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What makes Andrews different

Constant movement of material. Between a lease and a shop, a field and a barn, a job site and a driveway. Every load is a possible ride, and the destination is usually a garage, a shop, or a porch — the three places nobody checks.

Work trucks parked at the house. A truck that sits overnight is shelter, and if it's carrying feed dust, food wrappers, or crumbs it's shelter with a pantry. Pack rats build on engine blocks and chew wiring, which is the most expensive rodent problem on any rural property. Rodents in vehicles »

Farm and ranch land right up against town, so grassland and desert species are close: cotton rats in grass, pack rats in brush and stored equipment, deer mice in outbuildings.

Agriculture and livestock operations mean grain, feed, and hay are stored around the county in volume. If that's your situation, the depth is here: acreage, barns, feed and hay »

Oilfield yards, shops, and equipment storage on the edges of town, providing cover, water, and often crew trash at scale. Oilfield facility rodent control »

Andrews County, not Ector. Different jurisdiction for code enforcement and a different appraisal district for property records. Landlord & tenant responsibility »

It's a drive. Roughly thirty-five miles north. Call for details on scheduling and service area coverage.

What rodents ride in on

Check these before they come inside or into a garage. It takes a minute and it's the cheapest prevention on this page.

Hay and feed

Hay bales — inside the bale and underneath the bottom layer of a stack. A bale loaded off the ground on a wet or shaded pad is the most likely one to be carrying something
Sacked feed — chewed corners are the tell. A gnawed sack means the sack was already visited
Bulk feed and seed in totes and bins

Anything wooden or fibrous

Pallets. Rodents nest in pallet stacks and travel with them. Break them down outside, not in a garage
Cardboard boxes, especially any that sat in a shop, a barn, or a storage building. Cardboard is nesting material and harborage in one
Firewood. Never stack it against the house, and don't bring in more than you'll burn
Landscape material and bagged soil or mulch that's been sitting outside

Equipment and containers

Tool boxes, job boxes, coolers, and gear bags left open on a site
Equipment, implements, and trailers that have been parked a while — check enclosed spaces, engine bays, and anywhere a nest fits
Storage buildings and containers moved onto a property. These arrive occupied more often than people expect

Secondhand items

Furniture, mattresses, and upholstered anything from a barn, a garage, or a storage unit
Appliances — the back, the base pan, and the insulation cavity
Boxes of stored belongings out of an outbuilding

Vehicles

The engine bay and cabin air filter housing of anything that sits, especially after a long park. Look before you turn a key. More »
Truck beds and tool boxes with feed dust, wrappers, or crumbs in them
Don't store feed or pet food in a vehicle, and don't leave a cab with food in it overnight

What to look for on any of it: droppings, gnawing, chewed corners, shredded paper or fabric, urine staining, a musty smell, or a pile of sticks, cactus, wire, and foil — that's a pack rat midden, and it means the nest came with the load.

Where hauled-in rodents actually end up

The garage, the shop, and the porch — because that's where the load gets set down. In our experience that's the sequence on a lot of these calls: something comes off a trailer into the garage, sits for a week, and the first droppings show up in the garage or the laundry room, not the kitchen.

So the practical advice is unglamorous:

Set unknown loads down outside, or in a spot you can check, rather than straight into a garage
Break down and remove cardboard the same day rather than stacking it
Keep a clear floor perimeter in the garage and shop so activity is visible, and nothing stored directly against a wall
Everything edible in the garage into sealed metal or rigid containers — pet food, feed, bird seed, grass seed. Not the sack
Check the garage before you assume the problem came from outside. It's the most common wrong assumption we correct

And seal the garage anyway, because both routes are real:

Garage door bottom corners and threshold — the number one entry point in this region. Look at it with the door closed and a light outside
The garage man door into the house, and its threshold
Slab edge, penetrations, and where the drywall stops short at the ceiling
Weep holes — covered with a purpose-made cover or stainless mesh, never plugged solid

Rats & mice in the garage » · Full method » · Every entry point »

