Rat and mouse control

With rats and mice, the trapping is the easy part. What actually ends the problem is finding how they get in and closing it. A house that is still open will keep filling back up no matter how many traps you set or how much bait you put out.

Signs of rats & mice

• Scratching or running in the walls and ceiling at night
• Droppings in the attic, the garage, kitchen cabinets or the crawlspace
• Gnawed food packaging, wiring or insulation
• Grease marks along the routes they travel, and a musky smell

How I handle it

1. Full inspection

   Attic, roof line, foundation, crawlspace, garage and where the utilities come in. Roof rats in Georgia climb, so the top of the house matters as much as the bottom.

2. Seal the entry points

   Gaps are closed with hardware cloth, metal and sealant that rodents cannot chew through.

3. Trap the ones inside

   Snap traps set where they travel. I avoid relying on poison inside a house, where a poisoned rat tends to die in a wall.

4. Follow up

   I check and clear the traps until activity stops.

What customers say

★★★★★ 4.9 on Google · 80 reviews

• ★★★★★

  Professional, quick, courteous, and thoroughly rodent-proofed out attic.

  Kyle · September 2026 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  Brandon came to our home in Atlanta for a rat problem with which we were dealing. He diagnosed a sealing issue on part of the house - rebuilt after having had a tree fall on it, years back. We found at least one culprit - and the copperheads on our lawn - presumably there for a rodent feast - have disappeared! Brandon is honest, thorough and conscientious. He backs up his work, and has a professional and up front approach.

  MTerese · September 2026 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  Good work, helpful quote process, great follow-up, rodents removed and entry points repaired.

  Courtney · January 2026 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  Excellent and quick work, highly recommend. I came across Total Animal Control searching for a solution to voles/mice that were appearing in my garage during the late spring/summer months. I called Total Animal Control and they were able to come to the house the same day and recommend how to seal the access points in the garage for a reasonable price. The work was scheduled for the next day and completed as scheduled. Excellent job!

  Husayn E. · July 2025 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  Fantastic experience. Cannot say enough good things about this company. Brandon stuck with me until the rodent problem was resolved. He did all the usual things to address the situation, and then went down all the unusual roads until we finally got to the root of the problem and solved it!! Always returned my calls, always responsive and kind and determined. Would unreservedly recommend them. Eternally grateful.

  Rebecca C. · April 2025 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  I had a Problem with a rat being in my car and Brandon answered me immediately and came out the next morning To resolve my problem! He is very professional and knows what he is talking about. If you ever have a problem with rodents and etc. I would highly recommend him.

  Matthew M. · April 2025 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  If I could give more than 5 stars I would! I highly recommend Brandon at TAC for removing and sealing up your house for rodent infestation. Brandon walked the entire house and looked at all the areas where the rats were coming into my crawl space/attic and sealed every entry to include the dryer vent! A previous company didn’t even look at the air vents or other areas where the rats were entering just at the roof line. I’m so thankful I went with my gut and to get a second quote. If you have a problem with rodents make your first call to Brandon . His pricing compared to the first company which wasn’t doing 1/2 of what my house needed was very competitive.

  Karla L. · October 2023 · Google review

• ★★★★★

  Total Animal Control did a great job with my recent rodent infestation in my crawlspace. They sealed the space and trapped the rodents. The last touch was to replace my vapor barrier and clean/deodorize everything so that it looks brand new. Thank you!

  Jon B. · January 2023 · Google review

Reviews are copied word for word from Google. Older ones mention Total Animal Control, the company’s former name. Read all 80 reviews on Google

Which rats and mice actually live in Georgia homes?

Three rodents live alongside people in Georgia: the house mouse, the Norway rat and the roof rat. University of Georgia Extension notes that all three occur in the state, while most other rats and mice stay in woods and fields.

None of the three is native. UGA points out that non-native rats and mice are not protected by state law, which is why they can be trapped without the permits that wildlife such as bats require.

Native mice can still turn up in sheds, garages and outbuildings, especially on rural lots. That matters for one reason more than any other, covered further down: the deer mouse is the species the CDC links to the most common hantavirus in the United States.

How do I tell a roof rat from a Norway rat?

