How to Get Rid of Rats

Though the terms “rats” and “mice” are often used together, these rodents are actually quite different.

These differences play out in everything from their appearance to their behavior. If you’ve seen a rat in your home or on your property, it’s helpful to know which type you’re dealing with as you work to eliminate and exclude this pest.

• Rats may grow to as large as 15 inches, while mice typically reach 5-8 inches.
• Rats have hairless, scaly tails, but mice have large, floppy ears and thin, hairy tails.
• The face of a rat features short whiskers and a blunt snout. Mice have longer whiskers and a triangular snout.

Overall, rodents comprise over 2,000 species of warm-blooded nuisance animals including rats, mice, and squirrels. These pests are found all over the globe wherever there is plentiful access to food and water. For your needs as a homeowner, let’s discuss the most common types found in the U.S.

Though many species infest cities, towns, and areas around the world, two kinds of rats are predominant in North America: the Norway rat and the roof rat.

Rats can courier 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. Second, rats may carry diseases on their own through saliva, urine, and feces. These illnesses include:

• Murine typhus
• Leptospirosis
• Trichinosis
• Salmonellosis (food poisoning)
• Ratbite fever
• Plague (more common from roof rats than Norway rats)

People may be surprised to find Norway rats and roof rats living in the same structure, yet that behavior is quite common as temperatures cool later in the year.

Roof rats are given to higher temperatures, which explains why they’re overwhelmingly found in coastal areas. The heat becomes a catalyst for daily activity and reproduction. As you would expect, cooler climates do not agree with roof rats and send them scurrying for shelter.

The Norway rat breeds all year long across the U.S. (except near the coasts), though spring and fall are peak breeding seasons. Climate extremes in summer and winter tend to reduce reproductive activity. This holds true mainly for outdoor colonies.

If you opt for a DIY method to exclude rodents, two inexpensive yet attractive options would include metal flashing and hardware cloth. Flashing can seal gutters, depriving rats of an obvious entry or exit point, and ¼-inch wire mesh offers an effective closure for vent openings.

Recent years have brought a new surge of rat infestations in some major American cities. In 2016, USA Today reported increases in rat populations in New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC, with the biggest increase noted in Chicago, where the rat population is increasing on average by 70% a year. That same year, New York received more than 41,000 complaints of rodent activity. The effects can be vast, including higher rates of depression with residents in low-income areas where rats are more prevalent than other parts of cities.
With statistics like these in mind, cities are bolstering the resources they’re deploying against rat infestations:

Chicago is increasing the number of city-employed rodent technicians and experimenting with new ideas to help the Chicago Transit Authority reduce rats in public areas.

Boston has started a 311 line specifically for reporting rats. The city has also worked with MIT and Harvard to test an approach using dry ice that seems, at least from initial reports, to be working.

Cities are also cracking down on residents who contribute to the problem. Chicago fines homeowners up to $500 for leaving pet droppings or garbage in their yards, with other cities following suit. Some homeowners are unhappy about these efforts, but many are taking matters into their own hands rather than waiting on the city.

Rats in public places are obviously a public health issue. But in the home, they’re actually an even bigger problem.

Rats do not have to bite in order to cause illness; mere exposure to rat waste is the cause of many debilitating diseases. Rat urine, for example, is one of the leading causes of leptospirosis, a condition that can cause severe kidney and liver damage among humans.

Other diseases that are specifically carried by rats include, but are not limited to:

• Salmonellosis – a disease that can cause abdominal cramps, diarrhea, intense vomiting and fever. Symptoms can begin as soon as 12 hours after exposure.
• Weil’s disease – a severe form of leptospirosis, caused by the same bacteria. If leptospirosis reaches this stage, you will likely have to be hospitalized. Severe reactions may occur in the lungs, the heart, and the brain, if the bacteria reaches those organs.
• Rat bite fever – a disease which can be passed to humans from rat urine or mucus. It is also known as epidemic arthritic erythema, streptobacillosis, streptobacillary fever, sodoku, and spirillary fever. Symptoms may include chills, fever and intense vomiting.
• The plague – which can be spread through airborne contact in extremely unsanitary areas. The bubonic plague, one of the world’s longest-lasting rodent-borne illnesses, is only one manifestation of this disease.
• Hantavirus – a disease serious enough to require a report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if contracted. If it progresses to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, it can be fatal.

If you’ve identified a rat infestation on your property, there are several methods you can use to help turn rats away. But as always, it’s much easier to prevent an infestation than to treat one. Try these habits on a daily basis whether or not you’re already dealing with rodents.

Rats usually find their way into places that provide feeding opportunities. The smell from your garbage may attract them, as will the odor from old food in your cupboards or refrigerator.

• Make sure that you always immediately throw out any food that is past its expiration date.
• Check to see that pantry doors and trash can lids close properly.
• Keep an eye on pet food. Remove anything left in open dishes once your pet has finished feeding, and store any food in airtight containers when it isn’t in use.
• Only eat in specified areas. If your family frequently eats in bedrooms, food will inevitably fall behind headboards and under beds, attracting rats.
• When you are eating, try to use place mats as much as possible so they can easily be wiped down afterwards.
• Try to sweep and wipe up the area where you’ve eaten after you’re done so there aren’t any leftover crumbs or residue.

Many of the odors that draw rats come from dust and food droppings that find their ways into the corners of your home. For this reason, it’s important to take the proper steps toward sanitizing your entire home, and not just the kitchen.

• Sanitize your home by regularly vacuuming and dusting.
• Make sure that you move your furniture and get in the corners of your home to clean up all of the old food and sticky dust that may attract them.
• You also need to protect your home from your neighbors’ sanitation problems. If your neighbors are messy or smelly, you may want to have a talk with them to make sure any odors or trash aren’t making their way over to your property.

If you can successfully guard your house from rodents, you’ll never have to worry about an infestation as long as you keep up with maintenance. Whether you’ve just entered a new home or heard of a nearby infestation, it’s important to take the time and complete the following steps toward rat-proofing your home.

• Start by inspecting the foundation of your home. Look for gaps or holes that may be large enough for a rat to enter. You can block off those entry points with expandable foam or mesh.
• Once those areas are secured, check your doors and windows. This is especially important at the change of seasons, when doors and windows may warp and leave gaps large enough for rodents can crawl into. Metal kickplates are a good solution for these, as well as insulation treatment.
• Next, inspect your roof. If your vents, shingles, or chimneys allow access to your attic, you may have a problem: roof rats can be especially difficult to eradicate once they’ve gotten in there. Cap the chimney when it is not being used, fix any holes that might be in your vents, and make sure your roof is in good repair in general.
• In the same vein as inspecting your roof, you’ll want to inspect your basement if you have one. If there are any holes or cracks around your plumbing, these can be easy and covert areas for rats to get into your home. Make sure these small openings are all sealed up and that you also have proper sealant on your basement door.
• Consider using a metal rodent guard if you have any wire lines or pipelines that come from the outside into the house. You can also block holes with a mixture of steel wool and mortar or caulk.
• You can further protect your home by setting up a rat poison barrier around your own property. The best rat repellents on the market usually contain chemicals with odors that rats can’t stand. These can come in a liquid spray form or granules that are then used to create a perimeter around your home, within your garden, and near any rodent holes.

Natural repellents are also an easy way to turn your home into a rat-free sanctuary. There are many products rats tend to stay away from, and chances are you already have at least one in your cabinets:

• Ammonia – Rats stay away from the smell.
• Bay leaf – The chemical compound of bay leaves can be lethal to rats.
• Peppermint oil – This can be distilled in water and sprayed around the house.
• Castor oil – This works similar to how citronella works to repel mosquitoes.
• Baby powder – The chemical compound can intoxicate rats and help you trap them.
• Instant mashed potatoes – If rats eat dehydrated mashed potatoes, the flakes will expand in their stomachs until they die of bloating.

A rat infestation can make you feel hopeless and can completely alter your daily life. Do-it-yourself treatments can restore a feeling of control, sometimes even at little cost. Luckily, there are so many different methods on the market that can be used together to eradicate a problem.

Follow these guidelines with any type of rat trap you choose to use. While you’re shopping for the best rat traps available, you’ll notice they have different properties that can be better suited to your different needs

If you don’t have any natural bait available, or would rather not leave food out to attract other pest problems, there are many great chemical rat baits on the market with the options of containing poisons are not. There are also different receptacles that you can buy to place your natural or chemical bait inside.

If your own efforts don’t see results, it may be time to call in a pest control service. Professionals will put the best rodent control practices and technology in service of ridding your house of rats and mice. Pay attention to the advice of your rat removal/rat control expert if he or she tells you that you have a worse problem than you think, and take note of any cleaning or prevention treatments they recommend. If you follow your list of preventative steps while a professional is using highly-rated treatment methods, you can eradicate your problem together in no time.