The short version
Rodent control in New Orleans works when you seal the building and clean up the food, not when you scatter bait and hope. A mouse slips through a quarter inch gap, so the fix is hardware cloth, sheet metal and mortar at soffits, vents and pipe penetrations. Trapping clears the animals already inside.
- Seal first, trap second; bait alone leaves every entry point still open.
- Roof rats own Gulf Coast attics, so inspection starts overhead, not in the basement.
- Activity here runs all twelve months with a heavier push each fall.
- Never sweep droppings; ventilate the space, then wet the mess with diluted bleach.
- Rodenticide can travel up the food chain to cats, dogs and owls.
If you are dealing with squirrels, raccoons or bats instead, the sealing advice still applies but the trapping and legal rules are different. This is for homeowners who hear movement above the ceiling, renters trying to work out what the landlord owes them, and small business owners who cannot afford a health inspection surprise. It is also for anyone who has already put out bait and is still hearing noise.
What to look for
Roof rats climb, nest overhead, and dominate attics along the Gulf Coast, which is why a house with tree limbs touching the roof and a gap at the soffit return gets hit first. Norway rats stay low, burrowing along foundations, under sheds and beside drains, and they follow sewer and storm lines in dense urban areas. House mice go anywhere, breeding five to ten times a year and living happily inside a wall cavity for their whole short life. What makes this a year round job is heat and moisture. With 64 inches of rain and a winter low near 45F, there is no freeze to knock the outdoor population back, so animals move between yard and attic on their own schedule instead of a seasonal one. The fall surge you see is mostly a season of local litters pressing into whatever shelter is closest. Three animals cause almost all the trouble in this climate.
- 1Scratching or rolling sounds overhead after dark, which usually means roof rats rather than mice.
- 2Dark grease smudges along a rafter, joist edge or pipe where fur has rubbed the surface.
- 3Droppings shaped like rice grains in the attic insulation or behind pantry shelves.
- 4Gnawed edges on soffit vents, weatherboard corners or plastic water lines.
- 5A sharp ammonia smell in a closed attic or under a kitchen sink.
- 6Pet food or birdseed disappearing overnight from a bag you thought was closed.
- 7Shredded paper, insulation or fabric packed into a corner of a cabinet or crawl area.
Why it’s worth acting soon
- Rodent urine and droppings contaminate stored food and food prep surfaces.
- The CDC lists leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, salmonellosis and tularemia among illnesses spread directly by rodents.
- Chewed wiring in an attic is a fire risk that no insurance adjuster enjoys discussing.
- Soiled insulation loses value and has to be removed and replaced, which costs more than the trapping did.
- A pair becomes a colony fast, since Norway rats raise four to six litters a year.
- An animal that dies inside a wall after eating bait leaves an odor you cannot get at until it fades on its own.
1/4 inch, about the width of a pencilSmallest gap a mouse can squeeze throughCDC 1.5 cups per gallon of water, soak 5 minutesBleach dilution for droppings cleanupCDC Treatment options and typical costs
Exclusion and sealing
Quoted after inspection
A crew closes every opening a quarter inch or wider with hardware cloth, sheet metal, mortar or foam backed by mesh. In this housing that means soffit returns, roof to wall junctions, dryer and bath vents, weep holes and the gaps where water and gas lines pass through. This is the only step that actually ends the problem rather than thinning the population.
- Time
- Depends on how many openings the inspection finds; ask for a written estimate
- Best for
- Any active infestation, and every house that has had one before
Snap and multi-catch trapping
Quoted after inspection
Traps placed against walls, on rafters and along travel routes remove the animals already inside, and they give you a body count instead of a guess. For mice, the LSU AgCenter guide calls for traps or bait every 5 to 10 feet where activity is heavy. Ask how often they return to check and clear.
- Time
- Until catches stop; ask how many checks the price covers
- Best for
- Confirming the building is empty before the last holes get sealed
Sanitation and harborage removal
Quoted after inspection
Sealed food containers, secured trash, trimmed limbs off the roofline and cleared clutter along the fence take away the reason rodents chose your property. With rainfall near 64 inches a year, standing water and soggy debris piles matter as much as the pantry. This part is mostly yours to do, and it decides whether the rest holds.
