Being the area in your home with the least amount of human traffic, the attic often lies vacant. With the exception of the rare electrician or HVAC repair man, this space doesn’t usually have visitors but that doesn’t mean you should neglect your attic altogether. There could be some activity going on behind closed doors, and leaving the space unkept can make it the perfect living room for any unwelcome guests. To make sure there aren’t any pests or critters sneaking around your home, we’ve compiled a list of things to look for in your attic.
First, check the insulation. It should appear light and fluffy. If instead you notice that your insulation looks trampled or matted, this could indicate wildlife activity as rodents often like to find ways to nestle within this soft material. Rodents will burrow into the insulation and shred it to make nests, which is enough to completely destroy insulation. To avoid further damage, it’s important to know which type of pest is causing the havoc.
Determining The Pest
Mice Activity
If there appears to be tunneling or burrowing through the insulation, look closely at the size of these holes. Holes that are around the size of a nickel or quarter are indicative of mouse activity. Another way to verify that the holes are from mice is to look for the presence of mouse droppings. Mice will leave 50-70 droppings per day, so it is an easy trail of breadcrumbs to follow more often than not.
Bat Activity
If you do notice damage done to your attic and are able to track feces, take a closer look. If the droppings are clustered in a pile in the middle of the floor as opposed to scattered along the edges of the attic, you likely have bat activity, not mice. Bat droppings also appear slightly shiny when the light hits it, and they will turn to a powdered texture when squeezed. If you are wanting to test out the feces, make sure you always wear gloves, as bat feces is extremely harmful to human health.
Squirrel Activity
If the holes in the insulation are the size of a golf ball to the size of a tennis ball, you likely have red squirrels or flying squirrels residing in your attic instead. These bothersome rodents are larger than mice, but smaller than grey squirrels. Grey Squirrels will create tunnels and holes in the insulation that are the size of a baseball or larger. Squirrels accumulate much less feces than mice to, which is another way to indicate which type of visitor you have occupying your attic.
Protecting Your Attic
All of these animals can create significant damage to the interior of your attic and soffits. Also take note that the value of a home can decrease due to compacted and matted insulation. Proper insulation is designed to regulate the temperature within a home, and poor insulation can lead to issues such as ice dams in the winter, which eventually damages the structure of your home.
Claim your home back from these destructive pests and rest assured that every area of your home is the way it should be. Our professionals at Abra Kadabra Pest Control are experts at proper inspections, identifying pests and creating solutions. Give us a call at (763) 537-0330 for more information on our pest control services and solutions.
