Rodent Removal in Southlake, TX
Southlake was named for the lake at its northern edge and built in the post oak woods of the Cross Timbers, and its large custom homes have more roofline for a rat to test than any other town in the county. One call books a free inspection from a licensed contractor.
- Free attic and roofline inspection
- Phone answered 24 hours a day
- TDA-licensed contractors on every job
Free Inspection in Southlake
The free inspection on a Southlake house is a long walk, because there is a lot of roof. Whoever attends works the eaves for open soffit seams and returns at every roof step, checks the ridge and gable vents, the chimney caps and the stacks from the roof, looks at the garage door seals on a three-car garage, then goes through the attic with a light reading droppings, rub marks and the trails worn into the insulation. Pool houses, outdoor kitchens and detached garages get the same look. The written findings put trapping, sealing and any cleanup on separate lines.
Southlake sits in northeast Tarrant County between Keller and Grapevine, south of Grapevine Lake along State Highway 114, so the contractor we route usually comes from the northeast side of the county. The phone is answered 24 hours a day. Book a free inspection and say what you hear and where in the house.
Custom homes in the Cross Timbers have more roof and more trees
Southlake sits in the Eastern Cross Timbers, the belt of post oak and blackjack oak that runs north to south through this part of the county, and the town was settled in the 1840s by families who farmed clearings in it. The families voted to incorporate in 1956, the year the new lake made the land worth more, and the daughter of the first mayor named the town for it. The houses that make up most of Southlake today came from the 1990s onward: large custom and semi-custom homes on lots of an acre or so, brick and stone, with complex rooflines, several gables, two or three chimneys and the oaks kept close to the walls.
Every extra gable is another return and another vent. A roof with six gables, two chimneys and a covered outdoor living area has a dozen places where a soffit meets a wall or a roof meets a wall, and UF/IFAS sets the rat-proofing standard at a quarter inch. Post oaks reach the ridgelines on the older lots and give roof rats, which travel along branches and wires, a direct road. Rodent exclusion on a Southlake house is a longer list than most, closed point by point in hardware cloth and sheet metal.
Grapevine Lake and Town Square bring the ground species close
The Corps of Engineers built Grapevine Lake on Denton Creek between 1947 and 1952, clearing thousands of acres of creek bottom, and the wooded shoreline along Southlake's north edge is Norway rat country. The neighborhoods off Dove Road and the streets nearest the corps land see burrowing rats at foundations, under decks and in pool equipment enclosures, and the creeks that drain toward the lake carry them through the rest of the town.
Town Square opened its first phase in 1999 as a walkable downtown of brick storefronts with offices above, and its restaurants, dumpster enclosures and shared roof decks produce the kind of call that commercial rodent control handles, with a service log for the health inspection file. On the residential side the inspection reads the droppings to tell a roof rat from a Norway rat, since roof rat droppings run a quarter to half an inch with pointed ends, and seals at ground level or at the eave accordingly.
What We Handle in Southlake
Southlake calls run to roof rats in the attics of large custom homes, Norway rats near the lake and the creeks, and the cleanup that a long undetected infestation leaves in a big attic.
- Roof rat removal: trapping on the runs through a large attic, with traps down at least a week because roof rats avoid new objects, per UF/IFAS.
- Rodent exclusion: every return, gable vent, ridge end, chimney cap and soffit seam on a complex roof closed in steel.
- Rodent inspection: free, covering the main house, the garage, the pool house and the trees that reach the roof.
- Rodent clearance letters: a written report for a sale, since Southlake houses change hands with inspections attached.
- Attic cleanup: droppings and fouled insulation removed from an attic large enough to hide a season of activity.
- Attic insulation replacement: new blown fill where the old has been packed into runs, because the Department of Energy states compressed insulation falls short of its rated R-value.
- Commercial rodent control: the restaurants and mixed-use buildings around Town Square, with documentation.
A Typical Southlake Job
The situation: The owners of a stone-and-brick two-story from the early 2000s on an acre lot near Dove Road hear scratching above the upstairs media room every night from mid-January. A post oak leans over the back gable. Their housekeeper found droppings on the shelf in the pool house.
What gets done: The free inspection finds two of the six gable vents screened only with insect mesh and chewed through, a return open where the outdoor living roof meets the second-story wall, and the pool house door seal gone. Roof rat droppings run the length of the attic above the media room. The contractor we route closes the return and four vents in hardware cloth that day, traps the attic run for a week with the fifth vent as the last opening, and replaces the pool house seal.
How it turns out: Four roof rats in the first week, quiet by the tenth night, and the last vent closed on the second visit. The report lists nine photographed points, and the quote prices the sealing and the trapping apart with the pool house as its own line.
What This Costs in Southlake
A typical Southlake rodent job lands inside the published national bands, usually toward the upper half because of the size of the roof, and the free inspection confirms which lines the house needs.
| Work | National band (HomeGuide 2026) |
|---|---|
| Inspection | Free here; standalone inspections run $0 to $175 nationally |
| Trapping and removal | $250 to $1,200 |
| Full-home exclusion | $500 to $2,500 |
| Attic cleanup and decontamination | $600 to $2,500 |
| Attic insulation removal and replacement | $2.50 to $5.50 per square foot |
| Dead rodent removal | $150 to $500 |
A Southlake custom home with six gables, two chimneys and a pool house sits near the top of the exclusion band because there are simply more points to close, and a large attic pushes any cleanup toward the top of its band too. Ask whoever attends to price each part on its own line and to say what the sealing warranty covers and for how long.
Materials that keep rodents out
A comparison of what actually holds at a gap.
Video: How to keep mice out. Cheaper than hardware cloth, from Ontario Lakeside.
Common Questions in Southlake
What callers from Southlake want to know before they book.
Call (817) 710-2756What is the cheapest way to get rid of rats in a big house?
Sealing every point once, with trapping alongside, costs the most on the first visit and the least over a year. Bait alone is cheap up front and tends to end with a carcass in a wall, since the EPA notes most rodenticides are anticoagulants that take four days to two weeks to kill. On a house with a dozen returns the temptation is to seal the obvious ones and trap the rest, and that is the plan that runs for months. The free inspection prices each part so the trade is visible.
Is it safe to do exclusion before trapping?
Yes, as long as one active route stays open and trapped until the noise stops. Sealing everything at once with animals inside leaves them chewing for a way out or dying in a wall. On a Southlake roof the quiet points are closed first, the run behind the last opening is trapped for at least a week, and the last point is closed on the return visit.
Can the sealing be done without it showing on a stone house?
Yes. Most of the work is done from inside the attic or from the roof: hardware cloth behind the gable louvers, metal end plugs in the ridge vent, sheet metal at the returns painted to match the trim, and a stainless cap on the flue. Weep holes take a mesh insert that sits flush with the mortar. Nothing on the street elevation changes.
Who is licensed to do this in Tarrant County?
Rodent control for pay in Texas requires a structural pest control business license from the Texas Department of Agriculture and a certified applicator, with rats and mice in the Pest Control category. Each contractor we route into Southlake holds that license. Check the TPCL number on the department current-license list before the visit and ask for proof of insurance.
Nearby Areas We Serve
The contractors who cover Southlake also cover the towns next to it, and the service area takes in Tarrant County together with the rest of the Fort Worth metro.