Lakewood Ranch is a beautiful, rapidly growing community home to many wonderful people. Unfortunately for the residents of Lakewood Ranch, it has also been the home to a heavy rodent population. Rodent Infestations are only showing signs of increasing with all the new construction displacing them. Many homeowners are alerted to rodents in their attic by scratching sounds. Below, we will explore the most common rodents found in Lakewood Ranch homes.
Some Rodents Found in Lakewood Ranch
Mice:
The house mouse tends to be the initial rodent issue in the new construction areas in Lakewood Ranch.
As the land gets cleared and new homes built, mice are early invaders before the homes are completed. Dumpsters used for trash as new homes being built tend to contain all the food from the construction workers that mice will need to survive. Once the landscaping gets planted and humans move into the houses, these will provide their new food source. Learn more about our mice control services here.
Rats:
Rats, by far, are the most common rodent we find making noises and scratching in the attic in Lakewood Ranch homes. Once homes and neighborhoods are complete, the rats move in and push the mice further east into undeveloped areas as they dominate over mice. As the new building continues to push further east toward Myakka City, so does the rat population. So many of our customers mistakenly call rats by “slang names .”It happens so frequently we made a short video about it for our “Myth Busters: Pest Control style” series on TikTok
The two rats found in our area are the Roof Rat (Rattus rattus) and the Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus). Although both rats have unique characteristics, both will climb your home to get up to the roof and soffit, ultimately leading them to find their way into the attic. They will both dig to make their way under homes with crawl spaces. For more information regarding our rat control services, head over to our rat control page.
Squirrels:
To a lesser extent, the grey squirrel will also find their way into Lakewood Ranch homes in many of the same ways that rats do. The grey squirrel is prolific in Lakewood Ranch as they have an abundance of food sources and are better adapted to get to higher areas to reach those food sources.
Squirrels in our area have one mating season in the spring and occasionally mate again later in the year. Most often during this time, the squirrels will look for safe places to give birth to their young. Once squirrels have invaded your home, we can quickly and humanely evict them and their young from your home. Squirrels are also known for chewing the wooden trim on houses, often damaging wooden gable vents, fascia near the roof joints, or soffit. Head over to our squirrel removal page for more information.
