Local rodent information

Rodent control in Pennsylvania

Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.

Rodents in Pennsylvania: what to know

Around Pennsylvania

Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.

What to note

Where you see rodents, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.

A useful next step

Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.

Local research

Rodents in Pennsylvania: what the public record shows

Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which rodents actually live in Pennsylvania, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.

About the size of a dime; rats need roughly a quarter

Opening a mouse can pass through

Penn State Extension's exclusion threshold for Pennsylvania homes.

Penn State Extension

Mouse droppings pointed and rice-grain sized; rat droppings blunt and small-raisin sized

Telling mice from rats by droppings

Identification decides trap size and placement.

Penn State Extension

Mice 5-8 inches including the long hairless tail; rats 13-18 inches including the tail

Adult size

Field identification in attics, basements and row-home walls.

Penn State Extension

Rodent species recorded in Pennsylvania

House mouse (Mus musculus) — Enters at 1/4 inch; 5-10 litters per year; eats about 200 small meals a night.
Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) — Burrowing rat of basements, sewers and ground floors; tail shorter than head plus body.
Deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) — Primary U.S. hantavirus carrier; lives throughout Washington and the interior West.

Penn State Extension frames mouse control as IPM: prevention, exclusion and nonchemical tools first, least-risk products only if needed.

For context, nationally

1/4 inch (the width of a pencil) — Smallest gap a mouse can enter. CDC
890; 35% fatal; 94% west of the Mississippi — Hantavirus cases reported since 1993 (through 2023). CDC

Sources: Penn State Extension; CDC; Pest Notes: House Mouse; Pest Notes: Rats; Hantavirus. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources

Explore Pennsylvania cities

Allentown

Humid Continental · urban setting

Rodent control in Pennsylvania

Rodents in Pennsylvania: what to know

Around Pennsylvania

What to note

A useful next step

Rodents in Pennsylvania: what the public record shows

Rodent species recorded in Pennsylvania

For context, nationally

Explore Pennsylvania cities

Allentown

Altoona

Bethlehem

Chambersburg

Chester

Easton

Erie

Harrisburg

Hazleton

Lancaster

Lebanon

New Castle

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Pottstown

Reading

Scranton

State College

Wilkes-Barre

Williamsport

York

Monroeville

Ask about rodent control in Pennsylvania