Norway rats in West Sacramento: burrow signs and how rodent control starts

Holes in the dirt along the foundation of a West Sacramento house usually point to the Norway rat, and rodent control for that rat starts at ground level. UC IPM describes it as a burrowing rat that digs along building foundations, under woodpiles and rubbish, and around gardens.

That makes it a different job from the roof rat in the attic. Our rodent control service starts with a rodent inspection of the crawlspace, vents, garage and the gaps where pipes and wires go into the house, then seals the openings and removes the rats already inside.

Norway rat or roof rat?

UC IPM’s Pest Notes on rats say both species are found in almost every California city. The Norway rat, also called the brown rat or sewer rat, is the bigger and stockier of the two. The roof rat is smaller and sleeker, with a tail longer than its head and body.

Where you find the signs is the quickest clue. The notes say Norway rats that move indoors usually stay in basements and on the ground floor, while roof rats nest up high in attics and wall voids. The notes also say Norway rats are the stronger swimmers and roof rats the better climbers.

Noise overhead and droppings in the attic usually mean the other one, and our guide to roof rats in the attic covers it.

Signs to check around a West Sacramento yard

West Sacramento sits on the Sacramento River and takes in Broderick, Bryte, the original West Sacramento and Southport. The signs below come from the UC IPM note and apply in any of them:

• burrow openings along the foundation, under a slab edge or under a woodpile
• burrows under garbage cans, compost piles or garden plants
• droppings near pet food, in the garage or along a wall
• gnaw marks on fallen fruit or nuts in the yard
• nests behind boxes in a cluttered garage
• dark smudge marks along walls and the paths they travel

The note puts a Norway rat’s nightly foraging range at anywhere from 100 to 500 feet from the nest, depending on local conditions, so a burrow by the back fence and droppings in the garage can be the same rats.

How Norway rats get into a house from below

UC IPM says rats get into buildings by gnawing, climbing, jumping, or swimming through sewers and coming up through toilets or broken drains. A young rat can squeeze under a door with a half-inch gap, and the note says a rat may gnaw a wooden door to make the gap bigger.

The note also says Norway rat burrows can undermine foundations and slabs, and that the rats gnaw plastic, wood and soft metals such as copper and lead. We check the crawlspace as closely as the garage for that reason.

The places the UC IPM note says to seal are the ones a technician checks:

• openings in the foundation, and gaps around water pipes, electric wires, sewer pipes, drain spouts and vents
• any hole larger than 1/4 inch, which is the size the note gives for keeping out both rats and mice
• foundation vent covers, which the note says should be enclosed with 1/2-inch galvanized mesh
• the crawlspace cover, which should fit tight
• exterior doors, which should be sealed at the threshold

What you can do before the visit

UC IPM lists three parts of successful rat control: sanitation, exclusion and population control. It calls exclusion, or building the rats out, the most successful and longest-lasting of the three. The sanitation part is something you can start on today:

• garbage cans with tight-fitting lids, cleaned of food film even when they are empty
• compost in a rigid container with a tight lid, with no meat, fish or eggs in it
• pet food: only what the pet eats at one feeding, and the rest in a rodent-proof container
• fallen fruit and garden debris picked up
• woodpiles and clutter moved off the walls of the house

Leave the burrows alone until the inspection. The note warns that Norway rat burrows can run under a house and have several openings, so smoke or gas cartridges placed in them can send toxic gas into the home. It also says carbon monoxide devices cannot be used within 65 feet of a building.

How our rodent control visit works

The technician follows the route the rats are taking: the yard and foundation line, the vents, the crawlspace where the house has one, the garage and the gaps where utilities come in. You get a plain list of what was found and where. The sealing work is quoted from that list, after the inspection and before any work starts.

Rats and mice are covered on all of our general pest control plans. Sealing the house is repair work on the building, so it is quoted separately as rodent exclusion. For the other pests we treat in town, see pest control in West Sacramento.

Before the visit, note where you saw burrows, droppings or gnaw marks, and roughly when.

Source: UC IPM Pest Notes: Rats (UC ANR Publication 74106), checked 17 October 2026.

Seeing burrows along your foundation? Request a quote through our contact page or call (916) 818-3863, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 6pm.

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