Mammals: The home is an attractive environment for mice, rats, and bats. The house mouse hides in holes, even between the walls of the refrigerator, and comes out at night to gnaw through food packages and vegetables, leaving behind small, black droppings. The scratching sounds in the attic is likely to be mice. They sounds harmless enough but carry disease and may chew electrical wiring, causing a potential fire risk. Since mice can give birth every three weeks and do not hibernate, their populations can grow quickly, as can the brown rat population.  The rat usually lives near humans, scavenging stored food or waste. The black rat carries a flea species that once transmitted the bubonic plague to humans. The more common brown rat, though a disease carrier, is less dangerous.

The bat must have a clean and draft free roost site. Modern houses provide a summer roost for some bats. They can squeeze behind roof singles and weather-stripping. Colonies numbering up to 10 bats may be seen flying at dusk on summer evenings. Only their droppings reveal their roosting site. Other bat species inhabit older houses. Occasionally a bat flies in through an open window, but it usually leaves the same way.

Fungi: Spores of the penicillin mold are always in the air and ready to grow on damp food. This blue mold is harmless and is added deliberately to certain cheese to give them flavor. Other less desirable molds also grow on food even food that has been placed in the refrigerator. Dry rot fungus damages wet wood. There is no sign of it until the rot is severe and has spread to the wood's surface.

Invertebrates: A surprising number of insects and other small animals share our homes. One o the few predators is the house spider. The spiders either eyes give it good vision for catching its prey, which it paralyzes with venom from its fangs. Killing spiders and brushing way their cobwebs allows the more harmful insects that they prey on to survive. The Silver fish is a primitive wingless insect found in damp parts of the house. It eats starchy foods, including the glue in book binding and food packaging. Book lice feed on mold growing on old papers, they are harmless. The dust mite is invisible to the eye, but it occurs in large numbers, feeding on dead skin cells in household dust. 

It causes allergic reactions and asthma, particularly when found in bedding. Fleas, debugs, and body lice have come rarer, but fleas living on cats and dogs still bite humans. Head lice thrive on blood sucked near hair roots. The any scavengers table scraps or poorly stored foods, as well as sweets. The cockroach is also a scavenger, eating food scraps and leaving droppings, but it is seldom found in clean, modern houses. It is still found in warehouses, school kitchens, and restaurants, where it lives in ventilation ducts and comes out at night.

Key Facts:
Conditions for Wildlife in the Home: With modern standards for cleanliness, we may think that the only animals with whom we share our hoes are our pets. In fact, the home is an attractive habitat for less welcome guests. Central heating allows pests to breed ore frequently by providing them with warmth throughout the year. Left overs and crumbs make a good food supply. Exotic house plants encourage plant pests, yet many people mistakenly discourage the spiders that kill these pests. Not everything is perfect for home dwelling pests. Central heating makes the air dry, humans disturb the environment, and the vacuum cleaner spells disaster. Powerful insecticides may be used in the home to get rid of pests. Some organisms have adapted to the worst conditions, the carpet beetle and clothes moth do not need moisture since they get all they require from their food. 

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