Rodent Removal Services in the Bay Area

Everything You Need to Know About Rodent Removal

When you call about an active infestation, the first visit is about getting a clear picture. We inspect the attic, crawl space, and any other area where you've heard or seen activity, looking for droppings, nests, gnaw marks, and the routes rodents are traveling. That tells us roughly how big the problem is and which species we're dealing with. From there, traps go out along the paths rodents actually use, and you'll know what the cleanup and sealing will involve before that work begins.

Removal is rarely finished in a single day, because trapping depends on the rodents' own habits. Rats in particular can be wary of unfamiliar objects in their path, so it may take a few days before they approach traps. Depending on how established the population is, removal typically runs from several days to a couple of weeks. Cleanup and final sealing are usually timed for when trapping shows activity has dropped off, so no rodents end up shut inside the walls.

It can be tempting to scatter poison bait and wait. The catch is that many rodenticides take days to work, and a poisoned rat usually heads back to its nest to die, which is often inside a wall, under a floor, or deep in attic insulation. The result is a strong odor that can linger for weeks, along with flies drawn to the carcass. Reaching a dead rodent behind finished drywall can mean cutting into the wall. That's why trapping is usually the main tool inside a house: the rodents are removed rather than left in place.

Rodents leave a mess that outlasts them. Droppings and urine soak into attic insulation, and their nests are full of shredded material and waste. That contamination carries odor and can carry disease, and insulation that has been matted and tunneled doesn't insulate the way it should. As part of removal, we clean and sanitize the affected areas and replace insulation that rodents have contaminated. Our crew is in-house, and if you have kids or pets, we plan the work around them.

Staying Safe Around Droppings and Nests

Hantavirus is rare, but it is serious, and it's the main reason rodent droppings shouldn't be handled casually. In California the virus is carried mainly by deer mice, which are more common in rural areas, near open space, and in wooded hillsides like those in parts of Marin and the Peninsula. People are usually infected by breathing in tiny particles from dried droppings, urine, or nesting material that has been stirred up. Closed-up spaces such as sheds, garages, cabins, and attics carry the most risk.

The CDC's advice for cleaning up after rodents is specific. Don't sweep or vacuum droppings or nesting material while they are dry, since that puts particles into the air. Instead, air out the space first, then wet the droppings thoroughly with a disinfectant or a diluted bleach solution and let it soak before wiping them up with paper towels. Wear gloves throughout. For heavy contamination, such as an attic full of soiled insulation, professional cleanup is the safer route.

A few things are worth doing before our crew arrives. Keep children and pets out of areas where you've found droppings, and leave nests and debris where they are rather than trying to clean them up first. Store any open food in sealed containers. If you've already set out poison, let us know so we can account for it. Clearing a path to the attic hatch or crawl space access, and noting where and when you've heard noises, helps us get started quickly.

Other Services Homeowners Ask About

Most projects involve more than one service. These are the ones our Bay Area crews pair with this work most often:

• rodent proofing
• attic cleaning and cleanup
• attic insulation removal and replacement
• dead animal removal

We do Bay Area rodent removal across the Bay Area from four offices, on the Mid-Peninsula, in the South Bay and East Bay, and in the North Bay, San Francisco and Oakland.