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The Most Common Rats & Mice in New Hampshire

Rodents are some of the most common pests building owners in New Hampshire encounter, especially as warmer months arrive. As highly adaptable creatures, these critters can set up shop in your New Hampshire home and multiply quickly due to their prolific breeding ability. That can render it difficult to eliminate them, especially once the infestation becomes widespread.

Identifying the species of rats or mice invading your home can be tricky due to their similar looks, size, and nocturnal behavior. To make it easier for you, we will list the most common rats & mice in New Hampshire and all the relevant details you must know about them!

The Most Common Rats & Mice in New Hampshire

The following are six of the most common rats and mice found in New Hampshire, with their differentiating appearances and characteristics: 

Brown Rat

The Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus), also called the Norway rat, sewer rat, and street rat is among the most common species of rats in New Hampshire. These large-sized rats have short, dense fur that is black or brown in color with a lighter underside. 

Growing around 16 inches long, the brown rat is well adapted to living in close association with humans, and is commonly found inhabiting homes, buildings, garbage piles, and sewers. These species are foragers and will consume a wide variety of foods, including human food waste, birds, eggs, insects, and even small reptiles. 

The brown rat is a vector for various diseases, which it can transmit to humans, especially Leptospirosis and toxoplasmosis.

Black Rat

Black rats (Rattus rattus) appear similar to brown rats but have a slimmer profile, with large ears and tails. Also known as the roof rat or ship rat, the species has a black or light brown coloration with a lighter underbelly. It has a varied diet, chewing upon foods from nuts, seeds, and fruits to insects, birds, and bird eggs.

Growing up to seven inches long, the black rat is another destructive species of rat that can cause immense damage to your property due to its constant gnawing tendency. It is also a carrier of numerous deadly diseases, such as typhus, plague, and leptospirosis.

Field Mouse

The field mouse (Microtus pennsylvanicus), sometimes referred to as the eastern meadow vole, is a small-sized rodent with a dark brown body. It is known to make its nest from grass by burrowing underground. As their name indicates, the species primarily inhabits meadows, grassy marshes, and other open forest habitats. 

Reaching lengths up to seven inches, eastern meadow voles are herbivorous creatures. Their diet comprises grass, crops, flowers, roots, and seeds.

House Mouse

The house mouse (Mus musculus) lives and thrives in human dwellings, surviving on any food sources available. It features a light brown to black body with white undersides. It commonly finds shelter in New Hampshire homes due to its adaptability to human presence, nesting in basements, attics, crawl spaces, and wall voids. 

A distinctive characteristic of the house mouse is its ability to run at speeds up to eight miles per hour, and its brilliant climbing, jumping, and swimming ability.

Eastern Deer Mouse

The Eastern Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) is another small species of mouse widespread in New Hampshire. Originally inhabiting forests, grasslands, and agricultural lands, the deer mouse reaches sizes up to seven inches. 

It often enters human populations and feeds on food scraps, whereas in the wild, its diet comprises plant matter and small invertebrates like insects, earthworms, etc.

White-footed Deer Mouse

With a grayish or reddish-brown upper body with white undersides, the white-footed deer mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) can often be hard to tell apart from a deer mouse. However, some distinguishing characteristics of this species include its large hind legs and a dark brown stripe running along the center of the back.  

The species is notorious for being a vector for multiple diseases that pose a significant risk to human health, inducing the hantavirus and Lyme disease.

Mice or Rat Problem? Don't Wait Until It's Too Late!

If you spot signs of rodents or perhaps suspect an infestation, the best thing to do is contact a professional pest extermination company to deal with the problem most effectively. 

Identify Pest Control has been providing top-quality, dependable pest control services for three decades. We prioritize customer satisfaction more than anything, manifested in over 200 five-star reviews by our valuable clients.

Call us today for safe and effective rodent control services, and keep these dangerous pests away from your property for good!

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