Bumps in the night? It’s Probably Packrats.
No. You are not crazy. (Especially if you live in Cave Creek, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley or North Phoenix.) Those noises you have been hearing at 3 a.m. are not the product of your active imagination and no, your house is not “settling.” As it turns out, you have packrats and when you realize the damage they are capable of creating, you will see that you had good reason to be afraid.
Although they are not the ugliest of all of rodent species, these nocturnal critters are extremely intelligent and industrious making them potentially more insidious and destructive than their mousy relatives. This rat may be handsome, but no amount of charm and good looks could make the list of horrors he brings palatable to any homeowner. The white throated wood rat (commonly referred to as the packrat), as you will soon learn, is possibly the most dangerous of all residential pests.
In truth, it all begins with the packrat’s nest. Whether this nest is built in your yard, attic or crawl space, it can pose a serious threat to your property. When a packrats builds a nest in a residential yard, it can grow to a tremendous size in both height and weight. Several feet high, weighing in at hundreds of pounds, these nests can house multiple generations of territorial packrats. When a packrat builds a nest in an attic or crawl space, this area can fill up with literally thousands of pounds worth of waste and debris. As packrats delight in collecting all sorts of items, it is obvious that they would bring them back to their nest. What you may find once this has gone on for years, is an attic full of rat droppings, yard waste, rotting trash, and even small shiny items such as jewelry. Items you may have stored in your attic or crawl space are likely to be discovered and enjoyed by these little explorers and for your purposes as a human, sadly rendered useless.
Insulated areas are ideal homes for packrats who use insulation as nesting material. In a relatively short period of time, an attic full of insulation may be matted down by the effects of rodent traffic and sticky tar-like urine. This sort of “wear and tear” on insulation will have a dramatic impact on its performance in its ability to help warm or cool the structure and can be tremendously expensive to replace and in most cases, impossible to clean. In those same areas where insulation is often destroyed, packrats often go after an unfortunate favorite snack: wiring. Although most are not aware of it, cottonseed and linseed oil are used in wiring, making it irresistible to rodents. When wiring has been gnawed at by packrats or any other rodent in an area where it is exposed, the potential for fire is present. This situation requires the assistance of not only wildlife or pest management professional, but also a seasoned, licensed electrician.
The mere presence of packrats in the home or on one’s property necessitates the mention of the insects and disease they bring with them. Kissing bugs (also known as the cone nosed beetle, Mexican bed bug or assassin bug) prefer packrat nests as their breeding ground. The bite of this bug may make a person quite ill and can be described as more painful than a scorpion or bee sting, while some may be bitten and never realize that it has happened. Packrats themselves may carry fleas which have been known to spread bubonic plague which has been reported in Arizona in recent years with one notable human fatality in the Grand Canyon area. Additionally, both botulism and salmonella are spread via packrat droppings while Arena virus (also known as Whitewater Arroyo virus) and hanta virus have been detected in Arizona’s packrats in an extensive CDC study.
Truly, the scope of potential damage caused by packrats is astounding. When you have a packrat infestation, you have a real and dangerous situation on your hands with both safety and health concerns. Happily, there are permanent, customized solutions available to prevent such devastation from taking place as well as remediation (clean-up) services for situations in which the damage has already been done. Such services are available from skilled, licensed professionals in the wildlife and pest management industry. For more information on packrats and how to prevent or eradicate an infestation, call 480-874-1368.
Pest Control & Exterminating in Phoenix