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Seattle’s winter — cool, damp and relatively mild compared with much of the country — feels cozy to people but offers plenty of invitation to rodents looking for food, warmth and dry nesting sites. Mice, Norway rats, roof rats and field rodents like voles are common around the Seattle metro area; they take shelter in…

Seattle’s cool, wet winters might seem like a quiet time for bugs and rodents, but that’s precisely why winter is often the best season to schedule a thorough pest inspection. As temperatures drop and the rain sets in, many pests that live outdoors seek out warm, dry shelter — and the sheltered spaces around and…

January sits at the intersection of seasonal decline and unpredictable weather swings, and those conditions have an outsized influence on how well pest-trapping programs perform. Across temperate regions, January typically brings lower ambient temperatures, shorter daylight hours, increased precipitation (rain, sleet, snow) and frequent freeze–thaw cycles. These factors alter the physiology and behavior of pest…

Seattle’s damp, cool winters create the kind of weather that makes wall voids—those hollow spaces between studs, between interior and exterior walls, and behind baseboards—an attractive refuge for rats. While the region’s temperatures rarely reach the extreme lows found inland, the prolonged rain, wind, and loss of foliage push rodents away from exposed outdoor harborage…

Winter along the Puget Sound is mild, damp and often gray — conditions that may feel peaceful to people but are inviting to a wide range of pests looking for food, warmth and dry shelter. Homes close to the Sound sit at the meeting point of marine influence, evergreen forests and suburban landscaping, creating abundant…

Seattle’s cool, damp winters pose a natural test for the city’s cockroach populations, but the relationship between cold weather and roach survival is more complex than it first appears. Cockroaches are a diverse group with different thermal preferences and survival strategies: some species are essentially tropical invaders that thrive only in warm, humid indoor environments,…

In Seattle, many homeowners and pest professionals notice a predictable rise in mouse sightings as fall turns to winter, with activity often reaching a high point in the weeks leading up to February. That apparent spike isn’t random: it’s the result of overlapping biological rhythms of mice, seasonal changes in the Pacific Northwest climate, and…

As temperatures drop and daylight shortens, rodents shift from casual foraging to focused scavenging — and Seattle’s winter conditions make many homes especially inviting. Unlike regions with long, hard freezes, Seattle’s mild, wet winters allow mice and rats to remain active outdoors and press into structures looking for reliable food, warmth, and dry nesting sites….

January is the month when the consequences of unsealed entry points become most obvious — and most expensive. With outdoor temperatures at their lowest in many regions, every gap, crack, or poorly sealed penetration in a building envelope becomes a direct pathway for heat loss, drafts, and moisture. That increases heating bills, forces HVAC systems…

When temperatures drop and food becomes scarce, rats shift their priorities from foraging to finding reliable shelter and steady warmth. Urban and suburban rodents — most commonly Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and roof rats (Rattus rattus) — are highly adaptable and exploit the built environment to survive harsh winters. Utility lines running between poles, trees,…