Rodent Control in Miami Lakes

Miami Lakes is a planned community. The Graham family started building it in 1962 on land that had belonged to state senator Ernest "Cap" Graham, with a master plan by Lester Collins, a former dean at the Harvard design school. The original section east of the Palmetto Expressway was laid out around curving lakes, with a town center called Main Street. It became a town in 2000. Hialeah borders it on the south and west.

Calls from Miami Lakes come from single-family homes on the lakes, townhome communities and businesses around Main Street.

Lakefront lots

Water, thick landscaping and docks give rodents what they need. Lakefront yards often have dense shrubs along the bank and palms close to the house. Roof rats use the palms and trees to reach the roof. Ground rats, when they show up, burrow along banks and under slabs.

Keep plantings trimmed back from the walls and roof, pick up fallen fruit and keep pet food indoors. If you hear rats overhead, start with attic rodent removal.

Townhomes and shared walls

In a row of townhomes, rodents move along the shared attic space and the walls between units. Sealing your unit helps, but if neighbors have activity too, the association should be involved. Mice in townhome garages are common, and a worn garage door seal is usually the reason. See mouse control.

• Ask neighbors if they've heard noises in the ceiling
• Check the bottom seal and corners of the garage door
• Keep stored boxes off the garage floor

Hialeah and the area around

We also take calls from Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens and Miami Gardens. Older Hialeah homes get the same roof rat and mouse problems, and businesses there can set up a commercial program.

Places we mention in Miami Lakes: Main Street · Palmetto Expressway · Hialeah · Miami Lakes town hall

Other neighborhoods: Brickell, Wynwood and Edgewater, Upper Eastside and MiMo, Little Havana, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour, North Miami, Aventura, Hialeah, Doral, Westchester, South Miami, Kendall, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay.