Along with being some of the cutest little fuzzy-faced animals, they're also filthy, disease-carrying vermin. Those baleful eyes belie the murderous virus carried in their urine & feces. The CDC lists a few other nasty germs carried by rodents, and anything that ends in "syndrome," or has the word "renal" in it should make you think about ways to rodent-proof your home.

• Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
• Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
• Lassa Fever
• Leptospirosis
• Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM) 
• Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
• Plague
• Rat-Bite Fever

For whatever reason, the rodent calls have been legion this November, with calls coming in nearly every single day from concerned homeowners finding rodent droppings everywhere from the garage to kids' bedrooms to the kitchen. You definitely don't want rodents in any of these places, as their droppings can carry diseases for years, and their fleas carry their own set of concerns.

Vole on top, deer mouse on bottom. Preferring to be called "larger-boned" to "fatty-fatster," the vole also has a lot more fur, since it spends the whole year outdoors.

Voles, not gophers, leave the trails in your grass that end in a 2" hole in the ground. They don't come inside as often, preferring to damage your property outside. They're even active underneath piles of snow. You'll see large patches of dead grass and rings around saplings where they ate under the snow all winter long.

Ah, who doesn't like a great, early 90s rock ballad? There must be someone out there who doesn't, and we both know hearts can change. While the typical ebb and flow of calls asking for help with flies, aphids, elm seed bugs, and the like are now definitely in the "ebb," we still have calls coming in. So what is it that people are concerned with when it's cold at night, and plenty cool during the day, and it's frequently raining?

Gravel and rock bed weeds. Right now, look for sprouted weeds, in the only-measurable-in-millimeters stage of growth. Some of these hardy plants sprout and wait out the winter. If treated with a sturdy preemergence chemical now, it'll cut them off at the roots (literally), and make February's application that much more thorough.

Bed bugs! Blood suckers have to eat, too, and fortunately, ours is 98+ degrees even in winter.

Basement and crawlspace pests. Spiders, some ants, and lots of different hemiptera (bugs) and beetles will overwinter below your home. If this displeases you, we can help.
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Rodents. Mice do quite nicely this time of year, snuggling up in the garage, under the dog house, out in the tool shed, and, if you're like a dozen other customers this week, somewhere between the kitchen and the laundry room. Be sure to keep pet food put away and sealed in an airtight container during the day (this will also help with ants), and make sure you have the cracks beneath doors fully sealed, to discourage access.

Now see if you can get Axl's voice out of your head by the end of the day, and call us for all your pest and weed control needs!