Tag Archives: Rats

Do I Need a Permit to Remove a Nuisance Animal in Illinois?

Raccoons carrying disease into your home

You may not realize it, but that nuisance animal in your attic, shed, garage or on your property might be legally protected in Illinois.

Most wildlife is protected by law and cannot be killed or even removed without a permit.

The Illinois Department of National Resources is tasked with conservation and management of wild species in Illinois. By Illinois law, a property owner or tenant needs a Nuisance Animal Removal Permit to trap and remove most species of wildlife.

By Illinois law, property owners or tenants need a Nuisance Animal Removal Permit (PDF) to trap and remove most species of wildlife.

Is the animal you want to remove a protected species? We’ve listed the most common nuisance animals in Illinois below.

Questions? Call Attic Solutions at (847) 464-1861

Mice, Norway rats, moles, voles, gophers, and shrews

These small mammals may all be removed with no permit needed.

Exceptions to this rule include the eastern woodrat and rice rat, which are endangered species in Illinois. These two species may not be removed.

Ground squirrels and chipmunks

The eastern chipmunk and the thirteen-lined ground squirrels may be removed without a permit.

Franklins ground squirrels are listed as threatened in Illinois and may not be removed.

Raccoons, skunks, opossums, beavers, muskrats, red foxes, gray foxes, mink, river otters, badgers, weasels, woodchucks, coyotes, and bobcats

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) recommends hiring a professional wildlife removal service to capture and remove fur-bearing animals. If you want to remove a fur-bearing animal yourself, contact an IDNR District Wildlife Biologist to see if you qualify for a Nuisance Animal Removal Permit.

In rural areas, the IDNR encourages removal of most furbearers during open hunting and trapping seasons whenever possible. All Illinois hunting regulations must be followed. For more information on hunting and trapping regulations, visit the IDNR Licenses & Hunting site.

Related: Common animal entry points

Gray squirrels, fox squirrels, red squirrels, and southern flying squirrels

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) recommends hiring a professional wildlife removal service to capture and remove squirrels. If you want to remove a squirrel yourself, contact an IDNR District Wildlife Biologist to see if you qualify for a Nuisance Animal Removal Permit.

In rural areas, gray squirrels and fox squirrels may be taken during open hunting seasons.

Rabbits

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) recommends hiring a professional wildlife removal service to capture and remove rabbits. If you want to remove a rabbit yourself, contact an IDNR District Wildlife Biologist to see if you qualify for a Nuisance Animal Removal Permit.

In rural areas, rabbits may be taken during open hunting seasons.

Bats

The (IDNR) recommends hiring a professional bat removal service to capture and remove bats.

Bats inside rooms will usually exit on their own. Close off exits to the room and keep windows open overnight.

White-Tailed Deer

White-tailed deer are protected under the Illinois Wildlife Code as a game species. It is illegal to take live deer from the wild unless you have received a permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) or are a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

IDNR Deer Removal Guidelines (PDF)

In rural areas, deer hunting is permitted in season. All state hunting regulations must be followed. Outside of hunting season, or in situations where hunting is not allowed, a deer removal permit may be issued by an IDNR District Wildlife Biologist.

A person who hits and kills a deer with a motorized vehicle can legally claim the deer to salvage the meat, hide, and antlers.

For more information on hunting and trapping in Illinois visit the Illinois Department of National Resources.

For professional animal removal services in Chicagoland call Attic Solutions (847) 464-1861

Top 10 Signs Of Rats

top 10 signs of rats

During autumn, animal pests like to enter your home, seeking shelter and food. In rural areas, when fields are plowed, rats lose their habitat and make their way indoors. In urban areas, the cool weather drives them into your home. Regardless of where you live, rats can cause big problems. Aside from the numerous diseases and parasites they carry, they can cause major damage. If you have a hunch that you have a rat infestation, check out our lists for the top 10 signs of rats:

