Contact California Rodent Control Pros — Rodent Control in California

Three species account for nearly all structural infestations. Roof rats (Rattus rattus) are the dominant home invader across coastal and Southern California, entering high along the roofline from tree limbs, palm frond skirts and utility lines. Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are ground-dwelling burrowers that enter through crawl space vents, foundation gaps and floor drains. House mice (Mus musculus) pass through a quarter-inch gap and nest in cabinetry, insulation and appliance housings.

Largely not, for the products most people mean. AB 1788, the California Ecosystems Protection Act, placed a statewide moratorium on most uses of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides including brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone and difenacoum, after documented secondary poisoning in owls, hawks, bobcats and mountain lions. Compliant structural work in California is now built on trapping, sanitation and exclusion, with any product use following California Department of Pesticide Regulation labeling.

Check the droppings. House mouse droppings are about an eighth to a quarter inch with pointed ends and appear in large numbers near food. Rat droppings run half to three quarters of an inch with blunter ends and cluster along defined runways. Rats also leave greasy rub marks where their fur contacts framing. Sound helps too: rats are heavier and slower with distinct gnawing, mice lighter and faster.

Inspection typically runs $125 to $300. A trapping and removal program runs $200 to $700 depending on species and infestation level. Exclusion sealing, which is the part that actually ends the problem, runs $400 to $1,400 for a residential structure, with older homes and complex rooflines at the higher end. Attic decontamination and insulation replacement is quoted separately by square footage.