- Time
- Ongoing
- Best for
- Preventing reinfestation after trapping ends
Rodenticide in tamper resistant stations
Quoted after inspection
The LSU AgCenter guide puts every rodenticide placement in a tamperproof station, and bait should be used sparingly and never as the whole plan. It carries real secondary poisoning risk for cats, dogs, hawks and owls that eat a slowed rodent, and several states have tightened rules on second generation products. If a company leads with bait and skips the sealing, keep shopping.
- Time
- Checked on a schedule the provider sets; ask how often
- Best for
- Heavy exterior pressure where trapping alone cannot keep up
Prices are typical published ranges. Ask what’s included before you compare quotes.
Roof rats and mice love attic insulation. Tunnels through the fluff, flattened runways and droppings along the eaves are the signs to look for.Which rodents will you actually meet in New Orleans?
You find their droppings near the foundation and their runs worn into the dirt beside a fence. House mice are the third and most common. They need very little, breed constantly, and often live entirely within one wall cavity and one kitchen. Telling them apart matters because it changes where traps go and which openings you close first. Guessing wrong means sealing the ground floor while the animals are commuting across the roof. Roof rats come first in this climate. They are the slender, long tailed climbers that dominate attics along the Gulf Coast, and they get in through the roofline: a lifted shingle edge, an unscreened gable vent, a soffit return that was never closed, or a limb resting on the eave. If the noise you hear is overhead and after dark, start there. Norway rats are the heavier, blunt nosed ground animals. They burrow beside slabs, under sheds and along drainage lines, and in a dense urban area they use sewer and storm infrastructure as a highway.
A month by month rodent timeline for this coast.
July and August push everything toward shelter, though not for warmth. With highs near 91F and rain falling through much of the year, rodents want dry, shaded harborage, which is exactly what a stacked woodpile or a cluttered side yard provides. September through December is the surge. A full season of litters is now competing for space, and buildings that had one or two animals in spring get pressure from several directions at once. Have the sealing finished before it starts. January through March tends to be quieter, though quiet does not mean absent. Winter lows around 45F let outdoor populations hold steady, so anything living in your attic simply keeps living there. This is the best window for exclusion work because attic heat is lower and the work gets finished well ahead of the fall surge. April through June, with no hard freeze behind them, litters keep coming. You may notice more activity in the yard, more digging near sheds, and fresh chewed spots on vent screens as young animals look for space of their own.
Fall is when rodents head indoors. Leaf piles against the foundation hide burrows and gaps, so clear them and walk the wall before the first cold snap.What should the first inspection cover?
Most of a good first visit happens outside and above you. Expect the inspector to walk the full perimeter looking at weep holes, utility penetrations, door sweeps, foundation cracks and the ground line for burrow openings, then get on a ladder to check the soffit line, fascia joints, roof vents and any spot where two roof planes meet. Inside, they should get into the attic, look for droppings in insulation, grease marks on rafters and nesting material, and pull the range and dishwasher forward to check the wall penetrations behind them. Under sink cabinets and the water heater closet are standard stops. What you want at the end is a written list of specific openings with locations, not a page that says sealing. Ask for photos of the gaps they found, because that list is what you will compare against a second quote in New Orleans, and it is what you will hold them to when the work is finished.
Renters, landlords, and who pays for what.
A landlord who seals a house that then gets fed nightly will be back within a season. Document everything in writing. Photograph droppings with a date, note the sounds and times, and send it by a method that leaves a record. In a dense city where buildings share walls and utility chases, mention whether neighbors have the same problem, because a multi unit building often needs a coordinated approach across every unit rather than one apartment treated in isolation while the rest keeps feeding the colony. The split is usually straightforward once you name it. Anything structural belongs to the property owner: a hole in the soffit, a missing vent screen, a gap under an exterior door, a broken crawl space cover. Those are repairs to the building itself, and no amount of tenant housekeeping fixes them. What the tenant owns is the part that makes the building attractive: food left out, an overflowing trash can, clutter that creates nesting cover, a pet bowl kept full overnight.
Is rodenticide worth the risk on your property?
It gets slow, spends more time in the open, and becomes the easiest meal available to a hawk, an owl, a barn cat or a curious dog. That is secondary poisoning, and it is the reason several states have restricted second generation products and pushed applicators toward tamper resistant stations and lighter use. There is a second problem closer to home. An animal that dies inside a wall or under insulation cannot be retrieved, and in a warm, humid climate the odor is severe and lasts. Trapping avoids both issues because you remove the body. If a provider proposes bait, ask three things: which product, where the stations go, and how the plan reduces bait use over time. A company whose entire service is a monthly bait refill is selling you a subscription, not a solution. Bait is a tool, not a plan, and it comes with a cost you should weigh openly. A rodent that eats an anticoagulant does not die immediately.