TOP 10 SIGNS OF RATS

Scratching in the walls – Scratching or rustling sounds in the walls is one of the early, subtle signs of a rat infestation. They run through the walls to and from food sources. In addition, if they are building a nest, they will be moving materials between the walls.
Rat droppings – Rat droppings are small, brown, and rice-shaped. A single rat leaves between 10 and 30 pellets a day.
Grease marks – Rats have an oily fur that leaves grease or dirt tracks. You may notice them along floorboards or across counter tops in your house.
Footprints – Their tracks have front and hind paw marks plus a tail print. You may notice them in dustier areas of the home.
Rats holes – Brown rats are great burrowers and may leave holes as evidence.
Rat nests – Rats make nests with cardboard, straw, and other soft items. You may notice them in your attic or basement, depending on the type of rat in your home.
Rodent odors – You may notice a musky smell with the presence of rats.
Urine stains – Their urine stains glow under UV lights.
Chewed wires, floorboards, & boxes – Rats’ teeth are continuously growing, which means they gnaw on plastic, wood, and anything hard to keep them filed. You may notice gnawed floorboards, boxes of cereal, or walls.
Rat sightings – If you’ve seen a rat, dead or alive, in your home – you may have an infestation.

If some or all of the top 10 signs of rats apply to your home, it may be time to call pest control. Attic solutions can safely and effectively remove rats from your home and repair damage caused by rats.

The Differences Between Rats and Mice

RATS AND MICE:

If you’re not sure which pest has made it’s way into your home, take a look at our list of defining similarities and differences between rats and mice. Although they are similar in some ways, there are significant differences between their behavior, appearance, droppings, and where they may be located or causing damage in your home. Both animals are rodents and reproduce incredibly fast, up to 10 times a year, so if you suspect they may be in your home, call pest control immediately.

MICE:

Smaller 3-10 cm
Nocturnal
White, brown, or gray
Produces 40-80 droppings a day, smaller sized with one pointed end and one rounded end
Long thing, hairy tails
Triangular snouts
Long whiskers
Have larger eyes in proportion to their bodies
Live 1 year in wild, up to 6 in captivity
Prefer carb-loaded food like cereal, occasionally fruits and sweets
Do not usually burrow or dig, make nests instead
Cannot typically gnaw through glass and metal containers
Gnaw electrical wiring & cardboard boxes
Timid nature, not aggressive
May be found in nests in the walls of a home

RATS:

Larger in body size, larger heads and feet proportionally, 16-40 cm
Nocturnal
White, gray, brown, or black depending on species
Produced 20-40 droppings a day, larger sized and banana shaped
Long tails, hairless and scaly
Blunt snout
Have smaller eyes in proportion to their bodies
Live about 1.5 years in wild
Prefer grains and meat foods
Burrowing behavior, can dig deep long burrows near your foundation or in your yard
Can gnaw through sheet metal, building materials, cinder blocks, wood, and glass
Greasy fur may leave marks on surfaces that they scurry across
Depending on species may be found in basement (Norway Rat) or attic (Roof Rats)

Types of Rats

There are two primary types of rats that live in the United States: the roof rat and the Norway rat. Both of these pests can be quite troublesome in your home and infest different areas. It is not impossible for a roof rat infestation to exist in the attic while a Norway rat infestation is in the basement of a home.

Roof Rats

These dark colored rats nest above ground, fitting the name “roof rats.” They are slender and have very little hair. Roof rats, or black rats, are great climbers and prefer to live in trees, woodpiles, wall cavities, and ceilings. In fact, these rats spend 90% of their life 4 or more feet off the ground. Common signs of roof rats include seeing them on trees, power lines, and roofs, discovering banana shaped rat droppings, hearing noises in the walls and attic, and identifying gnaw marks near roof eaves. Roof rats have much longer, scaly tails, are smaller in size, and have larger, hairless ears than Norway rats.

Norway Rats

These rats are sometimes known as sewer rats, as they can be found there regularly. Norway rats like to burrow and live under concrete slabs and infest basements. Norway rats are found in 48 states in America and all continents besides Antarctica. They are considered the most successful mammal on the planet besides humans. Common signs of Norway rats include gnaw marks on wiring and furniture, banana shaped rat droppings, rat tracks, and unexplained grease marks from their oily coats on the floor or walls. Norway rats are usually brown or gray and larger than roof rats but have shorter tails.

