Beltsville Rodent Control
Family-owned & local since 1968
Field mice in the garage or rats under the shed? We clear rodents out of Beltsville homes, with follow-up visits and unlimited free callbacks.
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From Your Beltsville Neighbors
Trusted Rodent Control in Beltsville, MD — in Our Customers' Words
Hear what Northern Virginia and Maryland homeowners have to say about our service — in their own words. Real customers from real homes, sharing why they trust Better Termite with what matters most.
- Homes protected
- 100k+
- Google reviews
- 4.9★
- Years local
- 58+
Why Better Termite
Rodent Control in Beltsville you can trust — from $49/mo with no binding contracts.
Lower-Impact Products
Hand-picked, EPA-approved treatments selected by our research team — without 9 of the harshest products still used by most companies.
Local Rodent Control Experts
Family-owned since 1968, with 300+ years of combined experience protecting Beltsville homes. A licensed local tech answers the phone.
The Better Promise
Unlimited free re-services and no binding contracts — we keep coming back until your problem is gone. Cancel anytime with 30 days notice.
About Better Termite
Mouse and Rat Control Across Beltsville, MD 20705
When the fields go quiet, the mice come looking for a way in
It is usually the garage first. A torn bag of grass seed. Black specks on the shelf by the dryer. Then one night in October there is scratching above the ceiling, and now the whole family is listening for it.
Beltsville is a mid-century suburb wrapped around open land. Fields, hedgerows, and woods sit right behind a lot of back fences, and Route 1 runs through the middle with restaurants, grocery stores, and warehouses on both sides. The fields send mice. The commercial strip feeds rats. Many homes here get one or the other, and some get both.
Better Termite & Pest Control has been getting rodents out of DC-area homes since 1968. When you call, a licensed technician picks up and tells you what to do next. Every plan has unlimited free callbacks and no binding contract, and more than 1800+ customers have left us a review.
Local Rodent Pressure
Why Beltsville Gets Field Mice and Route 1 Rats
Beltsville grew up around open land, and much of that land is still open. The USDA's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center has been here since 1910, with thousands of acres of crop fields, pasture, and forest on the east side of town. Smaller parks run right through the neighborhoods, like Little Paint Branch Park behind the community center on Sellman Road, Beltsville Heights Park, and Beltsville North Park.
Fields and hedgerows mean field mice. White-footed mice and deer mice live in tall grass, brush piles, stone walls, and the strips of trees between fields. They do fine outdoors all summer. When the nights turn cold and the cover thins out, the ones nearest your house look for somewhere warm. A Beltsville rambler or split-level at the edge of a field is often the first building they reach.
Creeks mean burrows. Indian Creek, Little Paint Branch, and Beaverdam Creek wind through and around town. Norway rats like to dig their burrows in soft soil near water, under thick brush, and under anything left on the ground, then travel out at night for food.
Route 1 means food. Baltimore Avenue is Beltsville's main street for shopping and dining, and the land around it is full of business parks and warehouses, from the flex buildings off Virginia Manor Road to the Brick Yard site where the Washington Brick Company once dug clay. Dumpsters, loading docks, and drainage ditches give rats a steady supply of food and cover. The homes and townhouses closest to that corridor see more rat calls than the quiet streets near the fields. To learn more about the species involved, see our page on Norway rats.
Rodent Control
Field Mice or House Mice? What Beltsville Homes Usually Have
Ask ten Beltsville homeowners what is in their garage and you will hear "field mice" from most of them. Sometimes they are right. Homes that back onto fields, woods, or a creek valley often get white-footed mice and deer mice. They are tan to reddish-brown on top with a clean white belly, white feet, big dark eyes, and large ears. They nest outside most of the year and move into garages, crawl spaces, and attics when it gets cold.
House mice are smaller and a plain gray-brown all over. They do not need the woods. Once they are in, they can live and breed inside all year. In the older blocks of South Beltsville and the townhouse rows near Route 1, house mice are the usual find. Our guide to deer mice vs. house mice shows the differences side by side.
One thing that is not mice
If the trouble is little tunnels and holes across the lawn near a field, that is almost always voles, not mice. Voles stay outdoors and feed on roots and plants. We do not treat voles, and we would rather tell you that up front. Here is how to tell a mouse from a vole. If you are finding droppings or chewed packages inside, that is a mouse problem, and that is our job.
Entry Points
Where Mice Get Into Beltsville Ramblers and Split-Levels
Most of Beltsville was built from the late 1940s through the 1970s: brick ramblers, Cape Cods, and a lot of split-levels with the garage tucked into the lower level. After 50 years or more, every one of those houses has gaps. When our technician Daren walks the outside of a house, these are the spots he checks first:
- Utility lines. This is the number one entry point. The gas line, the AC line set, the dryer vent, the hose bib. Somebody comes out to work on one of them and never reseals the hole.