The roof rat, also called the black rat or ship rat, is the sleeker of the two. UGA describes it as brown or black, weighing 5 to 10 ounces, with ears that extend past its eyes. Wildlife damage references add a pointed muzzle and a tail that reaches at least to the snout when laid forward.

The Norway rat, also called the brown, sewer or wharf rat, is heavy-bodied and can exceed a pound. Its fur is coarse and brown or reddish-gray, its ears do not reach past its eyes, its muzzle is blunt and its tail is shorter than its body. Both rats have whitish or gray belly fur.

Where they live gives them away as often as how they look. Roof rats prefer to nest off the ground and rarely dig burrows. Norway rats dig burrows in weedy areas and under boards, doghouses and spots near garbage cans.

• Roof rat: slim, 5 to 10 oz, pointed muzzle, large ears, long tail, a strong climber
• Norway rat: heavy, can top 1 lb, blunt muzzle, small ears, shorter tail, generally does not climb
• Rat droppings of either kind are roughly the size of a raisin

How do I tell a house mouse from a deer mouse?

A house mouse is about 3 inches long without the tail, and UGA notes its tail is hairless. Native mice have a slightly furry tail. Mouse droppings run about the size of a grain of rice.

Deer mice and their close relative the white-footed mouse are about 3 to 4 inches long without the tail. They have white feet, usually a white belly, a brownish back and a tail that is sharply two-toned. The deer mouse shows a distinct line where the brown back meets the white underside.

Compared with house mice, deer and white-footed mice have larger eyes and ears, and they lack the strong musky smell house mice have. Wildlife references are honest that telling every species in this group apart is hard even for experts, so treat any wild-looking mouse with the same care during cleanup.

Why do roof rats end up in the attic?

Roof rats are built for climbing. They are very agile, use their tails for balance and travel along overhead utility lines and fences. They live in trees, on vine-covered fences and in attics, and they climb down to reach food.

They often get into buildings from the roof or from openings near where overhead utility lines come in. They may travel 100 to 300 feet for food, so a rat in your attic can easily be feeding at a neighbor's bird feeder or fruit tree.

This is why I never inspect only the foundation. On a house with roof rats, the gaps that matter are usually at the roof line, around the soffits and where wires and lines reach the house.

Are rats and mice active during the day?

Mostly no. UGA describes rats and mice as active at night and hidden during the day. Their eyesight is poor, but their senses of smell, taste and touch are strong.

Because they hide, a single sighting usually means more animals out of view. UGA puts it plainly: where one rodent is seen, more are likely hidden.

With roof rats, the first sign is often sound. Wildlife damage references note that noises in the attic, heard once the house is quiet at night, are often the first indication that roof rats are present.

Rodents also stay close to home. UGA notes that a Norway rat may spend its whole life in an area only 100 to 150 feet across. A burrow along the foundation, a woodpile or a cluttered shed beside the house is often home to the same rats that are getting into the crawlspace.

How fast do rats and mice multiply?

Faster than most people expect. UGA notes that mice can breed at 30-day intervals, starting when females are only about two months old.

Roof rats typically produce three or more litters a year, with five to eight young per litter. The young are born about three weeks after mating and are independent and able to breed themselves at around three months old.

UGA notes that one breeding pair of mice could in theory produce millions of offspring in a year, although that does not happen in nature. The practical point is simpler. A few rodents left alone through one season can become a much larger problem by the next.

Young rodents make the problem worse. Wildlife damage references note that young roof rats generally cannot be trapped until they are about a month old, so trapping has to keep going for a while after the first catches.

How small a gap can a rat or mouse get through?

UGA Extension says mice and rats can enter a house through openings as small as a dime. That is smaller than most homeowners picture, and it is why a quick look around the outside rarely finds every way in.

Gaps that size hide in ordinary places: where a pipe, wire or cable line passes through a wall, around dryer vents, under doors, along the roof line and where different building materials meet.

My sealing work is based on that size. If a gap is wider than a dime and leads inside, I treat it as an entry point until I have closed it.

What damage do rats and mice do to a house?

Wiring is the damage that worries me most. Wildlife damage references note that roof rats in a home may tear up insulation for nesting and gnaw electrical wiring, and a rat living under a refrigerator or freezer can disable the unit by chewing its wires.

