Rats are widely regarded as the worst of all wildlife household pests in the world, plaguing homeowners and businesses for years. They are incredibly adaptive, able to resist almost any attempt to remove or exterminate them due to their excellent memories, resulting in a never-ending struggle to control them.
Co-existence with rats is virtually impossible given their nature as scavengers and the ability to cause immense damage to properties and health. Rats are well known as spreaders of many different harmful diseases, either by transporting ticks, fleas, or parasites or via their urine and feces.
Although their diets tend to vary based on location, like many rodents, rats will eat almost anything, whether it is fit for human consumption or otherwise. They also have the same kind of teeth as other rodents; long, sharp, and constantly growing, which is why they chew on hard objects or surfaces to keep them maintained. This could be anything from wood and electrical wiring to even metals like lead, and if left too long they could weaken the structural integrity of whatever they are chewing, or cause fires to break out.
Much like the mouse, removing rats requires patience because it can be a long process due to their ability to adapt to anything you throw at them. Actually removing the rats from your home can be especially difficult given their ability to exist within the attic and walls. Even then, the most important thing to consider to stop a future infestation is to make your house as unwelcoming as possible for them.
Preventing rats from entering your home involves three primary steps: keeping it clean, a thorough inspection, and exclusion.
Restrict access to any possible food source in and around your home, including pet food and garbage, using tightly sealed containers whenever possible. Anything in storage should preferably be above ground level, to make it even harder for them to reach it. Also, consider installing door sweeps and screens on your windows.
Sanitation is also particularly important, which means keeping your home as clean as possible all year round both inside and out. Less clutter means rats have fewer places to hide, and even the smallest crumb of food could be enough to tempt a rat into your home. This also extends to your yard or garden; make sure you regularly clean any fallen berries or seeds.
Once your home has been cleaned, conduct a thorough inspection of the interior and exterior of your home and look for any possible gaps or holes around half an inch in size that rats could use to get inside. If you know you have rats, there will likely be signs of use around these entrances, such as scratch marks.
With these identified, you will need to make sure to seal all the gaps you have found with sturdy materials that they cannot chew through. Be warned, however, that you should only do this if you know with 100% certainty that there are no rats already in your home, as sealing them in will give you even more headaches.
If you are in need of raccoon removal services, or any wildlife removal services for that matter, don’t hesitate, give us a call today. Their removal is best for both parties. You don’t want them in your home, and all animals are better off living in the wild.
We are always standing by ready to answer any questions you may have and can set up an appointment for any time. If you’re in need of emergency raccoon removal services, then we’ve got you covered there as well, as we offer emergency wildlife removal services 24/7.
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Request a ConsultationBy sealing up any gaps and storing food sources away, you make your home far less hospitable for rats. But in the event that you do get rat visitors, you will need to act fast to try and trap them before they become an unstoppable colony.
That said, you should make sure not to use poisons. Not only are they extremely harmful if consumed by pets or children, but removing dead rats is an even less enjoyable experience and needs to be done swiftly to stop the corpse from rotting and giving you more problems. Poisons also do not actually stop other rats from coming inside.
Instead, use both traps and repellants, rather than one or the other. As mentioned, rats are experts at adapting, and even the best repellant method will not always work on rats. However, when combined with properly placed and baited traps, they can be effective at deterring future rats. Live traps are a humane option as well as snap traps, but whichever you decide to go with be aware that you may need a lot of them to deal with your infestation.
Once you have removed the infestation, make sure you then do a sweep of wherever you think they were nesting and thoroughly clean and disinfect them to remove any harmful urine or feces that may still cause damage and health problems later down the line.
Common Ways Rats Get Into Houses
Rats and mice are two of the most common household pests. Mice are slightly more common and are quite small – that means it’s pretty difficult to seal up every single possible mouse entry point in your home. Rats are a bit larger so they can’t fit through the smallest of holes, but you’d be surprised what they can squeeze through. Most rats are able to fit through gaps about the size of a quarter.
We recommend you call us at Mighty Men Pest Control to seal your home against mice and rats. It takes a lot of time to locate every possible gap and seal it properly. It’s much easier for you to call us! At Mighty Men Pest Control, we are rat prevention experts who can effectively seal your home the first time.
If you want to try to secure your home against rats on your own, it’s definitely doable – just be prepared for a lot of work. Since rats can get through such tiny holes, you’ll have to do a thorough investigation to find every potential entry point.
Ways Mice Get Into Houses
The easiest way to fight back against rats in your home is to go outside and thoroughly examine your home’s exterior. Focus most of your efforts on the ground first. That means scanning the foundation closely for cracks and holes. Pay close attention to where the foundation meets the ground – this area can hide potential gaps.
From there, work your way up the building. As you go, pay close attention to any places where any pipes or wires pass through the walls of your home – these are prime entry points. Dryer vents and HVAC ductwork are also common rat entry points. Also make sure to closely examine basement windows for gaps and cracks, especially around the edges of the panes.
From there, look at your first floor windows. Rats are able to climb so they can take advantage of gaps around windows on any floor of your house. If your home has more than one story, grab a ladder and continue your investigation higher up the building.
Rats are also more than happy to enter your home via the roof, so make sure to continue your investigation up there. They can easily chew through roofing materials and create their own gaps in roof corners, ridge caps, gable vents, and soffit vents.
How to Spot Rat Entry Points
It takes a bit of a trained eye to spot rat entry points. If you follow the tips above and check every little nook and cranny of your home’s exterior, you will likely find them – but you need to be thorough. At Mighty Men Pest Control, we have years of experience sealing homes against rats so we know exactly where to look.
We also suggest looking around inside your attic with a bright light. Oftentimes the signs of rat entry will be more obvious from the interior. From inside, you’ll more easily be able to see the brown stains from rat grease as they rub against the sides of the gap. This isn’t always easy to see, but sometimes it can be a dead giveaway. Another telltale sign of rat activity is droppings. You’re more likely to see these inside the home near entry points.
How to Protect Against Rats
To seal any gaps you find, we recommend using silicone caulking in combination with steel wool as a cheaper method. For more serious gaps, especially in the foundation of your home or the siding, use a thick commercial waterproof sealant and steel sheeting. You can find all these materials at hardware and home improvement stores.
At Mighty Men Pest Control, we understand rat behavior and the capabilities these animals possess. That’s why we strongly recommend using steel materials in combination with sealants when securing your home. Rats have incredibly sharp teeth and strong jaws so they can chew through almost anything.
Rats are able to chew through wood, plastic, lead, wire, wool, and leather. They can even chew through concrete and some softer metals. That’s why we only recommend using steel materials in combination with sealants. Steel is a heavy metal that rats cannot chew through.
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