- The bottom of the garage door. The rubber seal at the bottom wears out and the corners curl. On a split-level, that garage opens right into the lower level of the house.
- Old cable lines. Many houses still have a dead cable or phone line hanging off the wall from years ago. The hole it goes through is often bigger than the wire.
- Weep holes and vents. The small gaps at the base of brick veneer, and the vents into a crawl space under an addition.
- The roofline. On wooded lots, squirrels chew holes in soffits and fascia boards. Mice climb right up the brick and use the same hole.
That last one surprises people. Daren once worked a house where mice kept coming back after every gap at ground level had been sealed. After months of searching, he spotted a twig sticking out high up near the soffit. Squirrels had chewed through, birds had moved in, and mice were using the same hole. Once it was sealed, the house went quiet. More on mice in the attic here.
Rats
Norway Rats Near Route 1 and the Creek Valleys
Rats are a different job. In Beltsville they are almost always Norway rats, the big brown ground-dwelling rat. They dig. Look for fist-sized burrow holes under sheds, along fences, under the back stoop, and beside the trash cans. You may also see smooth, dark rub marks along the bottom of a wall where they run the same path every night. Their droppings are about half an inch long with blunt ends; compare what you found to our rat droppings guide.
How we handle rats
Outside, locked bait stations go along the walls, fences, and burrow areas where rats travel. Inside the house, we use snap traps, not bait. A rat that eats bait inside can die in a wall or under a floor where nobody can reach it. We also look hard at what is feeding them. If there is dog food, bird seed, or open trash nearby, rats will pass up our bait for it every time.
Get the neighbors involved
Rats range across several yards. The Prince George's County Health Department tells residents the same thing: rat problems spread over a wide area, so neighbors need to work on them together. If the house next door keeps open trash or a pile of debris, the rats will keep coming back to your yard too.
Rodent Control
How We Get Rodents Out of a Beltsville Home
Most people who call us have already tried. They set a few snap traps in the garage, caught two mice, and figured that was it. A month later the droppings were back. Rodent control works when it keeps going after the first few catches.
We start inside, where the activity is. We look at the pantry, the garage shelves, and the lower level to find where they are eating and nesting, and we point out other food they can get to. Then locked bait stations go where the mice are running. Baiting at the lower level of the house is what does most of the work. Then we go outside and walk the whole house for the entry points above.
We come back early to see what is being eaten and adjust. Once things go quiet, most homes drop to three visits a year to check and re-bait the stations. If you hear anything between visits, call us and we come back at no charge.
Plans start at $49/month with a $200 setup fee on the first visit. Our research team reviews every product we use and has removed 9 of the harshest ones common in our industry. If you also want ants, spiders, and other crawling pests covered, our Beltsville pest control plans include them.
White-footed mice live in the hedgerows and brush along Beltsville's fields and creeks
Locked stations go where rodents travel, along the wall and near the garage
A woodpile against the house gives field mice a nest a few feet from your wall
Norway rats dig. Look for burrows under sheds, stoops, and along fences
Stations sit low and blend into the beds around the house
Family-owned and getting rodents out of Maryland homes since 1968
Everything We Do
Every service we offer in Beltsville — one local team, one phone call.
Core Programs
- Home Pest Control in Beltsville
- Termite Control in Beltsville
- Rodent Control in Beltsville
- Mosquito & Tick Control in Beltsville
- Extermination Services in Beltsville
- Eco-Friendly Pest Control in Beltsville
- Sentricon® Termite Baiting in Beltsville
- IN2CARE® Mosquito System in Beltsville
- Commercial Pest Control in Beltsville
- Pre-Construction Termite Control in Beltsville
Insects & Spiders
- Ant Control in Beltsville
- Carpenter Ant Control in Beltsville
- Sugar Ant Control in Beltsville
- Spider Control in Beltsville
- Roach Control in Beltsville
- German Cockroach Control in Beltsville
- Oriental Cockroach Control in Beltsville
- American Cockroach Control in Beltsville
- Flea Control in Beltsville
- Silverfish Control in Beltsville
- Carpet Beetle Control in Beltsville
- Pantry Pest Control in Beltsville
- Stink Bug Control in Beltsville
- Lady Bug Control in Beltsville
- Boxelder Bug Control in Beltsville
- Cricket Control in Beltsville
- Tick Control in Beltsville
- Earwig Control in Beltsville
- Millipede Control in Beltsville
- Centipede Control in Beltsville
- Pill Bug Control in Beltsville
- Springtail Control in Beltsville
- Clover Mite Control in Beltsville
Stinging & Flying
Rodents & Wildlife
What Prince George's County Homeowners Say About Us
1800+ Reviews on Google "We had a bad cockroach problem - we knew it was bad because of all the baby cockroaches we spotted. It took a while but Better Termite ultimately solved it and our house is cockroach free. Cindy in particular, was quick to help out and made it pain free."
