep them worn down. That gnawing is where most of the damage comes from. Both also follow the same routes night after night, which is what makes their activity readable to an experienced technician.
Seeing one rodent in daylight generally means more are out of sight. They stay hidden while they can.
Rodents contaminate far more food than they eat, leaving urine and droppings on packaging, counters and inside cupboards. Contact with that contamination is associated with illnesses including salmonellosis and leptospirosis, and droppings and dander can aggravate asthma and allergies, particularly in children. Rodents can also carry fleas, mites and ticks into a building. On the property side, constant gnawing damages insulation, stored belongings, food containers, plumbing and, at worst, electrical wiring, which is a genuine fire risk. Damage inside a wall or an attic usually goes unnoticed until it is significant, and rodent contamination in a commercial kitchen or food business can put an operation at risk with a health inspector.
In row houses, condos and apartments, rodents also travel between units along shared walls and service runs, so a neighbour’s problem can become yours. Prevention works best before a population establishes. Once rodents are breeding indoors, sealing on its own will not clear them.
We are licensed, insured and bonded, and we work in homes, apartments, condos and businesses across the Toronto GTA, Ottawa and Hamilton.
Droppings and sound are the usual clues. Mouse droppings are about the size of a grain of rice and the noise is light and quick. Rat droppings are much larger and the movement overhead is heavier. We confirm it during the inspection.
A mouse needs roughly the width of a pencil. A rat needs a larger opening, but it can enlarge a small hole by gnawing, so a gap that looks too small today may not stay that way.
No. Once they are nesting indoors with food and warmth they stay and keep breeding. Numbers grow quietly rather than fading out.
They catch individual rodents, which helps if one wandered in. They do not find the nest or close the entry points, so an established population comes back.
It is when it is placed properly. We use tamper resistant placements kept out of reach, and we show you exactly where everything is before we leave.
Other pests we deal with that often turn up in the same places.
