Rat and Mouse Control in The Woodlands, Texas

Roof rats in The Woodlands travel the canopy. They run fence rails and pine and oak limbs at night, drop onto the roof and slip into the attic through a gap at the eaves no wider than your thumb. Michael Gerbino of Cypress Critters & Pests traps the rats already inside, seals every opening down to a quarter inch, and cleans up after them. Mice coming into garages get the same treatment at ground level. Call Michael at 713-775-8799.

What do roof rats do in Woodlands houses?

A roof rat is a climber, and few places give it as many roads as a wooded neighborhood. It can nest in the greenbelt, feed in your backyard and sleep in your attic, moving between them along branches without touching the ground. Once inside, it tunnels through insulation, gnaws on wiring and duct wrap, and runs the same path night after night until the wood is stained dark. You hear it after the house goes quiet, then it fades before morning.

Mice tend to come in lower. Garages full of bird seed, dog food and stored boxes are the usual first stop, and from there they work into the walls. Both draw other trouble: rodents are the main reason snakes come close to a house, which is why rat jobs and snake removal in The Woodlands so often go together.

Where Michael most often finds rat routes on Woodlands houses:

• Limbs resting on the shingles, especially over a back corner of the house
• The top rail of a wood fence where it meets the corner of the house
• The opening where the A/C lines enter the wall
• Gaps at the roof-to-fascia joint and in soffit returns
• Loose flashing around plumbing vents on the roof
• Worn weather seal at the bottom corners of the garage door

Why do bait and traps alone keep failing?

Bait and traps deal with the rats in the attic today. They do nothing about the gap they came through, and in a neighborhood this wooded there is a steady supply of new rats to find it. A poisoned rat also tends to die in a wall where nobody can reach it. The lasting fix is to close the house: find every entry, take out what is inside, and seal it with metal. That is the heart of Michael’s animal exclusion and live trapping service, and the animal exclusion in The Woodlands page shows how he keeps that work neat on a covenant-controlled house.

How Michael handles rats in The Woodlands

1. Inspect. Roofline, trees, fence lines, A/C chase, garage and attic. The droppings and rub marks tell him which routes are active.
2. Trap on the runways. Traps go where the rats travel, out of reach of pets and children, and get checked on a schedule.
3. Seal. Every gap a quarter inch and larger is closed with hardware cloth, metal flashing or rodent-resistant sealant. Foam alone is never the answer, because rats chew right through it.
4. Clean and repair. Soiled insulation, droppings and chewed vent screens are dealt with.
5. Confirm. He checks again after sealing to make sure the activity has stopped.

More on rodents across the area is on the main rat and mouse control page. Hearing scratching tonight? Call 713-775-8799.

Nearby

For the towns next door, see rat and mouse control in Spring and rat and mouse control in Tomball. If the noise in your Woodlands attic comes in daylight instead, it is more likely squirrels. All of his work in town is on The Woodlands page. To book an inspection, use the contact page or call 713-775-8799.