As the weather cools, mice and rats look for a way indoors the same way people look for a warm place to be — and a gap the width of a pencil is often all a mouse needs to get into an attic, garage, or basement.
House mice are small, roughly 2 to 4 inches long not counting the tail, with large ears and a pointed nose. Norway rats (the common rat found on Long Island) are considerably larger, with a blunter nose and a thicker, shorter-in-proportion tail.
Droppings are usually the fastest way to tell them apart: mouse droppings are small and pointed, about the size of a grain of rice, while rat droppings are noticeably larger, roughly 1/2 to 3/4 inch and capsule-shaped.
Mice and rats contaminate food and surfaces, and their gnawing damages wiring, insulation, and stored belongings — chewed wiring in particular is a recognized fire risk, not just a nuisance.
Rodents also reproduce quickly; a small entry-point problem in October can become a much larger one by winter if the opening isn't sealed along with the initial treatment.
We inspect the exterior for likely entry points — gaps around utility lines, foundation vents, roofline gaps, and garage door seals — since sealing those matters as much as the initial trapping or baiting.
Removal of active rodents is only half the job; without closing the way they got in, a new population usually finds the same opening within a season.
This pest is covered under our Home Protection Plan.
Free inspection, no pressure — a real person calls back, usually same day.
About the width of a pencil — a mouse can squeeze through an opening roughly 1/4 to 1/2 inch across, which is why sealing is such a central part of treatment rather than an afterthought.
Droppings are the quickest way to tell — rice-sized and pointed usually means mice, while larger capsule-shaped droppings point to rats. Send us a photo if you're not sure and we'll help identify it before the visit.
It's one of the two things that has to happen — sealing without addressing an active population just traps them inside, and treatment without sealing usually means a new population finds the same opening later.