"I highly recommend this company for your home pest control. Their technicians are thorough and have prevented any unwanted problems from happening on our property. During our last treatment, Jasmine took care of our outdoor spider webs without us even asking. Last summer they removed a mud dauber's nest under our deck and above our patio door. That attention to detail speaks volumes. Thank you for taking care of us!"
"The team at Better Termite & Pest control are phenomenal! I feel like my family and my home are in good hands. Everyone I have come into contact with has been responsive, pleasant and professional. The price is right and the service is superb!"
"Joann is amazing! She always takes time to talk with me and check inside boxes. I so appreciate her!! I have been using Better Termite and Pest Management for over 20 years."
"I love Darren over at Better Termite. He is always so attentive and kind, and really goes, IMO, out of his way to do a fantastic job. And I am so happy that I had NO MOSQUITOES this summer in my backyard in spite of the fact that there is a drainage area right behind my house, and that is 100% because of Better Termites services."
"We had a bad cockroach problem - we knew it was bad because of all the baby cockroaches we spotted. It took a while but Better Termite ultimately solved it and our house is cockroach free. Cindy in particular, was quick to help out and made it pain free."
"I highly recommend this company for your home pest control. Their technicians are thorough and have prevented any unwanted problems from happening on our property. During our last treatment, Jasmine took care of our outdoor spider webs without us even asking. Last summer they removed a mud dauber's nest under our deck and above our patio door. That attention to detail speaks volumes. Thank you for taking care of us!"
"The team at Better Termite & Pest control are phenomenal! I feel like my family and my home are in good hands. Everyone I have come into contact with has been responsive, pleasant and professional. The price is right and the service is superb!"
"Joann is amazing! She always takes time to talk with me and check inside boxes. I so appreciate her!! I have been using Better Termite and Pest Management for over 20 years."
"I love Darren over at Better Termite. He is always so attentive and kind, and really goes, IMO, out of his way to do a fantastic job. And I am so happy that I had NO MOSQUITOES this summer in my backyard in spite of the fact that there is a drainage area right behind my house, and that is 100% because of Better Termites services."
How It Works
How Beltsville Rodent Control Works
Call and Talk It Through
A licensed technician answers. Tell us what you found and where: droppings in the garage, scratching in the ceiling, a burrow by the shed. We will tell you if it sounds like mice or rats and quote your Beltsville home on the phone.
Inside First, Then Outside
Inside, we find where activity is heaviest and look for other food they are eating, like dog food or bird seed. Outside, we walk the house for entry points: utility lines, the bottom of the garage door, weep holes, vents, and the roofline.
Bait for Mice, Traps for Rats
Locked bait stations go where mice are running. For rats inside the house we use snap traps, not bait, so nothing dies in a wall. Outside, stations are set along the foundation where rodents travel.
Follow Up Until It Is Quiet
We come back early to see what has been eaten and move stations as needed. How soon and how often depends on how bad it is when we start.
Three Visits a Year, Free Callbacks
Once activity stops, most homes go to three visits a year to check and re-bait the stations. Hear something between visits? Call, and we come back at no charge. Cancel any time with 30 days notice.
Your Local Office
Rodent Control Across Beltsville and Calverton
South Beltsville, Vansville, Beltsville Heights, Sunnyside, Calverton, Chestnut Hills, Muirkirk, and the streets off Powder Mill, Cherry Hill, and Ammendale Roads. ZIP code 20705.
Get in Touch
Call Us
703-683-2000Email Us
info@bettertermite.comVisit Our Alexandria (Headquarters) Office
2647 Duke StreetAlexandria, VA 22314
Office Hours
- Mon, Tue, Thu7:30 AM – 7 PM
- Wed, Fri7:30 AM – 8 PM
- Sat, Sun9 AM – 6 PM
Good to Know
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? A licensed local tech picks up at (703) 683-2000.
Our Free Callback Promise
See pests between scheduled visits? We come back and retreat at no extra cost — as many times as it takes. No binding contracts, cancel anytime with 30 days notice.
Other Services in Beltsville
Rodent Control in Nearby Communities
Your Local Office
Beltsville is served by our Alexandria, VA team.
Alexandria (Headquarters) Office →