Rodent Exclusion in Sacramento, CA

How rodent exclusion works

Rodents use openings that are already there. These include a gap where a pipe enters the wall, a crawlspace vent that has rusted through, a roofline junction that never closed properly and a garage door seal that has flattened.

UC IPM says a mouse can get under a gap a quarter inch tall, and a young rat under a door with a half-inch gap.

Exclusion is quoted after an inspection, because the price depends on how much of the house is open. A few entry points is a small job. A house with an open crawlspace and a damaged roofline is a bigger one.

Quotes start at $500 and we give you the number before anything starts. The plan prices on our pricing page are separate from exclusion work.

A customer’s attic inspection

A Google review from July 2026 describes where exclusion work starts: “He found several health concerns in our attic during the inspection and came up with the perfect plan to fix everything.” The inspection comes first on every exclusion job. The quote follows from what it finds.

Roof rat or Norway rat

The two rats UC describes for California homes get in differently. Its pest note on rats describes the roof rat as a climber with a tail longer than its head and body. It nests up in trees, shrubs and dense plants and, once inside, in attics, walls, false ceilings and cabinets.

The Norway rat is stockier, burrows along foundations and under woodpiles, and mostly stays on the ground floor. Roof rats also tend to carry food off and eat it somewhere else, where Norway rats often eat as they go.

Roof rats are why the roofline gets as much attention as the foundation. The note says openings above ground level have to be plugged too, and that finding a roof rat’s entry points usually takes longer than a Norway rat’s. For the attic and yard signs, see roof rats in Roseville.

UC’s guidance is to seal anything larger than a quarter inch, which keeps out mice as well as rats. The materials are steel wool, wire screen or sheet metal, since rats chew through plastic, foam, wood and caulk.

Vent covers take galvanized half-inch mesh and never lightweight chicken wire. Ask the technician what is going into each opening on your quote.

A plan and exclusion are separate things. All three plans list rats and mice as covered, and the bi-monthly plan includes rodent bait station maintenance. But every plan lists roof rat infestations as an exclusion, and exclusion is quoted on its own after an inspection.

Rodent exclusion and inspection are the work we lead with, next to the 12-month plans.