That heart-stopping moment when you spot a mouse scurrying across your kitchen floor or hear scratching sounds coming from your walls can trigger immediate panic and disgust. Discovering rodents in your Lexington home is unsettling, but knowing how to respond quickly and effectively minimizes the problem and protects your family. Professional rodent control services provide the most reliable solution, but understanding what immediate steps to take empowers you to address the situation confidently.

Stay Calm and Assess the Situation

Your first reaction might be panic, but staying calm allows you to think clearly about the best response. Seeing one rodent almost certainly means others are present – rodents rarely travel alone, and they reproduce rapidly. However, catching the problem early significantly improves your chances of eliminating the infestation before it becomes severe.

Take a moment to observe what you can about the rodent you saw. Was it a small mouse or a larger rat? Where exactly did you see it? What time of day did the sighting occur? These details help pest control professionals understand your situation better.

Don’t Touch or Chase the Rodent

Resist any urge to catch or handle the rodent yourself. Rodents carry diseases that can be transmitted through bites, scratches, and contact with their droppings or urine. Trying to catch a rodent puts you at unnecessary risk and rarely succeeds anyway—these creatures are remarkably fast and can disappear into tiny spaces you’d never imagine.

Chasing the rodent throughout your home won’t solve anything and might push it deeper into hiding, making professional control more difficult. Instead, note where you saw it and where it went, then step away and begin planning your response.

Inspect for Evidence of Rodent Activity

Once you’ve recovered from the initial shock, look for additional signs of rodent presence throughout your home. Common indicators include:

Droppings

Mouse droppings resemble dark grains of rice, typically found along walls, in cabinets, under sinks, and near food sources. Rat droppings are larger, roughly the size of raisins. Fresh droppings appear dark and moist, while older droppings become gray and crumbly. The quantity of droppings gives clues about infestation severity.

Gnaw Marks

Rodents constantly gnaw to keep their ever-growing teeth worn down. Look for gnaw marks on food packaging, baseboards, furniture legs, and electrical cords. Fresh gnaw marks appear lighter in color compared to old damage.

Greasy Rub Marks

As rodents travel the same routes repeatedly, oils from their fur create dark smudge marks along walls, pipes, and beams. These tracks show their preferred pathways through your home.

Nesting Materials

Rodents shred paper, fabric, insulation, and other soft materials to build nests in secluded areas. Check behind appliances, inside cabinets, and in storage boxes for signs of nesting activity.

Sounds

Listen for scratching, scurrying, or squeaking sounds, especially at night when rodents are most active. Sounds in walls or ceilings indicate rodents are traveling through your home’s structure.

Unusual Pet Behavior

If your cat or dog suddenly becomes fixated on a particular area—staring at walls, pawing at appliances, or acting alert in specific rooms—they may be detecting rodents you haven’t noticed yet.

Secure Your Food Supply

Immediately protect your food from contamination. Rodents seeking sustenance will chew through cardboard, thin plastic, and paper packaging. Transfer all dry goods—cereals, flour, pasta, rice, pet food, and snacks—into thick plastic, glass, or metal containers with tight-fitting lids.

Inspect all food currently stored in cabinets and pantries. If you find any packages with gnaw marks or evidence of tampering, discard them immediately. Don’t take chances with potentially contaminated food. Clean cabinets thoroughly before restocking them with properly stored items.

Don’t leave pet food out overnight. Feed pets on a schedule and remove their bowls when they’re finished eating. Pet food provides an easy target for hungry rodents.

Eliminate Water Sources

Rodents need water to survive, so eliminating access makes your home less hospitable. Fix leaky faucets and pipes. Don’t leave standing water in sinks, bathtubs, or pet bowls overnight. Check for condensation around air conditioning units and dehumidifiers. Address any moisture problems in basements and crawl spaces.

Start Documenting the Problem

Take photos or notes about where you saw the rodent, what evidence you’ve found, and when activity occurs. This documentation helps pest control professionals understand your situation and may also be useful for insurance purposes if rodent damage requires repairs.

Note the date and time of sightings, locations of droppings, and any sounds you hear. If possible, photograph damage to food packages, gnaw marks, or other evidence. This record helps track whether the problem is worsening and provides valuable information for your pest control technician.

Call Professional Rodent Control Immediately

The single most important step you can take after discovering rodents is contacting professional pest control services. X-iT Pest and Wildlife Solutions serves Lexington homeowners with comprehensive rodent control that eliminates infestations completely.

Professional service includes:

• Complete property inspection identifying all entry points
• Strategic placement of professional-grade traps and bait stations
• Thorough exclusion work sealing access points
• Follow-up visits ensuring complete elimination
• Ongoing monitoring preventing future problems

Attempting DIY rodent control wastes time and money while allowing infestations to worsen. Professional technicians have the training, experience, and tools to solve rodent problems quickly and permanently.

Take Action to Protect Your Home

Discovering rodents in your home demands immediate action. The longer you wait, the larger the infestation grows and the more damage occurs. Professional rodent control eliminates the problem efficiently while protecting your family’s health and your property’s value.

Don’t let rodents take over your Lexington home. Contact X-iT Pest and Wildlife Solutions today for fast, effective rodent control services that give you peace of mind and a rodent-free home.