Why only rodents
A general pest company has to know a little about everything: ants, bed bugs, wasps, termites, spiders. That is a lot of ground, and rodents end up as one line on a long list. At Grand Rapids Rodent Control we went the other direction and picked one problem.
Rats and mice reward that kind of attention. Their behavior is predictable once you have watched enough of it, but it is not simple. A mouse will run the same route along a baseboard every night. A rat will avoid a new object for days and then suddenly trust it. Knowing which animal does what, and where it is likely to be traveling in a particular kind of house, changes how fast a job wraps up.
Focusing on rodents also means we spend real time on sealing, which is the part many outfits skip. We carry mesh, flashing, mortar and door sweeps on every visit, not just traps.
Why Grand Rapids
This city has a particular mix of housing that suits rodents very well. Stone and block basements, balloon framing, porches built on old piers, and a century of additions and repairs give mice and rats plenty of ways in. Add a cold West Michigan winter and the pressure on those gaps every fall is steady and predictable.
We work inside the city limits only. A tight service area means shorter drives between trap checks and a better feel for how houses on a given street were built.
How we approach each job
We start by looking, not by setting traps. Most of the time the answer to a mouse problem is written on the house: chew marks on a sill, a gap under a garage door, grease along a pipe where it goes through the rim joist. Once we can see the route, the rest of the plan follows.
We talk to you like a neighbor, not like a sales pitch. You will hear what we found, what we think should happen, and what you can handle yourself if you would like to. If the problem is minor, we will say so.
And we come back. Trap checks, a look at the sealing, a final walk-through. Rodent work is not finished when the truck leaves the first time.
What we care about
- Treating old houses with respect. Original plaster, woodwork and stone are worth protecting.
- Keeping loose poison out of the rooms where people and pets live.
- Being plain about what we see and what it will take.
- Finishing the job with sealing, not just trapping.
If that sounds like the kind of help you want, the how it works page walks through a typical job, and our services page lists each part of the work.
A few things people ask about us
Do you handle other pests?
No. We work only on rats and mice. For insects, bats, raccoons or squirrels, you will want a different company.
Do you work outside Grand Rapids?
No. Our jobs are all inside the Grand Rapids city limits, so we can stay close to the houses we are working on.
Do you work on rental properties and multi-unit houses?
Yes. A lot of older Grand Rapids homes have been split into two or three units, and mice move between them through shared basements and walls. We can work with owners and tenants together so the whole building gets treated, not just one apartment.
Can I just buy traps and do it myself?
For a single mouse, sometimes, yes. Where people run into trouble is the sealing. If you trap a few and they keep coming, the opening is still there, and that is the part we are most useful for.