Rat infestations are more common than most people realize. Thriving in urban, suburban, and rural settings, rats have lived alongside humans for thousands of years and have perfected the art of helping themselves to the shelter, food, and water our homes provide.
What Makes a Home Attractive to Rats
Rats don’t show up at a home on a whim. Certain conditions make a home appealing to them. While many people believe cleanliness or the age of the house to be one of the primary factors, it’s only one small piece of the puzzle. Rats do not discriminate. They can get into any home regardless of its age or condition.
Like most pests, rats are looking to cover their necessities: shelter, safety, food, and water. When you inadvertently make these basic needs readily available, you leave yourself open to these unwanted houseguests. Make your home unattractive to rats, and you’ll find you’ve made it unattractive to many of the creatures looking to have their basic needs met.
What Makes a Home Attractive to Rats
There are many steps, both inside and outside of your home, you can take to make it a less likely target for rats. These are not one-and-done steps—you should make them part of your routine maintenance for the best results.
Click the slides
Do-It-Yourself Prevention
Rats are smart and cautious creatures, and there are many products on the market that seem like claim to solve a rat infestation. While most of these are affordable and convenient, they rarely work and also don’t address the root problems that bring rats to your home.
Ultrasonic pest repellents emit high-frequency sound waves that allegedly to repel rodents. Unfortunately, rats adjust to the stimuli, and it just becomes background noise to them. In addition, walls and furniture block the waves and create areas where they do not reach.
Essential oils are supposed to irritate rats, but the scent fades and requires constant reapplication. Rats will endure a scent they don’t like if all their other needs are being met. Mothballs are another scent-based DIY solution that has limited use, as the chemicals needed for mothballs to work are of a higher concentration than what is safe for indoor use and are also unsafe for children and pets.
Rat poisons are unsafe both indoors and outdoors as they pose significant risks to pets, wildlife, and children. When a rat dies in your wall, the terrible smell will linger for weeks.
Call Trutech in To Get Rats Out
Trutech has been trusted by your neighbors for over 40 years to protect your home from rats and mice. Our technicians are highly trained professionals who understand rodent biology and behavior, and their expertise extends to building science and the ways wildlife enter homes.
Our focus is on long-term rat control solutions that include prevention, exclusion, removal, sanitation, and restoration of rodent infestations. Most pest exterminators only remove rats from your home; we delivers a comprehensive plan with proven methods that bring you peace of mind.