How to Get Rid of Rats in a Home
- 1). Check for holes the size of or larger than a pencil's diameter on the outside of your home. Rats may flatten their bodies to go under thin slits such as a doorway, or contort their spines to wriggle through small holes. Once you have found any potential openings, be sure to plug them with dense grade steel wool. This can be purchased from a home improvement store or anywhere that sells steel wool.
- 2). Make sure that you have not left any water outside your home that will attract rats to it. Additionally, take note of your pet's eating habits. If it seems you are constantly filling up a pet's dish, it may be that a rat or many rats are sharing in the feast. Be sure to have all bowls of food empty at night, as rats are nocturnal.
- 3). Look for rat droppings in your home, which are larger than mouse droppings. Often times, rats will hide in closets, behind dishwashers or anywhere where they can store food for later consumption.
- 4). Make sure that there are no accidental openings to the inside of your home such as behind the kitchen or bathroom sink areas.Also, make sure adequate rat traps are set in crawl spaces if your home has a raised foundation. Rat traps may be purchased from a home improvement store or set through a local exterminating service.
- 5). Consider having a quarterly exterminating service place rat traps around the outside of your home. These traps have a poisonous bar in the inside that attracts the rodents to it. The rodent usually goes inside, nibbles at the bar and comes out only to die a short time later. These are a very effective means of getting rid of the rodent population. Most rodents have a 21-day gestational period which means they can multiply and take over a dwelling very fast.