How do you compare two rodent quotes fairly?
Ask too for the company's LDAF license, since rodent work in Louisiana falls under the LP1 general pest control or LP2 commercial vertebrate control category. Two quotes for the same house in New Orleans can differ by a wide margin simply because one includes attic insulation removal and the other does not, so make sure you are comparing the same scope. Put the two documents side by side and look for the same four things. First, does the quote list specific openings by location, or does it just say exclusion? A real quote names the soffit return on the north side and the dryer vent, and a vague one does not. Second, what material is being used? Hardware cloth, sheet metal, mortar and copper mesh are permanent. Expanding foam and caulk alone are not, and rats can chew through them. Third, is trapping included, and for how long? Ask how many return visits are in the price and what happens if activity continues after the last one. Fourth, what does the provider commit to in writing if a sealed opening fails?
What affects the price
- Roof height and pitch, since attic focused work on a two story house needs more ladder time.
- How much of the soffit and fascia line has to be rebuilt rather than simply screened.
- Square footage of insulation that has been soiled and needs removal.
- Whether the crawl space or under floor area is open enough for a person to work in.
- The number of separate utility penetrations on the exterior wall.
- Whether trapping is included in the sealing price or billed per visit.
- Follow up schedule, since a plan with three return checks costs more than a single visit.
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What's your biggest concern about rodents?
When to call for help
Ask any provider whether the quote includes sealing or only trapping. Landlords with more than one unit involved should also bring in help, since rodents move between units through shared chases and a single apartment treated alone just pushes them next door. Call when you have trapped steadily and the catch rate is not dropping, when you find droppings in more than one part of the house, or when you can hear activity inside a wall you cannot open. Call someone when the noise is above your head rather than under the sink, because attic work in a warm climate means insulation, wiring and a crawl through attic heat in a city where summer highs average 91F.
What you can do yourself
Plenty of a New Orleans mouse problem sits within your own reach. Buying good snap traps, setting them perpendicular to a wall with the trigger against the baseboard, and baiting with a smear of peanut butter can clear a small kitchen mouse problem. Steel wool packed into a pipe collar and covered with sealant closes one of the most common entry points. Keeping food in glass or hard plastic and taking the trash out nightly does more than any product. Where a pro earns the money is the parts you cannot see or reach: the roofline gaps high above the yard, the crawl space, the soiled insulation, and the judgment about whether you are dealing with roof rats or Norway rats. A provider also works faster on a large exclusion job, and doing it once properly beats three summers of partial fixes.
Rodents in New Orleans
Density is the quiet factor: in a dense urban block, a rat that forages 100 to 500 feet from its nest can cover several neighboring lots, so your neighbor's uncovered trash can undo your sealing work. The subtropical climate removes the seasonal break that northern cities get, and 64 inches of annual rain keeps ground level harborage soft and attractive. The practical takeaway is that exclusion here has to be permanent and complete, not seasonal, because the pressure never lets up. New Orleans has been a city since 1718, and a city that old mixes buildings from many eras, each with its own weak points where rodents get in. The median home value sits near $245,000 across roughly 370,000 residents, so repair budgets vary as much as the houses do.
Local research
Rodents in New Orleans, LA: what the public record shows
Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which rodents actually live in Louisiana, when they are busiest around New Orleans, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.
Rat-proofing gap size
LSU AgCenter: rat-proof all buildings by sealing all holes and openings larger than 0.5 inch.
LSU AgCenterBait or trap spacing for mice
Mice hide anywhere and do not move far from nests; glue boards and traps work where baits are not acceptable.
LSU AgCenterMinimum bait per placement
All rodenticides should go in tamperproof bait stations per the LSU guide.
LSU AgCenterRodent species recorded in Louisiana
- 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.
- Roof rat (Rattus rattus) — Climber of attics and trees in warm and coastal regions; tail longer than head plus body.
When rodents are busiest around New Orleans
Year-round, fall surge. Roof rats dominate Florida, Texas and Gulf Coast attics.
Based on New Orleans’s humid subtropical climate profile.
LSU AgCenter's guide treats Norway rats, roof rats and house mice together; mice nest in appliances and chew wiring and can carry the same diseases as rats.
