Rodents in Bakersfield: What You Need To Know
Have you noticed scratching, scurrying, rustling or maybe squeaking sounds in your home? Chances are you've heard these sounds before, and they may indicate that you have rodents living in the walls, basement, attic, roof or storage area of your home.
What Are Rodents
Rodents are a group of mammals categorized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in both upper and lower jaws, used for chewing or biting. While this is a scientific explanation, you may have instantly thought of rats or mice. Rodents damage infrastructure, consume agricultural yields, and contaminate food supplies, causing an estimated $27 billion in damage each year in the United States alone.
Why Bakersfield Is Ideal for Rodents
Let's discuss how rodents get into Bakersfield homes and why. The favorable conditions for rodents to thrive and spread include abundance of food, warm temperatures, plenty of shelter, and water. What makes Bakersfield surprisingly an ideal city for rodents to spread is its location.
Bakersfield is located in Kern County, a county with the highest number of farmland in California. Kern County has over 650 farms as of 2025, and it ranks as the number two agricultural producing county in the entire nation. Kern County alone has 1.4 million acres of farmland and produces 80% of the nation's carrot supply. The top 5 crops grown in Kern County are: Almonds, Grapes, Citrus Fruits, Pistachios, and Vegetables. These also happen to be crops that the majority of rodents search for and fill their tummies with.
The fact that Kern County is filled with farmlands that grow crops the majority of rodents enjoy is what significantly contributes to creating favorable conditions for rodents in Bakersfield.
How Rodents End Up in Your Bakersfield Home
While farmlands do allow rodents to feed, grow and spread, how do they end up in the attic of your home? What causes the rodents to spread and leave the farmlands area? It is the weather.
Bakersfield weather does reach extremely hot temperatures during the summer, up to 98 degrees. Highly favorable conditions for rodents to reproduce, spread and grow in populations. However, during the winter, temperatures in Bakersfield can drop as low as 37 degrees. This low temperature is what causes farming to stop, any remaining crops to be collected, with only a few cool season crops left, creating a scarcity of food supply for rodents. The temperature itself also forces rodents to search for warm shelter.
This is why we often see rodents during the winter in Bakersfield, because that's when rodents are searching for shelter and food the most. They can no longer feed off the farms, which is why they are spreading from the farms into the cities in search of food, water and shelter.
What also supports the reproduction of rodents in Bakersfield and in Kern County is excessive reliance on irrigation. All that irrigation used on farmlands, in homes during very hot summers, pools around the homes of Bakersfield, all this amount of water creates an excess, available for rodents to feed off of.
Basic Reasons Rodents Show Up
Don't forget about the basic reasons for rodents showing up to your house, these include:
- Open or full trash cans
- Food crumbs on the table or floor
- Drink spills
- Leaky pipes
- Excessive irrigation
- Water puddles
- Dark but warm garages
- Warm spaces
All of these, at first basic things, can invite rodents into your home. Please keep these in mind. This is a basic checklist that we, as pest control company, give to Bakersfield homeowners for them to check off before our pest control team steps in.
Common Entry Points for Rodents in Bakersfield
Where do rodents enter your home? Common entry points include:
Gaps Around Doors: Check your door for wear gaps from weather, especially under the door itself or its frame.
Gaps Around Utilities: Gas pipes, plumbing pipes and electrical lines often wear out due to weather or age, creating gaps large enough for rodents to enter.
Cracks in the Foundation: Cracks in the foundation are common, especially for older homes, and are large enough for rodents to enter.
Holes in Exteriors: Siding or home additions can be great entry points for rodents.
Attic Vents: Damaged or uncovered attic vents are very common entry points for rodents.
Garage Doors: Small gaps on the sides or bottom of garage doors are a common entry point.
Damaged Roofing: Missing shingles or roof damage can provide entry to attics.
Pet Doors: Worn-out flaps or unsecured openings.
Drains and Sewer Lines: Rats can enter through damaged or uncapped drains.
The 5 Most Common Rodents in Bakersfield
House Mouse
House mice are rapidly reproducing, especially during the summer when warmer temperatures strike. They are extremely common in both homes and businesses, due to their small size that allows them to enter properties through even the smallest entry points.
