Mice and Rodent Control in Aurora

Mice control in Aurora is a two-part job: trap the mice already inside, then seal the openings they came through so the next wave from the fields cannot follow. Rodent control for rats adds work outside, treating burrows and sealing the foundation in metal or mortar. Most Aurora mouse jobs run $200 to $500 and rat control runs $300 to $600 and up, with a free inspection and a firm quote before work starts. Call or send the form; same-day booking is available across town. This page is the rodent detail for pest control in Aurora. For each animal across the region, read mouse control in York Region and rat control in York Region.

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Mouse, deer mouse, vole or rat?

Aurora has more open land at its edges than the towns to the south, so a wider cast of rodents turns up here. Getting the animal right decides the treatment.

Voles are the one people misread most. If the damage is a maze of shallow trails across the lawn in April and chewed bark at the base of young shrubs, that is voles working under the snow all winter, and it is a yard problem rather than a house one. If you are finding droppings in the cutlery drawer, it is a mouse.

Old Aurora and new Aurora get mice differently

Aurora's housing runs from century homes near Yonge and Wellington to estate lots and recent subdivisions, and the way mice get in changes with the building.

In the heritage core, the houses are older and so are the foundations. Stone and old brick, crawlspaces under rear additions, a basement window well that has settled, and a hundred years of plumbing and wiring threaded through the walls. Mice in these houses often travel inside the walls between floors, so sealing means working the basement perimeter carefully, not just the obvious holes.

In Regency Acres and Aurora Highlands, the established subdivisions, the weak points are predictable: the garage door seal, brick weep vents, the gas line entry, the dryer vent flap. A morning's sealing usually handles them.

Bayview Wellington and Stronach are newer, but a new house still has gaps, and builders' sealant around penetrations shrinks and cracks within a few winters. On the estate lots in the Hills of St Andrew, the house is rarely the only building. Detached garages, pool houses and sheds give mice a staging post, and we include them in the inspection.

The farm and Moraine edge

The Town of Aurora describes itself as located on the Oak Ridges Moraine, and the north and east edges of town still meet fields, hedgerows and woodlots. The Sheppard's Bush conservation area keeps a stand of forest inside town. For homes near that open land, the mice are there all summer and the pressure in September and October is steady and predictable.

Deer mice are the reason the cleanup matters on these lots. The Public Health Agency of Canada names the deer mouse, the white-footed mouse and the red-backed vole as hantavirus carriers found across parts of Canada. Its advice for droppings and nests:

• Do not sweep or vacuum them, because that puts particles in the air.
• Wear rubber or plastic gloves, and an N95 respirator in a confined space like a shed.
• Spray the droppings and nesting material with 1 part bleach to 9 parts water, or a Health Canada-approved disinfectant, and let it soak 10 minutes.
• Wipe up with paper towels, double-bag the waste, and put it in the garbage.

Opening the shed in spring and sweeping out a winter of mouse nests is the one cleanup job worth slowing down for.

Rats in Aurora

Rats are not a common Aurora problem, but they do appear. When they do, it is usually around a backyard composter, seed under a bird feeder, a woodpile or shed sitting on bare earth, or feed and bedding on a rural property. A rat in the garage or basement nearly always has a burrow somewhere outside, often under a deck or against the foundation. Treating it means locked bait stations along the runs, collapsing the burrows once they go quiet, and closing foundation openings with hardware cloth, sheet metal or mortar.

What Aurora's by-law requires

Aurora's Property Standards By-law 6543-23, enacted September 26, 2023, has a section on pest prevention. It requires buildings to be kept free of rodents, vermin and insects at all times, and it requires openings such as vents, pipe and wiring holes, cracks, chimneys and floor drains to be screened or sealed against rodents. It also says extermination must follow Ontario's Pesticides Act. In other words, the sealing we do is what the by-law asks of every Aurora owner.

The by-law also lists duties for occupants, including exterminating pests inside their own dwelling unit unless a lease assigns that to the owner. That does not cancel provincial law for renters. Provincial law sets the split: Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act puts maintenance and repair on the landlord and ordinary cleanliness on the tenant. If you rent and have mice, tell the landlord in writing, keep a copy, and check what your lease says. If the landlord will not act, the Landlord and Tenant Board is where that dispute goes.

To report a property that is harbouring rodents, the Town takes by-law complaints by email to its Bylaw Division (bdepartment@aurora.ca) or by phone at 905-727-1375, and asks for photos where you have them (Town of Aurora, property standards).

Collection week habits

Aurora collects green bins weekly and garbage every other week, and carts can go to the curb no earlier than 5 p.m. the night before (Town of Aurora, collection information). That two-week garbage cycle is where rodent trouble starts. Keep the garbage in a hard bin with a lid between pickups, store the green bin in the garage, and do not put cartons of kitchen waste beside the shed for "later".

How the visit goes

We inspect inside and out for free, confirm which rodent it is, and quote. Traps go into the runs indoors. If bait is part of the plan, it sits in locked tamper-resistant stations, which Health Canada requires anywhere children or pets can reach (Health Canada, rats and mice), and all products carry Health Canada registration and go down exactly as the label directs. Then we seal. A follow-up visit clears the traps and checks the seals. Insectica Pest Control does the work. It is licensed, insured and BBB A-accredited, and the job comes with a two-month guarantee that includes one free re-treatment.

When DIY is enough

A few droppings in the garage and nothing in the house is often a DIY job: snap traps against the wall, a new garage door sweep, steel mesh in the obvious gaps. Voles in the lawn usually need nothing more than shorter grass in fall and a wire guard around young trees.

Call when mice are inside the living space, when you hear them in the walls or ceiling, when you find a nest in an outbuilding you cannot safely clean, or when you see any sign of rats.

Common questions

Reviewed October 2026.

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