Residents of the Naperville area, it is that time of year again. The colder months are amongst us, and as we wind down our outdoor activities and seek shelter in our homes, unfortunately, so do many rodents. 

Yes, Stuart Little himself is interested in the warmth of your home and seeks to annoy you while you put up your Halloween decorations or watch football. However, he isn’t gonna cook for you like Ratatouille. All kidding aside though, fall is the time when many rodents start to seek shelter due to the colder temperature outside. It is important as residents of Naperville to know what are the common rodents around in Naperville during this time and what you can do. Here is a list of a few common rodents you may encounter. 

House Mouse

House mice are a type of mouse that can be either gray or brown in color. They have large ears and small eyes and around 5.5 to 7.5 inches long and 3 to 4 inches tall.

They are usually considered some of the most burdensome pests in the US. Their diet mainly consists of foods that humans or pets eat, usually cereal grains. This can cause potential risks due to them contaminating food surfaces, potentially spreading salmonella. House mice carry many other diseases such as hantavirus and rat bite fever, to name a few (PestWorld). They can also cause damage to structural property by them gnawing on certain objects. 

There are many ways to recognize if house mice have entered your home. They can usually be spotted during the daytime; fresh gnawing is another indicator and so are certain tracks indicating where they have been (DPH). 

Deer Mouse

The deer mouse is often known as the white footed mouse. They have a bicolor tail which is perhaps the easiest way to distinguish them from house mice, however, they also have larger eyes and ears and are as a whole bigger than house mice. 

They are nocturnal creatures and spend the day in nests that they build. They primarily eat various types of seeds, although they also eat fruits, fungi, and invertebrates. 

Deer mice are of small size and because of this, they are able to enter various homes and buildings. They usually enter homes to build nests and store food. They can damage certain furniture such as mattresses, paper, clothing, etc, in order to build their nests. However, the main concern with these types of mice is that they carry a disease known as hantavirus. It is a severe respiratory disease with a fatality rate of about 36%. 

The main ways to identify deer mice are similar to that of house mice, however deer mice tend to store food supplies such as acorns, seeds, and nuts, and that could be another indicator of their presence (UC IPM). 

Norway Rat

Despite their name, they are said to have originated from Asia, arriving in the US around the 1700s. They have mostly brown fur with a little black fur around the body and a gray to white coloring on their underside. Despite them having poor vision and being colorblind, they have a great sense of hearing, smell, taste, and touch. They are nocturnal.

Norway rats tend to enter homes during the fall due to the scarcity of food and water outside. They can fit into small spaces and when they enter homes, they usually build nests. They build nests in many spots such as in basements or in piles of debris. 

The main issue with these rats is, similar to the other rodents we’ve discussed, them gnawing on various objects. To get food or water, they will occasionally gnaw on plastics and lead pipes. This activity can lead to serious damage to structural property. They also carry various diseases such as jaundice, cowpox, rat bite fever, to name a few. 

There are many signs that indicate norway rats in your house: one sign is gnaw marks, another one is droppings that tend to be shaped like a capsule, and finally, bite marks around the house (PestWorld). 

Roof Rats

Roof rats are different from norway rats in that they are smaller and have black fur with pale underbelly (AI). They are native to southeast Asia however have now spread to various parts of the United States. 

The type of damage they do to houses are similar to that of norway rats in that they gnaw through various parts of the house, causing structural damage to the property, they damage various parts of the house in order to build nests, and they carry various diseases with them such as salmonella. 

While it is a little more difficult to identify roof rats due to droppings being quite infrequent since they mostly live overhead between floors, however, damage to outdoor vegetation can be an indicator that they are around (ICWDM). 

Don’t Wait!

As residents of Naperville, it is important to be aware of these types of pests and rodents that can cause harm to your property and to your health. If an infestation has already occurred or you are generally worried about one, feel free to contact Yosemite Pest & Rodent Solutions. We offer services for pest and rodent control in Naperville, Aurora, Glen Ellyn, Oswego, Yorkville, Wheaton  and other surrounding cities in the Chicagoland area. Our phone number is (630) 779-7674.