With the dropping temperatures this coming season, you may become the unwilling host to some unwelcome winter guests: Rats. These animals often invade homes in search of warm winter nesting areas. Norway rats and Roof rats are commonly found here in the Southeast.

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Norway and Roof rats have litters of 6-12 young born about 21 days after conception. Females have 4-6 litters per year. Their offspring can begin reproducing as early as 8 weeks after they are born, so it is not hard to understand just how quickly they can become a major problem inside your home.

Both species will eat nearly any type of food. They prefer cereal grains, meats, fish, nuts and fruit. They are primarily nocturnal, and they have a keen sense of smell to offset poor eyesight. These animals are destructive to property and foodstuffs. Their teeth never stop growing, so they constantly chew on things to keep their teeth filed down. They damage electrical wires, conduits, wood, and other substances causing potential hazards inside your home.  Their hairs and urine contaminate foods and dishes. They play an important part in the transmission of human diseases such as typhus, rat-bite fever, and bubonic plague.

Adult Norway rats weigh an average of one pound. Roof rats are slightly smaller on average. Norway rats usually construct nests in underground burrows or at ground level. Nests are lined with shredded paper, cloth, or other fibrous material. Roof rats usually frequent attics, building crossbeams and pipes. They often leave a dark colored layer of grease and dirt to mark their travel ways.

Control of rodents inside your home is included in our Quarterly Household Pest Program at no additional charge. Control of Norway rats can be achieved at the ground level or basement level, while Roof rat control measures must be used in attic spaces and areas above ground level. You should remove tree branches overhanging the roof of your house in order to reduce access to attic areas. Control is achieved with glueboards and snap traps, and other methods. Most rats have a strong tendency to avoid new objects in their environment. It may take several days before they will approach a control device such as a glueboard or snap trap.

As you go about your day, you stop and notice you have a trail of ants in your kitchen or bathroom. The first thing you do is spray them with a household bug killer. A few days later, they are back with friends and maybe even on the other side of your home. You then notice that they are coming from the walls and maybe even from the cracks in the floor. What kind of ants are these? Where did they come from? Why are they in my walls? These are questions I receive daily. I have been working at Top Turf for over four years. My name is Troy Prescott and I am “Your Neighborhood Pest Control Expert.” Let me answer some of these questions.

If this sounds like a problem you are having, then your home is being invaded by Argentine ants. Argentine ants are about 3/16 of an inch long and dark honey brown, not black. They entered Louisiana from South America about 100 years ago and have spread throughout the southern region of the United States. They arrived in Atlanta twenty years ago through transportation of potted plants and food shipments. Argentine ants have been invading homes ever since. Although they are not a poisonous type of ant, Argentine ants are very aggressive. They can completely eliminate other types of ant colonies and other insects to use as a food source.

Argentine Ants are in your walls, because they are nesting and looking for a food source. The larger the colony, the bigger the appetite. Argentine ants will utilize just about any food source they can find. I have seen them in microwaves, dishwashers and even refrigerators. That’s not all, if they are in your walls, then they are coming from somewhere outside. Argentine ants are most commonly found outside in mulch, pine straw, under rocks, in potted plants or any place that retains moisture.

If you find the trail of Argentine ants that is terrorizing your home, that is not necessarily the end of it. One trail of Argentine ants in Georgia has measured over 350 feet long. Argentine ants are difficult to eliminate, because they consist of a over a million worker ants and hundreds of queens. They have the ability to combine with other Argentine ant colonies over the winter months to form “super colonies” that nest just about anywhere.

Controlling Argentine ants is a difficult task. It is a year round problem that requires a thorough, long-term program. This program consists of correcting Argentine ant’s living conditions or as pest control technicals like to say, “condusive conditions”.