Rat and Mouse Control

Rid-A-Critter Technician performing rat control and rat proofing at a commercial building in Atlanta.

Non-Toxic Rat Control and Mouse Control

Rat control and mouse control are two of our most sought-after services, and for a good reason: At Rid-A-Critter we're experts in safe, non-chemical rodent control and exclusion.

Most Georgia rat exterminators kill rats and mice with poisons. Our non-chemical rat and mouse removal is superior to chemical rat and mouse control. Here's why:

• Rat and mouse poisons present hazards to pets, livestock, and other non-target animals. Our non-chemical, "green" rodent control is much less hazardous and much more environmentally responsible.

• Poisoned mice and rats frequently die in inaccessible areas such as walls, ceilings, and crawl spaces. When they start to decompose, their rotting corpses can stink up a house for months. In fact, we do a lot of work removing dead rats and other animals that were killed after they ingested poison baits set out for them by rat exterminators.

• Dead rodents create a health hazard when flies breed in their rotting carcasses and carry germs to areas occupied by humans, domestic animals, or livestock.

• Parasites such as ticks, fleas, and mites seek new hosts when the animals they were living on die, and may infest your pets, your livestock, or even you.

Non-toxic rodent trapping and exclusion avoid all of the problems associated with chemical mouse and rat extermination. Trapped rats don't wander off to die inside walls and structural voids and stink up your house for months. Instead, we pick up and remove the dead rats, like the ones in the picture on the right, which were trapped during an Alpharetta rat control job.

In addition, our non-chemical rodent control methods offer a more permanent solution to rodent problems. We provide professional rodent damage repair and exclusion. We don't just kill rats and mice: We make your home rodent-proof for more permanent mouse and rat control, providing a long-lasting solution to rodent problems.

Mice and Rats of Atlanta and North-Central Georgia

There are many species of rats and mice, but only three species are common pests in Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia: The roof rat (Rattus rattus), the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), and the house mouse (Mus musculus).

Roof rats are aerialists and commonly are found in attics and ceilings and are common throughout Georgia, but especially in rural and suburban areas.

Norway rats are burrowers and tend to stay close to the ground (although they can climb if necessary). Although Norway rats can be found throughout Georgia, most of our Norway rat control jobs are in densely-populated cities like Atlanta, Athens, Macon, Columbus, Peachtree City, Roswell, and Sandy Springs.

House mice are most commonly found in and around kitchens, basements, garages, and other areas close to food sources. They're found everywhere, from the most rural to the most urban parts of Georgia.

Rid-A-Critter offers effective, environmentally friendly, non-chemical control of all three commensal rodent species.

Rodents as Pests and the Need for Mouse and Rat Control

Rats in a toilet found during an Atlanta rat control job. In big cities like Atlanta, rat control is a vital part of protecting public health

Rats have been recognized as pests for thousands of years. People in Biblical times noticed a correlation between rat populations and incidences of certain diseases. But when the rat's role in the transmission of bubonic plague was scientifically established, the profession of rodent control was born.

In addition to plague, we now know that rats are involved in the transmission of many other serious diseases including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, murine typhus, rat-bite fever, salmonella, leptospirosis, lyme disease, encephalitis, and many other arboviral diseases.

Rats also cause millions of dollars in economic damage by their gnawing, and contaminate millions of pounds of stored food with their urine, droppings, and shed hairs. Rats also cause fires by chewing through electrical wires.This is an especially serious problem in Georgia's historic cities like Atlanta, Marietta, Peachtree City, Roswell, and Macon, with their irreplaceable, historic buildings.

Mice also carry diseases. In some ways, mice are even more dangerous than rats because they tend to live closer to humans, often making nightly trips into cupboards to eat our food, and contaminating it in the process.

Obviously, mouse and rat control are important to our health and safety. But rat and mouse extermination services that rely only on poisons while neglecting exclusion and population control are doomed to fail. Permanent rodent control must include population control, damage repair, and exclusion. There's little sense in killings rats and mice inside a building, while not sealing new rats and mice out of that building.

Here are some pictures of rodent control work we've done throughout Georgia.