The Rat Race Rages On

If your pest management company is among the 94 percent that offer rodent control services, your service team isn’t likely to be bored anytime soon.

Rodent activity continued to climb in 2023, with no signs of slowing down, according to the 2023 PCT State of the Rodent Control Market survey, sponsored by Bell Laboratories. Sixty percent of PMPs reported increases in rodent infestations over the past year, with another 38 percent saying infestations held steady.

Across the country, mice and rats were far and away the most commonly encountered rodent species, collectively representing 96 percent of all rodent service calls. House mice represented 44 percent of calls and other mice 4 percent, while roof rats represented 31 percent, Norway rats 15 percent and pack rats 2 percent.

Rats and mice are truly on a tear in the Northeast, where 70 percent of PMPs reported increasing numbers.

“We started seeing an uptick in rodents 10 or 12 years ago,” said Ted Brayton of Griggs & Browne, which services accounts in southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. “We had a mild winter that year, and it was the first time calls kept coming right through the winter. Since then, we’ve been getting rodent calls year-round.”

Other notable changes Brayton has witnessed since starting out in the business three decades ago are that rats, which had historically been an inner-city issue for his market, spread to the suburbs five or six years ago, and that calls for mice started outnumbering calls for ants four years ago. “That has been the case for three of the past four years,” he said.

Rodent momentum is strong in the West as well: 65 percent of PMPs there reported rising rodent infestations. Greg Bausch said rodent calls (primarily for roof rats and house mice) are up 45 percent year-over-year at American City Pest & Termite in Gardena, Calif.

In the South, Shaun Graves of Havard Pest Control (Hattiesburg, Miss.) said that pressure is holding steady in his market.

“Rodents are just part of our everyday life. Mostly we see field mice and house mice on the residential side, with an occasional Norway or roof rat infestation. We also encounter a lot of rodent pressure in commercial locations that are situated near woodlines or in fields,” he said, adding that those accounts can be as diverse as grain storage buildings, car dealerships and gas stations.

Though rodents continue to drive more business in fall and winter nationwide, as reported by a combined 59 percent of PMPs, 28 percent said their markets experience no seasonal difference. The Midwest is an exception, experiencing much more rodent business in fall and winter (a combined 78 percent), with only 14 percent indicating no seasonal difference.