Rodents can be very destructive creatures. They can cause serious damage to your house - inside and outside as well. Mice, rats, bats, squirrels, and raccoons are the most common animals found inside houses. They come in to find warmth, usually to have their young. Once they find their way into a house it can be difficult to find them and get rid of them.

animal in house Then, there's much larger animals that can find their way into your home. You may be hearing noises in the walls or the attic. Raccoons tend to be nocturnal, so you’ll hear more noises in the evening or at night. Bats tend to be pretty quiet, sleeping during the day and flying silently in and out at night. You may hear a squeaking noise from bats as they settle or if disturbed. Squirrels can come and go at all hours of the day, although they tend to sleep at night. Mice and rats are also more nocturnal and tend to move around a lot at night. You may hear foot steps or scurrying sounds as an animal moves around in the attic or walls. You may hear scratching sounds. You can sometimes tell the size of an animal by how loud the sounds are that it makes. The time of day can also narrow down the possibilities of what species you are dealing with.

Check around the outside of your house and see if you can find an entry point. Mice, rats, bats and squirrels can find a very small opening and squeeze through. They are also capable of making a small hole bigger, depending on the material they find a hole in. Raccoons, on the other hand, will find a weakness in your roof, or soffit, often in a house with multiple roof lines where those rooflines meet. They will then rip a hole, tearing off any damaged shingles if there is a soft spot in the roof. They have a very keen sense of smell and can find rotten wood by the smell. You may find damaged shingles on your yard or on the roof if this is the case.

You can also inspect to see if there are any droppings or urine stains in the attic or coming through the walls. You can tell the size of the animal by the size and colour of their droppings. You can compare the droppings to pictures on the internet to find out what animal it may be.

All rodents are capable of carrying disease and parasites. They all have a nasty bite. The droppings from bats, called guano, is quite acidic and can rot though your ceiling, insulation and wiring in the attic. Squirrels, mice, rats and raccoons can and do chew insulation, wiring, anything they find in your attic to makes nests for their offspring. Chewed wiring can cause an electrical short and may cause a fire. The hole in your roof can lead to water leaks and infrastructure damage to your house. You may find droppings in your kitchen as they go hunting for food. They have very good noses. The urine and feces they leave behind can destroy the drywall.

Once you realize you do have an animal in your house you should call a professional to deal with it. Aside from putting out mouse traps or rat traps with bait, if you try to capture the animal yourself you may damage your house even more and you may come to harm yourself. A professional will put traps in, find the entry point for you and plug the hole after the animals have been trapped.

To prevent animals from getting into your house, make sure your house is in good repair, your roof and basement are both sound and waterproof. Trim back any tree branches that hang over your roof as this can assist animals getting on your roof.

If you hear funny noises inside the walls, or the pitter patter of little feet in the attic, on the roof, or find small animal droppings in odd places, contact Hawkeye to remove the animal from your home. We provide wildlife animal removal services in and around the GTA, including City of Toronto, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Markham, Scarborough, Vaughn, Richmond Hill, Brampton, York Region, Ajax, Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering, Oakville, Halton Hills, and west to Hamilton.

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Help! There's an animal in my house!