Although it’s a common issue in the US, having a rat invasion is highly dangerous for you and your household since rats can spread bacteria and diseases that are detrimental to your health. However, taking care of rats is no easy task, most of the time needing a pest control company to address the problem. Getting rid of rats as quickly as possible is a good idea.
There are many ways of taking care of a rat problem in your household, but before doing that or calling a pest control company, you need to know how to identify you are having a rat problem. Dive into this page to learn everything you need to know about how rats get into your house and what you can do to get rid of them.
What Attracts Rats To Your House?
To prevent rats from getting into your house, you need to know what attracts them to it in the first place. Animals such as squirrels, rats, and mice don’t go to your house for no reason, so there’s probably something they want from your home if you have rats inside your house. We want you to live in a place that is safe from critters, so here are the primary reasons why rats may be attracted to your home:
Your House is a Warm Shelter in Cold Days
Rats need to stay in warm shelters to survive cold seasons, so they search for houses they can easily get into to use them as shelters and create nests.
Pet Droppings and Poor Cleaning Conditions
Strong odors are easy to notice by rats, attracting them to any leftovers in your trash can or on the floor. That includes your pet’s droppings, so you should keep your house clean to prevent rats from approaching it. If you spill something on the floor or your pet poops, make sure to clean everything right away since leaving it there for a few moments is enough to attract these animals.
Food
Rats are attracted to any kind of food you have in your house, including pet food, so you should put your food supplies in a safe place they can’t reach.
How Do You Keep Rats Away from Your Home?
Now that you know what causes rats to go into your house, you need to know what to do to keep them away. We want your house to be a safe environment for you and your family, so here are some of the things you can do to keep rats away from your home:
Store your Food in a Safe Container
If they can’t get to your food, rats are not interested in staying in your home, so keeping your food in a safe place is an excellent way of making your house undesirable for rats. Not every food container is completely rat-proof since rats can chew through many sturdy materials, but a plastic container should be enough to keep your food and your house free of rats.
Look for Leaks and Easy Access Points
Rats can’t enter your household if they don’t have an access point to go through, so sealing any hole or place they could use to sneak into your house is an effective way of keeping the rodents away. Examine your house to see if there are any access points they could get into and take care of your leaks if you have some since it’s easy for rats to use them to enter your attic.
Use Odors They Don’t Like
Rats are indeed attracted to strong odors, but not to all of them since some scents can keep them away. You could try sprinkling peppermint and placing onions around entry points you think they could use to get into your house. They hate how onions and peppermint smell, so doing that could keep them from entering your house.
What Kills Rats Instantly?
If you already have rats wandering around, you need to take care of them as soon as possible, and the best way to do that is by killing them. There are many ways of doing that, some being faster than others or more effective depending on the situation. Regardless of what you do, never try to touch a rat directly since they are extremely dangerous and can cause you severe health problems.
Rat Poison
Rat Poison is an effective way of dealing with rats, killing them within a day or two depending on the poison you use. However, poison is not the most recommendable choice if you have other pets or animals in your house since it affects them too and could make them catch a disease.
If you mean to use rat poison, make sure to stay as far as you can from it or even stay at a friend’s home until the poison effect goes away since it could cause you and your family members to suffer from health problems.
You have to choose an effective poison that kills rats instantly because picking a poison that doesn’t affect them or is not as effective as others could end up being a waste of money. One of the most effective rat poisons on the market is the FASTRAC BLOX poison, killing them in one or two days and sometimes within 24 hours.
Rat Traps
Rat traps are a traditional way of killing rats, but you need to place them strategically to make the rodents fall for the bait. Before we get to the different types of rat traps and how they work, here are the most recommendable places to set the traps:
- Closets.
- Crawl spaces.
- Pantries.
- Close to where you store your food.
- Dark places in general.
You may have an idea of how rat traps look like, but there are different types of traps that work in different ways, being effective in various situations. To help you purchase the best trap for your issue, here are the most popular and effective types of rat traps:
Rat Glue Traps
Low-quality traps often let the rat break free of them after a short time, but that doesn’t happen with glue traps. This trap uses glue to stick the rats to the trap, impeding them to escape. The only disadvantage about glue traps is that they don’t kill rats instantly and take a few days for the rats to die from starvation or exhaustion, but to make up for that, it allows you to catch larger rats.
Rat Snap Traps
Snap traps are similar to classic mouse traps, consisting of placing food on a trigger that closes two serrated parts that kill the rat instantly when they press it.
Electrical Boxes
Electrical boxes are the best alternative you can go for if you want to kill rats instantly. They work the same way as other traps regarding the bait, requiring you to place a piece of food to attract the rodents. The special thing about these traps is that when rats press the trigger, the trap sends an electric current to the rat that instantly kills the rodent.
Conclusion
You have to take care of rodents as soon as you notice them to prevent health problems and related issues. However, you must be careful when you deal with them since rats are dangerous animals that can spread deadly diseases. There are many ways of killing rats instantly, but the best is to call a pest control company to address the problem.
If you’re looking for the right team to handle the issue for you, Synergy² is here to help. We provide trusted services throughout the area, so contact us for the best pest control services around.
Feel free to read more about us and decide if Synergy² is the right company for you. We have over 270 Five-Star Google reviews for pest control service in the Jackson metro area (Jackson/Madison/Brandon/Ridgeland). Check out our newest location reviews for pest control service in Jackson, MS here at Synergy² Jackson Pest Control!