What we find most in Andrews

House mice — the most common animal in a house, in a shop, and in hauled-in material. Droppings ⅛–¼ inch, rice-sized with pointed ends. House mice »
Pack rats — in equipment, engine bays, stored material, and brush. Pack rats »
Cotton rats — in grass and field edges, entering structures after mowing, clearing, or harvest activity. Cotton rats »
Deer mice — likely in outbuildings and stored material on rural property. Never dry-sweep droppings or nesting material. Deer mice » · Health risks »
Norway rats — around feed, trash, water, and yards. Burrows 2–4 inches with a fan of excavated dirt. Norway rats »

Identify Odessa rodents » · Droppings ID »

What we do on an Andrews job

Inspection of the house, the garage, the shop, and anything stored — plus an honest read on whether this arrived or walked in. Rodent inspection »
Species ID — pack rat, cotton rat, deer mouse, house mouse, and Norway rat are five different jobs.
Trapping on real runways and in stored material, placed where livestock, working dogs, and children can't reach them. Pet-safe »
Exclusion in metal — the garage first out here, then the full envelope. Galvanized hardware cloth, sheet metal, and mortar hold. Expanding foam and steel wool don't — foam gets chewed and steel wool rusts and pulls out.
A storage and staging plan for material coming onto the property, which is the part that stops the next one.
Cleanup and decontamination — wetted, never dry-swept or shop-vacuumed. Droppings cleanup »
Follow-up verification. We come back and confirm zero activity rather than reduced activity, and the points we sealed are re-checked at the same time.

We document chewed wiring and damaged equipment. We don't repair it — electrical, HVAC, mechanical, and vehicle repairs go to a licensed trade or a qualified technician.

Frequently asked questions

Can rodents come into my house in things I bring home?

Regularly, and out here it's one of the most common routes. Hay bales, sacked feed with chewed corners, pallets, cardboard that sat in a barn or shop, firewood, tool and job boxes, equipment and trailers that have been parked a while, secondhand furniture and appliances, and boxes out of a storage building all arrive occupied more often than people expect. Checking a load outside before it goes into a garage takes a minute and prevents the whole problem.

How do I know if a load or a piece of equipment is carrying rodents?

Look for droppings, fresh gnawing, chewed sack corners, shredded paper or fabric, urine staining, and a musty smell. On equipment and in engine bays, look for a mounded pile of sticks, cactus, wire, and foil — that's a pack rat midden, and it means the nest arrived with the load. Anything questionable gets set down outside or somewhere you can check it, not straight into a garage or a shop.

Why do the droppings show up in my garage first?

Because the garage is where the load got set down. Material comes off a trailer or a truck bed into the garage or shop, sits for a few days, and the first evidence appears there or in the adjoining laundry room rather than the kitchen. That's also the most common wrong assumption we correct — people look for an outside entry point when the animal was carried in, though it's worth saying that garage door bottom corners are the number one outside entry in this region too, so both are usually worth checking.

Are mice in my work truck a problem for my house?

They can be, in both directions. A truck parked overnight in a yard is shelter, and if there's feed dust, wrappers, or crumbs in the bed, the cab, or a tool box, it's shelter with food in it — so the truck picks rodents up at a site and delivers them home, or picks them up at home and takes them to work. Keep feed and pet food out of the vehicle, don't leave food in the cab overnight, and check the engine bay and cabin air filter housing after any long park.

I have hay and feed stored on my place — what's the fastest fix?

Get sacked feed into sealed metal containers with latching lids rather than leaving it in sacks or plastic bins, sweep up spilled feed daily, and stack hay off the ground on pallets with room to walk behind it so you can see what's happening. Spill and the unmoved bottom layer of a stack are what sustain a population. If acreage and outbuildings are your situation, our Gardendale page covers barns, feed, and hay in depth.

Do you come out to Andrews?

Call for details on scheduling and service area coverage. It's roughly thirty-five miles north of Odessa.

Should I just put bait out in the shop?

It's the wrong tool for a hauled-in problem. Bait runs a kill program while the delivery route stays open, so you keep restarting, and a poisoned rodent dies wherever it happens to be — inside a wall, inside equipment, or inside a vehicle, which turns a mouse into an odor and cleanup job. Trapping heavily, sealing the garage and the envelope in metal, and staging incoming material where you can check it is what actually ends it.