Mouse & Rat Control you can rely on

Droppings are the giveaway. Mouse droppings are small, around 3 to 6 mm, dark and pointed at both ends, and tend to be scattered along runs and inside cupboards. Rat droppings are much larger, around 12 to 20 mm, blunter and grouped in concentrated piles. The sound helps too: mice produce rapid, light scratching while rats make a heavier scurry. If you are still unsure, send a technician a photo or book a survey, and the species can usually be confirmed in minutes from the physical evidence.

A mouse needs a gap only about the size of a pencil, roughly 6 to 7 mm, and a rat needs around 20 to 25 mm, about the size of a 50p coin. The usual entry points are gaps where water and gas pipes pass through walls, missing or damaged air bricks, gaps under external doors, holes where cables enter, redundant pipework openings left unsealed, and defective drainage for rats. Mice in particular will also come in higher up, through open eaves, damaged roofing or along branches that touch the roofline. Older properties have more weak spots, but newer builds often have unsealed gaps around utilities too.

Yes, when handled properly. The products we use are professional-grade and placed inside tamper-resistant, lockable bait stations designed to keep out children, pets and non-target wildlife. We site stations where rodents are actually active and away from areas of frequent human or pet contact, and we use trapping instead where bait is not appropriate. You will be told about any precautions specific to your property at the time of treatment, and we never simply scatter loose bait.

You can reduce a population that way, but DIY rarely finishes the job. Shop bait is sold at lower strength than professional products, snap traps catch one animal at a time while the colony keeps breeding, and rodents are wary of new objects, so the days they avoid a fresh trap are exactly when the numbers climb. Crucially, DIY does nothing about the entry points and harbourage that made your home attractive. Professional treatment is a survey, a treatment and a proofing job together, which is what actually stops the cycle.

They can, but only if the gaps stay open. Rodents do not arrive at random; they follow scent trails, food and established routes. If the entry points that allowed the first infestation are still there, new animals will find them, often the following autumn. Proofing is what prevents that, which is why we treat it as part of the job rather than an optional extra, and why we will come back to seal an entry point we missed without adding it to your bill.

Because their behaviour does. House mice are inquisitive and will explore new objects readily, nesting close to food inside walls and under appliances, which makes correctly sited traps and bait effective quickly. Brown rats are larger, cautious and neophobic, avoiding anything unfamiliar for days, and they prefer to burrow outdoors before entering at ground level. Rats also have a social pecking order where a dominant animal can keep others off a bait station. A technician who reads these differences places treatment where each species will genuinely take it, rather than applying one method to both.

It depends on the species, the size of the population, the building and how quickly the entry points can be proofed, so there is no honest single figure. A small, contained mouse problem in a standard home is often resolved over a couple of weeks and a few visits, while a larger rat infestation with drainage issues or extensive harbourage takes longer and may need follow-up proofing. Treatments can take a little time to reach full effect, though if a technician spots an animal during a visit it is often dealt with on the spot. We give you a realistic timescale after the survey.

Yes. Rural properties bring their own pressures: field mice moving indoors as the fields cool in autumn, rats drawn to outbuildings, feed stores, compost and drainage runs, and more external harbourage to survey overall. We treat detached country homes, smallholdings and outbuildings as readily as terraces and flats, and the find-and-proof method matters even more rurally, where there are simply more ways in to seal.

We work across the UK, in towns and cities as well as rural areas. Because we are family-run rather than a large national operation, we can often attend the same or next day, which we treat as an emergency-style response when a sighting has clearly unsettled a household. The fastest way to get a realistic answer on timing for your postcode is to call and describe what you have found.

It varies with the species, the size of the infestation, the type of property and how much proofing is required, so a figure quoted blind would not be honest. We would rather assess the situation and give you a clear price than name a number to win the booking. Many domestic jobs can be given an indicative price over the phone once you describe what you have seen, with the full picture confirmed after the survey. We aim to be competitive and to avoid surprise add-ons.

Autumn is the pressure point. As temperatures drop from around October into winter, outdoor mice and rats look for warm, sheltered, food-rich places to overwinter, and heated homes are ideal, so indoor calls rise sharply. Field mice in rural areas are especially seasonal in this way. Activity carries on year-round once rodents are established indoors, but autumn is when proofing pays off most, because it is the moment they are actively testing your walls for a way in.

They contaminate far more food than they eat, leaving urine and droppings across surfaces and storage as they travel. UK rodents are linked to Salmonella and to Leptospirosis (Weil's disease), both of which can cause serious illness in people and pets, with transmission mainly through fouled food and surfaces. For anyone preparing food at home, and for any food business, that contamination is the real hazard, which is why prompt removal and a proper clean-down matter as much as killing the animals.

Yes, and it is one of the most underrated risks. A rodent's teeth grow continuously, so they gnaw constantly to wear them down, and electrical cabling is a frequent target, including inside wall cavities. Chewed insulation on live cable is a recognised cause of house fires. Beyond that, rats and mice damage water and gas pipework, shred loft insulation into nesting material, and gnaw joists and roofing felt. A rat family in a loft can ruin the insulation in a few months, so the damage bill grows the longer a problem is left.

Almost certainly more than one is present. Mice breed extremely quickly and stay hidden, so a single sighting usually means a small colony is already established somewhere in the structure. Acting early is cheaper and faster than waiting: the population only grows, and the proofing required only gets larger. Even if you set a trap and catch that mouse, it does not address how it got in or how many followed, which is the part professional treatment is built around.

Both, and that is the whole point of how we work. Killing the live population without sealing the entry routes just resets the clock until the next group moves in. So as standard we identify and proof the gaps, recommend any structural repairs needed, and treat the infestation itself, rather than leaving bait and walking away. The aim is a property that is genuinely closed to rodents, not one that needs us back every season.

Keep the structural proofing intact and make the place unappealing. Store dry food in sealed rigid containers, clear crumbs and food waste, and keep outdoor bins shut and a little away from the house. In the garden, trim branches, shrubs and climbers back from walls and the roofline so mice cannot climb in, and keep the lawn mown to reduce shelter and seed. Declutter sheds, garages and outbuildings periodically, and if a neighbouring property is clearly the source, raise it with your local authority, because rodents move freely across boundaries.