How to Get Rid of Rats in the Home Effectively
Are you interested in how to get rid of rats? You are at the right place. Interestingly, the tiniest and least significant things in this life can cause us the most troubles and problems. As you read on, we will be showing you how to deal with the rat problem.
How to Get Rid of Rats
Even if you have a soft spot for rats, you really don’t want them in your house—especially if you have kids and pets. Don’t delay in getting rid of rats once you spot the problem.
Here are why you need to get rid of rap in your homes:
1. Rats carry deadly diseases that can contaminate and spread through dust, water, and soil. Rats can carry a number of serious diseases to livestock and humans in two ways. First, they may act as transport for fleas and ticks to enter your home with a variety of parasites.
2. Female rats can mate up to 500 times in just six hours, and brown rats can give birth to up to 2,000 babies in a single year- with up to 22 young in a single litter. Considering rats have a gestational period of less than a month, it’s easy to see how populations quickly get out of control.
3. Rats can forage on almost anything: One study found over 4,000 different items in a single brown rat’s stomach.
4. A rat’s incisor teeth grow around 5 inches per year. The process of wearing them down also makes them razor sharp, and they chew through on all kinds of hard surfaces, from electrical wires to concrete.
5. Although the average lifespan is around 1 year, rats that have found the safety of shelter indoors can live as long as 3 years.
What Kind of Physical Damage Can Rats Cause in the Home?
For such a small animal, rats can cause significant damage to a home. In addition to spreading diseases and threatening the health of everyone who lives in the house, rats can…
1. Cause structural damage to wood, drywall, insulation, and other building materials
2. Chew through electrical wires and increase fire and electrocution risk.
3. Ruin furniture by burrowing into cushions and ripping out batting
4. Destroy books, papers, and clothes
5. Create noise that makes it difficult to sleep or relax in your home
6. Nest in walls, below the sink, or even in appliances – like the back of the refrigerator or underside of the washer
7. While no rat damage is good, large rat populations can quickly cause expensive and irreversible damage in the home.
Steps on How to Get Rid of Rats in the House Fast
Nobody wants to live with rats. Fortunately, these tips can help you figure out how to get rid of rats in your home:
1. Inspect the Home
Before you can get rid of rats, you need to conduct a full home inspection to find out where they’re coming from.
Inspect the outside of the house – pay special attention to damaged drains, cracks in your garage door, gaps around vents, and spaces in the foundation – for obvious access points.
Inside the house, look at the vents, drains, appliance lines, and other potential access points. Once you know where the rats are accessing the house, you can seal the entry points and set traps.
2. Seal The Gaps
Rats don’t need a large entry point to get into your house. In fact, they can squeeze through any hole that you can stick two fingers through. With this in mind, seal any gaps in your interior or exterior walls.
For lasting results, fill these gaps with wire wool, metal kick plates, cement, or caulk. Check them a few times a month to make sure they’re well-maintained.
3. Clean Up
Rats love shelter and places to hide. One of the best ways to get rid of rats without poison is to eliminate their hiding places. Clean up the clutter in and around your home and move objects away from the walls.
Keep all trash and food in closed bins, clean up any spills rapidly, and keep your pipes and drains clean.
4. Consider Trapping
Most rodenticides and harsh poisons have fallen out of favor or been outlawed in some places, trapping has become the most effective way to eliminate rats; it is what kills rats fast and effectively. Trapping is a poison-free method of reducing rat populations.
If you’re going to place your own traps, be sure you use plenty of them and that you position the traps in high-activity areas. Use peanut butter, unsalted seeds, bananas, or apples as bait.
5. Use Natural Deterrent Methods
When it comes to getting rid of rats, a few simple, natural ingredients can go a long way. At times, for the safety of the environment and to prevent health hazards, you may need to use some harmless and non-toxic materials to get rid of rats in the home.
How to Get Rid of Rats Outside Your Home
Even if you get rid of rats within your home, it won’t last long if there are still rats outside your home. This is especially true as the winter months draw near, and rats start to enter homes to seek shelter and food.
With that in mind, here are our top tips to get rid of rats around your living space:
1. Keep Your Garden Clean
Rats dislike open spaces, so keep your lawn and garden trimmed, clean, and clutter-free; this is the best way to discourage them from setting up shop.
Trim your grass often, remove piles of wood or leaves, close and lock all storage sheds patch any holes in the siding, and seal exterior garbage bins. Finally, make sure rats don’t have access to food outside your home. Clean up fallen fruits, vegetables in the garden, or pet and bird food.
These simple tips will go a long way toward reducing rat populations.
2. Call In the Birds
Rats have plenty of natural predators and inviting those predators to your yard is a great way to get rid of rats. Owls, for example, can eat dozens of rats or mice in a single night.
To attract owls and other birds of prey, focus on creating suitable habitat. Add a water source (like a birdbath) to your garden and consider building a nest box.
Tip: Avoid putting out bird feed to attract birds. In addition to the fact that the rats are food enough, placing bird seed, suet, or other materials outside creates another food source that may draw more rats to your property.
3. Use Dry Ice
One effective way to get rid of rats without poison is to use dry ice. Dry ice produces carbon dioxide, which anesthetizes and kills rats. For best results, place the dry ice at the entrance to the burrows. Be sure to use gloves and other protective gear since dry ice can damage the skin.
4. Set Traps
Traps are one of the most effective ways to get rid of rats fast. For best results, consider using snap traps, which are a fast method to kill rats instantly.
To prevent other animals from getting into the traps, place them inside a box or under a milk crate. Bait the traps with peanut butter, which is cheap and attractive to rats.
If you notice rats eating something specific in your home, you might consider baiting the trap with that instead. For example, rats eating apples off the counter may respond well to a trap set with sliced apples.
5. Use Baits & Poisons Outside
Baits and poisons should only be used outside the home, as they are powerful chemicals that can be dangerous. If you place poison inside the house, rats can spread it around, making your home hazardous for all human and animal inhabitants.
If you plan to use baits or positions, be sure to carefully read and follow all label directions. Always keep rat bait in a fully enclosed bait station, where kids, pets, and other animals can’t reach it.
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CSN Team
