Mango Season and Roof Rats: Fruit Trees and the Attic

Why mango season brings roof rats closer

Roof rats live up high: in palms, thick trees, vines and attics. A fruiting tree gives them a steady meal right where they already travel. Rodent activity often rises during mango and avocado season, and the tree that feeds them is often the same one whose branches reach the roof. Our post on how roof rats get from the yard to the attic walks through the whole route.

The picking-season routine

While the trees are fruiting:

• Pick fruit as it ripens instead of letting it hang.
• Pick up fallen fruit every day, including the ones that rolled under the hedge.
• Don't eat fruit that rats have gnawed. Pick it up with gloves or a bag over your hand, bag it and put it in a trash can with a tight lid, not the compost.
• Don't leave fruit to ripen on the patio, the lanai or by the garage door.
• Keep compost in a closed bin, and don't add fruit scraps to an open pile.
• Store pet food and bird seed in sealed containers.

The roof rats' bridge from the mango tree

Stand back from the house and look up. Do mango or avocado branches touch the roof, the gutter or the eaves? Do palm fronds rest on the roof? Roof rats use those as a bridge. Keeping branches off the roof and away from the eaves takes the bridge away. Trimming is a job for you or a tree service. We don't do tree, plant or fruit work.

What we do about roof rats

We start with an inspection to find how they're getting in. Then we set traps and tamper-resistant bait stations, and seal the gaps rodents are using with exclusion work. Inside the home we use traps only, never loose bait. Bait stations stay outside. We seal the entry points ourselves; we don't repair roofs, wood or tile. We come back to check and reset traps and stations, and we'll tell you how many visits your home is likely to need. More in what rodent exclusion is and on our rodent control page. Keep kids and pets off treated areas until dry, and follow your technician's instructions.

Hialeah's yards are full of fruit trees; our Hialeah rodent control page has a section on them. Rats move indoors in the cooler months too; see cold-front pests.

Our general pest plan is $125 per quarter, about $42 a month, and monthly or custom schedules are quoted after the inspection. For plan customers: "If pests come back between visits, so do we, at no extra cost." There are no long-term contracts and no cancellation fees, just a simple service agreement. We're family-run and licensed, with 30+ years in the business, and hablamos español. Browse more guides.

Roof rat and fruit tree questions