Norway Rat (Brown Rat)
Norway rats are often found in sewers, basements, barns and commercial properties. Brown rats also cause a lot of structural damage, especially to farms and storage barns. These are the rodents Kern County farmers are highly afraid of, because these rodents not only eat crops but also cause structural damage to the barns and farms themselves.
Roof Rat (Black Rat)
Very common in Southern and Central California, roof rats prefer to enter attics, roofs, palm trees, and upper levels of structures. Roof rats have been a large problem in Bakersfield for a long time, especially back in 2014, when homeowners and businesses reported hundreds of roof rats on their properties, with over 300 rat cases being opened.
California Ground Squirrel
Common outdoors in Bakersfield, they burrow extensively and can damage foundations, landscaping, and irrigation systems. Widespread in the Bakersfield area, they inhabit areas with well-drained soils like roadsides, farmlands, and open grasslands.
Pocket Gopher
Known for destroying lawns and gardens by tunneling underground home gardens.
Signs Your Home Has Rodents
Here are common signs that your home is experiencing a rodent infestation:
- Droppings: Rat droppings are shiny black and up to 3/4" long. Mice droppings are smaller with pointed ends.
- Gnaw Marks: On door corners and walls, or gnawed fruit in trees.
- Noises: Inexplicable noises or scratching sounds in the walls, especially at night.
- Burrows: Outdoors along foundations, walls or trees is a sign of Norway rat activity.
- Foul Odors: From urine or droppings.
Curious to learn more about pests in Bakersfield? Check out our article on “Top 5 Common Pests in Bakersfield” for a deeper look at what local homeowners and businesses should watch out for!
Professional Rodent Control Services in Bakersfield
Never Pests Pest Control has helped homeowners and businesses for over 25 years safely remove and exterminate rodents, including the most common rodents in Bakersfield: House Mouse, Norway Rat (Brown Rat), Roof Rat (Black Rat), California Ground Squirrel, and Pocket Gopher.
We are not a national pest control company that operates in multiple states. Instead, we are a local company that consists of locals who live and thrive in Bakersfield, who have experienced pests and rodents themselves. We are a licensed, hands-on trained and insured pest control team that is here to support local businesses and homes of Bakersfield with rodent control services.
More Than Just Rodent Control Service
Providing pest control services beyond just rodents, we exterminate bed bugs, cockroaches, spiders, ants, mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and other bugs. Unlike larger pest control companies, we don't leave you confused on the service being provided. We carefully explain the service, procedure, and each step in the extermination.
We provide you with transparent, clear pricing that is competitive. Our goal is to provide homeowners and businesses with pest control services they can feel confident about, services that won't hurt their budget.
If you live just outside Bakersfield, in Arvin, Shafter, Wasco, Lamont, Delano, Porterville, or even Lost Hills, we've got you covered too.
Our Rodent Control Process
We arrive prepared to conduct a thorough inspection of your property to identify exactly how big the issue is. We inspect your walls, doors, attics, basements, rooftops and other common entry points. We determine and identify the extent of the infestation as well.
By their nature, rodents are conditioned to expand their nests. They'll never stop multiplying, and they'll chew through everything in order to make more room for their nests. Because rodents can get into unsanitary places like your sewer system, they can carry and spread diseases quickly as well. As your rodent infestation expands, they can open up your home to further invasion from the outside.
Our Rodent Treatment Includes:
- A full property inspection from top to bottom, including the attic and roof
- Locating every rodent entry point and sealing each one with durable steel repairs
- Professional trapping and complete removal of all rats inside your home or building
- Thorough cleanup of droppings, odor treatment, and repairs for damage such as chewed wiring
Don't Wait to Take Action
Rodents carry diseases, bacterias, illnesses and damage your property. Don't let them overtake your home or business, call in the professionals to handle the extermination safely and efficiently!
Contact Never Pests Pest Control to have your Bakersfield property professionally inspected and treated to remove rodents. Our local team understands the unique challenges that rodents in Bakersfield present, and we're ready to protect your property.
