Have you noticed any missing earrings? Are you hearing scampering sounds from the floorboards? Arizona, while beautiful, is home to wildlife, pests, insects and rodents that overrun your home and pose serious risks to you and your family’s health. Read on to learn more about how packrats and roof rats, two common Arizona rodents, could be infesting your home.

What Are Packrats and Roof Rats?

Packrats, or wood rats, are fuzzy rats that tend to collect shiny objects and store them in their nests. During the night, packrats scour the area for sparkly jewelry, bits of mirrors, gum wrappers, spoons and more.

Their fluffy fur and tails make them look cute in comparison to the roof rats, which have longer, scaly, hairless tails. While packrats tend to be a nuisance, roof rats tend to infest areas and scrounge for foodstuffs, making a general mess in and around the home.

Why Packrats and Roof Rats Are Dangerous

Both types of rats chew on car wiring and electrical wiring throughout the house, which can quickly turn into a fire hazard. Roof rats tear up insulation for nesting material, while pack rats live in small, dark places like underneath the house, under spa and pool equipment, or in the attic.

What’s worse is that they also transmit diseases, such as murine typhus, salmonellosis, leptospirosis and rat-bite fever to both humans and animals. Roof rats and pack rats tend to climb up the structure of the house and create nests in attics or high structural places in the house. On top of this, both rodents will tear up gardens and trees, eating the insides of fruit but leaving behind the rinds.

How to Deal With Packrat and Roof Rat Problems

Since both animals are nocturnal, the best way to catch them is to listen at night for scuffling and scurrying sounds in the walls and storage spaces. Effectively getting rid of pack rats and roof rats requires a mix of prevention and rodent control methods. Traps and poison baits only provide short-term relief.

To keep the rats out, seal gaps and holes in the walls and keep food in pest-resistant storage containers. Make sure compost bins or tumblers are rodent proof, along with garbage containers. Pick up fallen fruit and trim plants regularly so you can see the ground and look for signs of burrowing. If there was previous rodent damage, you probably need professionals to repair the house.