Rodents also spoil far more than they eat. UGA lists contaminated food and stored products, including grain, birdseed and pet food, plus droppings and urine soiling the living space. They raid garbage, and they can carry fleas and ticks.

Nests are built from whatever is handy. UGA notes shredded paper, cloth and similar material in boxes, drawers, basements and attics. Roof rats also stash food in caches, which turn up in woodpiles, attics and behind boxes in garages.

What diseases can rats and mice spread?

The CDC lists leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, salmonellosis and hantavirus among the diseases rodents can pass directly to people. Infection can come from handling rodents, contact with their droppings, urine or saliva, or a bite. Rodent waste can also spread illness through contaminated food or air.

The CDC also notes that you cannot tell whether a rodent is carrying a disease just by looking at it. A healthy-looking mouse in the pantry is not proof of a clean one.

UGA adds plague and hantavirus to the list of diseases rodents can transmit, and notes that rats and mice are not normally associated with rabies. Other wildlife is a different story, but rabies is not the main concern with rodents.

If droppings turn up in a pantry or cabinet, throw out any food the rodents could have reached. The CDC lists eating food contaminated with rodent waste as one of the ways these diseases reach people.

Which mice carry hantavirus?

According to the CDC, the most common hantavirus that causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the United States is spread by the deer mouse. That is a native, white-bellied mouse, not the gray house mouse most people find in the kitchen.

People usually catch it through contact with rodent urine, droppings or saliva. The CDC says a bite or scratch can also spread it, but that is rare.

The CDC reports that symptoms usually appear one to eight weeks after contact, starting with fatigue, fever and muscle aches, with coughing and shortness of breath following several days later. It also reports that 38 percent of people who develop respiratory symptoms may die. That is why cleanup, especially in sheds, cabins and outbuildings where wild mice nest, has to be done the careful way.

How do I clean up rat or mouse droppings safely?

The CDC's rule number one is not to sweep or vacuum droppings, urine or nesting material. Doing that can put virus-containing particles into the air you breathe.

For a shed, cabin or room that has been closed up, the CDC says to open the doors and windows for 30 minutes and leave the area while it airs out. Then wear rubber or plastic gloves and follow the steps below.

• Mix a fresh bleach solution of 1.5 cups of bleach per gallon of water, or use a product labeled as a disinfectant
• Spray droppings and urine until very wet and let them soak for 5 minutes, or as long as the label says
• Wipe up with paper towels and throw them in a covered garbage can that is emptied regularly
• Mop or sponge the surrounding hard surfaces, counters, cabinets and drawers with disinfectant
• For a dead rodent or nest, soak it and the area around it, then double-bag it with any used trap and seal each bag
• Wash gloved hands, take the gloves off, then wash bare hands with soap and warm water
• Wash contaminated bedding and clothes in hot water with detergent and dry them on high heat

When is a rodent cleanup too big to do yourself?

The CDC treats heavy infestations, long-vacant buildings full of rodents and places where a rodent-borne disease has been confirmed as a separate category. For those, it calls for coveralls, rubber boots or disposable shoe covers, gloves, goggles and a respirator with HEPA filters.

The CDC also says contaminated insulation should be bagged, and that rodents in heating or cooling ducts call for a professional. Attic insulation that has been used as a nest and latrine for months falls into that picture.

When I find heavy contamination in an attic, I will tell you what I see and how far it reaches. Some jobs need only a spot cleanup. Others need insulation removed and replaced, and that is a separate decision from the rodent work itself.

Is poison or trapping better for rats in the house?

UGA Extension's advice is direct: use traps, not poison baits, inside houses. Poison baits belong outdoors, and only where children and pets cannot reach them.

I trap inside because I can see the results. A trap tells me which rodents are gone, where they were traveling and whether activity has stopped. A bait station on its own tells me only that bait went missing.

UGA also warns against products that do not work. Ultrasonic and sound devices, flashing lights and commercial repellents are generally ineffective, and a cat or dog may catch a rodent now and then but will not control a population. Fumigants and gas cartridges are for licensed operators only and never belong inside an occupied building.

Can rat poison hurt my pets or local wildlife?

Yes. The EPA states that wildlife and pets can be poisoned if they eat rodents that have consumed certain poisons. Predators and scavengers that feed on poisoned rodents can take in enough to be harmed.

