Ada County, ID Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 5-2-4-2, part of the county's solid waste chapter, requires every person to keep their premises in sanitary condition and prohibits throwing, depositing or letting waste accumulate on any improved or vacant property, public or private, in unincorporated Ada County unless the property is an approved disposal site. The rule specifically flags three outcomes as unlawful: attracting flies or fly breeding, affording "food or harborage for rodents and pests," and becoming a source of noxious or offensive odors or conditions inimical to public interest or health, any of which the code treats as a public nuisance under Idaho Code title 18, chapter 59.

The duty does not end when someone moves: subsection D makes it unlawful to vacate a premises without removing all waste and putting the property in "thoroughly sanitary condition" within twenty-four hours of vacating, closing the loop on abandoned trash piles that draw rodents to empty houses and lots. Composting is carved out as an exception rather than banned outright: subsection E allows agricultural, commercial and private composting so long as the compost pile itself does not become a public nuisance, meaning an unmanaged pile that starts attracting rodents can still be cited even though composting itself is permitted.

Enforcement runs through the same solid waste management division that oversees the county's collection contract and disposal sites under section 5-2-6, and a documented rodent-harborage complaint is the kind of evidence the division uses to establish a sanitary-condition violation on a specific property.