Most rodent calls start one of two ways: droppings along the back of a kitchen counter, or scratching and scampering overhead after dark. Those two symptoms usually point to different animals and different jobs. Droppings the size of a rice grain along a wall run, with grease smudges at the bottom of the pantry door, generally means house mice. Heavier droppings, gnawed soffit edges, and running noises in the ceiling at dusk usually mean roof rats, which are the climbers around here — they move along fence tops, power lines, and palm fronds or citrus branches that touch the eave. Burrows in the yard, holes at the edge of a slab or along a canal bank, and activity at ground level after dark point to Norway rats, which dig rather than climb and which sometimes come up through broken sewer laterals and unsealed plumbing penetrations in older Chalmette plumbing and in houses rebuilt after the flood.
Mice are curious. They investigate anything new in their path within a night or two, they rarely travel more than a short distance from the nest, and a single house can hold several separate nesting groups. Mouse removal therefore depends on density — many trap and station placements along the actual runways, in the back of cabinets, behind the stove, in the garage along the wall base — rather than on a handful of well-chosen spots. Results usually show within the first several nights.
Rats are the opposite. They avoid unfamiliar objects for days, which is why a rat job that looks slow in week one is often just running on schedule. Rat removal means identifying the travel route first, placing devices where the animal already goes, and accepting a period of patient work before the catch rate climbs. Roof rats pull the work into the attic and along the roofline, which means ladder access, soffit and ridge inspection, and attention to what the insulation looks like once the animals are gone. Norway rats pull it to ground level: burrow treatment, skirting, piers, and whatever is feeding them outside. The treatment plan also changes with pets, children, and nearby wildlife, and it is worth asking how bait is secured and where, rather than assuming.
Trapping clears the animals in the building. Rodent exclusion and proofing is what stops the next ones walking in, and on a property that keeps having problems, it is the actual job. A mouse goes through a gap you would not notice; a rat enlarges one it can get its teeth into. The usual openings on local homes are gable and soffit vents with torn screen, the gap where the A/C line set enters the wall, dryer and bath fan terminations with broken flaps, garage door bottom corners, weep holes, and the underside of raised houses where plumbing and utility chases come through the subfloor. Proofing means galvanised hardware cloth, sheet metal, copper mesh and mortar fitted to each opening, not expanding foam, which rodents chew straight through, and not steel wool, which rusts away in this humidity. Where Norway rats are burrowing, the barrier has to go down into the ground, not just across the face.
While that work is open, damaged and raw wood deserves a look, because the same soffit and sill timber that rats chew is what Formosan subterranean termites are after. They have been established in New Orleans since the 1950s, they are the most destructive termite in the area, and the USDA has put the city's annual control and repair bill at roughly $300 million. Anything gnawed, soft, or holding moisture is worth flagging while you can see it.
Price tracks the size and shape of the building, whether it is slab or raised, how reachable the attic and underfloor are, how many entry points need permanent material, whether roofline work needs ladder access, and how many follow-up visits it takes to confirm zero fresh activity. Insulation that has been heavily soiled is a separate conversation. Before booking anyone, ask whether exclusion is included or quoted separately, whether they will physically enter the attic and under the house, whether entry points get documented, and what happens if activity returns after the last visit. A bait-only job with no sealing is the most common reason a rodent problem comes back in six months — and dead rodents inside wall cavities with no removal plan is the second.
Cypress Perimeter Group works across Chalmette, Arabi, Meraux, Poydras, Gentilly and New Orleans. The business is licensed and insured, holds contractor licensing, offers free estimates, can often attend same day, and takes a range of payment methods. Hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm — call during those hours to arrange an inspection.