Rules that apply in Louisiana
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: LSU AgCenter; CDC; Pest Notes: House Mouse; Pest Notes: Rats. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources
Simple ways to keep rodents away
- Trim limbs away from the roof edge so climbing roof rats lose their bridge into the attic.
- Screen every attic and gable vent with quarter inch hardware cloth, not window screen.
- Store pet food and birdseed in hard sided containers with a locking lid.
- Fix leaking hose bibs and clear gutters, because water is as strong a draw as food in a wet climate.
- Keep firewood and building material on racks raised off the ground and away from the wall.
- Close the gap under exterior doors with a metal edged sweep that a rodent cannot chew through.
- Check the dryer vent flap whenever you clean the lint line; a stuck flap is an open door.
- Rake up fruit, nuts and spilled seed from the yard weekly during the fall surge.
- Look at the underside of the soffit with binoculars each spring for new chew marks.
Before you call, sketch where you have seen droppings or heard noise and measure any gaps you found. It makes the first visit faster and the quotes comparable.Did you know?
Of the 890 hantavirus cases reported in the United States since 1993, 94 percent occurred west of the Mississippi River, which is why Gulf Coast homeowners deal with different rodent risks than western ones.
Human plague still turns up in the United States at an average of seven cases a year, carried by rodent fleas and concentrated in the Southwest and parts of California and Oregon.
The CDC lists leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, salmonellosis, tularemia, hantavirus and LCM among the illnesses rodents can spread directly to people.
Questions people ask
Are the rodents in my attic rats or squirrels?
Droppings and grease marks on rafters let a provider confirm which animal it is. Roof rats dominate attics across the Gulf Coast, so in New Orleans the night noise is usually rats. Listen to the clock. Squirrels are noisy at dawn and dusk and quiet at night, while roof rats start moving after full dark and keep going for hours.
Why do I have rodents even though my house is clean?
With 64 inches of rain a year and humidity averaging 77 percent, a dry attic or a void behind a soffit is valuable real estate regardless of what is in your pantry. Rodents also feed outside on fruit, garbage and pet bowls, then come inside only to nest and stay warm. Cleanliness helps, but shelter and water matter just as much.
When is rodent season in New Orleans?
The subtropical pattern here keeps rodents active all twelve months, with a clear surge in the fall as the summer's young look for space. Winter lows around 45F never freeze the outdoor population back the way a northern winter does, so what you are seeing in January is often the same colony you noticed in September. There is no off season.
Is rodent bait safe around my dog and the neighborhood cats?
Several states restrict second generation anticoagulants for exactly this reason. If bait is used at all, it belongs in locked exterior stations and paired with trapping and sealing, never used on its own. Not fully, and that is worth being honest about. A poisoned rodent stays alive for days and becomes easy prey, so cats, dogs, hawks and owls can be poisoned secondhand.
How small a hole can a mouse actually use?
For rats, the LSU AgCenter tells Louisiana homeowners to seal every opening larger than half an inch. That is why exclusion work is done with hardware cloth and sheet metal rather than expanding foam alone, which rodents can chew through. The CDC puts it at a quarter inch, roughly the width of a pencil, and rats will chew a quarter inch hole into something larger.
How do I clean up droppings without making things worse?
Do not sweep or vacuum, because that puts particles into the air you are breathing. The CDC method is to ventilate the space for 30 minutes first, then spray the droppings with a bleach solution of about a cup and a half per gallon of water, let it soak five minutes, and wipe up with paper towels while wearing gloves.
Does a house below sea level in New Orleans get rodents differently?
New Orleans sits about six feet below sea level, and with 64 inches of rain a year, ground level voids tend to stay damp. Norway rats take the wet burrows and utility lines near the ground, while roof rats move up into the dry attic space, which is why a thorough inspection has to cover both ends of the building. Elevation shapes where they nest.
Should my landlord pay for rodent work?
Put your report in writing with dates and photos of droppings or gnawing. If a neighboring unit is also affected, say so, since treating one apartment alone rarely solves a shared building problem. In most rental situations structural sealing is the owner's responsibility because it is a repair to the building, while day to day sanitation is on the tenant.
Nearby cities
Related guides
Sources (6)
The facts in this article come from the public sources listed above. Every home is different, so ask the company you talk to about pricing and what’s included. Published by Rodent Exterminator · Updated October 11, 2026 · How we write these guides