If you suspect either of these rats in your home, call pest control immediately to take care of them and prevent or treat an infestation.

Evanston Asks Residents To Help With Rat Abatement

A recent Chicago Tribune headline took some people by surprise: “City enlists residents in fight against rats.” The city was Evanston, Illinois, and officials from the city’s health and human services department are asking the public to help them in the city’s rat abatement program. Evanston’s director of health and human services, Evonda Thomas-Smith, addressed the city council in May regarding the department’s new strategy. She explained that resident involvement is important for the rat-control program to be successful. Residents are asked to call 311 to report rats and get liability waivers so inspectors can go on their property and arrange for abatement methods. Residents can also help by keeping garbage and food in tightly sealed containers, maintaining grass, shrubs, weeds and other vegetation, and close any openings in garage doors and walls. Additionally, people can be mindful of what inspectors call the “35 cents rule.” The 35 cents rule refers to holes in the ground: a hole the size of a quarter can fit a rat and a hole the size of a dime can fit a mouse.

Inspectors have all also been out walking the city in full force. They’re searching for any rat infestations and colonies as well as identifying areas that may be appealing to rats. Some of those areas are on residential property and often involved a property-code violation of city ordinance. One property owner had a pile of wood along with a tire and other debris stacked against his back porch. The tire was additionally troublesome because according to the inspectors it can collect water, creating a breeding a ground for mosquitoes, which is a concern due to West Nile Virus. Not every property was that severe though. One of the more common things inspectors noticed was overgrown grass and shrubs, which provides cover for rats. According to inspectors, the cover allows rats to run wild.

The city of Evanston understands it will take everyone, residents and all of the departments in the city, working together for the rat abatement program to be successful.

Reducing The Risk Of Mice And Rats In Your Home

House mice, which are generally active at night, are gray in color and small: usually between two to four inches long. Their nests are typically 12 to 15 inches across and made out of fibrous materials such as paper, and are loosely knit together. Some signs you have house mice include partially nibbled food and small droppings.

Rats are larger in size than house mice (they are 12 to 16 inches from nose to tail) and are a grayish brown color with a long hairless tail. The most common sign you have rats is droppings near food sources along with evidence of gnawing, burrows, tracks, nests and rub marks. It is important to control and eliminate any mice or rats in your home because they contaminate the environments in which they live through their urine, droppings and hairs. They also can carry a wide range of diseases, which can be passed on to humans, either by directly contaminating food with their droppings and urine, or by contaminating surfaces. Rats specifically can pass on the potentially fatal Weils Disease, which is carried by about 15 to 30 per cent of the rat population.

In addition to the potential threat of contamination and the threat of disease, they can also cause extensive structural damage to property. Mice and rats have strong teeth and are capable of gnawing a variety of materials. According to experts, there is a significant risk of fire and electrocution as a result of mice and rodents chewing through electric cables and wiring.

You can discourage mice from taking up residence and prevent infestations by blocking access points to your home and improving hygiene:

Check that doors fit tightly
Check that windows close tightly
Seal all cracks, openings, and holes
Inspect for access points around gas, electricity, and water pipes
Store food carefully with tight-fitting lids
Clean up any spills immediately
Remove garbage and other materials that can be used by mice

Rats can be both more difficult and more dangerous to deal with. Before you attempt to deal with a rat problem yourself, it is critical to identify where rats are living, feeding, and drinking, and the routes they take between these areas. Look out for:

Droppings
Footprints
Holes and burrows
Runs and tracks
Other signs such as sightings or a musky smell

You need to find out how the rats are getting into your home. Try blocking any holes you find with newspaper or similar material or similar material and returning 24 hours to see if it was disturbed. The trained professionals at Attic Solutions can assist you in eliminating any rat or mice problems you may be experiencing.