The worst offenders are the second-generation anticoagulants: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum and difethialone. EPA notes they persist in body tissue and can leave carcasses carrying residues many times a lethal dose. For that reason, EPA no longer allows them in products sold to homeowners.

Consumer rodent poisons must now be sold with bait stations that securely contain the poison, and loose bait is no longer permitted. EPA also advises removing and disposing of dead rodents promptly so pets and wildlife do not eat them.

If I use a bait station outside, how should it be handled?

Follow the label every time. UGA advises placing bait only where children and pets cannot get to it, using sturdy stations where rodent activity has been seen, and storing unused bait in sealed, labeled containers.

UGA also says to wear gloves when handling bait and dead rodents, and never to use arsenic, mercury, strychnine, homemade mixtures or any product not labeled for rodents.

Bait outside does not replace sealing. If the house is still open, rodents that skip the bait can still get in, and those that eat it can still crawl into the walls before they die.

How should snap traps be set to work well?

Placement matters more than bait. UGA recommends setting traps along walls and baseboards, in cupboards, attics, basements and garages, perpendicular to the wall with the trigger facing the path the rodent takes. Two traps set back to back also work.

Mice rarely travel more than 5 to 10 feet to reach a trap, according to UGA, so mouse traps need to be close together and close to activity. For rats, UGA suggests about a dozen traps for a house. For roof rats, I also set traps up high along the beams and lines they travel, not only on the floor.

UGA suggests peanut butter, bacon or cooked chicken as bait, and leaving traps in place for several weeks. Sticky traps can work for mice but may not hold rats, and they can catch snakes and other wildlife by mistake, which is one reason I rely on snap traps.

What can I do around the yard to keep rodents away?

UGA calls sanitation the best control method. Rodents stay where food and cover are easy, and most of what draws them is in the yard.

• Keep garbage in cans with tight lids
• Feed pets in a dish and pick up uneaten food
• Put squirrel guards or baffles on bird feeders
• Clear trash, brush and rock piles, weeds, old boards and junk
• Keep firewood at least a foot off the ground and away from the house
• Cover dryer vents in a way that keeps the airflow, and clean them regularly
• Coordinate with neighbors so rodents are controlled across the area at the same time

What does sealing a house against rodents involve?

UGA recommends quarter-inch mesh hardware cloth over openings, cement or caulk around pipes and wires, and steel wool stuffed into small holes and then caulked over. Doors and windows should close tightly, gaps under doors should be sealed and floor drains kept tight.

I start with every opening that leads into the attic, walls and crawlspace, then work outward from where I found droppings and nests. The roof line gets the same attention as the foundation, because roof rats come in from above.

UGA notes that rodents seek warm shelter in fall. If you have had rodents before, late summer is a good time to have the house checked so the gaps are closed before they start looking for a way in.

What affects the cost of rat and mouse control?

I quote each house after I have looked at it, because the work depends on what I find. The biggest factor is how many entry points there are and how hard they are to reach. A ranch house with a few gaps at ground level is a very different job from a two-story house with openings at the roof peak.

The kind of rodent matters too. Roof rats mean roof line work and ladder time. Mice mean hunting down smaller gaps across more of the house.

Other factors are how long the rodents have been there, how many follow-up visits the trapping needs, and whether droppings or nesting have spread far enough through the insulation that cleanup becomes part of the job.

Access counts as well. A crawlspace with a low entry, a finished basement with no view of the sill plate, or an attic with very little headroom all take longer to inspect and seal properly, and I would rather spend that time than miss a gap.

What should I expect after the work is done?

For the first stretch after sealing, it is normal to hear some activity from rodents that were already inside. They cannot get out, and the traps are set where they travel. That activity should fade as they are caught.

I keep checking the traps until there is no new activity. New droppings after cleanup are a useful signal, because the CDC notes that droppings that reappear after an area is cleaned mean rodents are still active.

Afterward, the job is mostly yours to keep up. Keep food sealed, keep the yard clear and tell me if you hear anything in the walls again, so I can find out where it is coming from.

Common questions

Where I do this work

Rat & Mouse Control across Bartow County, Cobb County, Cherokee County, Paulding County, Floyd County and Fulton County, Georgia.