The Best Ways to Get Rid of Rats

Rats are most people's nightmare, and unfortunately, they're a common pest in homes. Thankfully, it's easy to learn how to get rid of rats both inside and outside of your house. In this article, we'll explore how.

Rats in the home can cause a great deal of structural damage to electrical wires and furniture, contaminate food, and carry disease.

Thankfully, there are several effective methods to get rid of rats that are humane, easy, and fast. Let's jump right into kicking those wretched pests out.

What Attracts Rats to the House?

But before we dig into how to get rid of rats, it helps to know how they got inside in the first place, and why your house is suddenly so popular:

• Rats are attracted to homes for food and shelter.
• Like mice, rats like to stay in the shadows and typically enter a home through holes or cracks around the basement, foundation, or garage.
• Rats can fit through holes the size of a quarter, or slightly smaller than 1 inch.
• Roof rats lurk in high places and often enter homes via tree branches extending over roofs.

Signs of Rat Infestation

Signs of rat presence include:

• Live or dead rats
• Droppings, especially around human food, pet food, or near trash areas
• Noises in the dark, such as scratching sounds from the attic
• Nests or piled nesting materials in hidden areas
• Evidence of gnawing of wires or structural wood
• Burrows around the yard or under the home or outbuildings
• Gnawed fruits in trees
• Smudge marks along walls or rodent hairs along paths, in nests, or near food
• Mousetraps that have snapped but with no sign of a mouse; rats can either set off the traps themselves (without getting caught), or they can eat the mice caught in the traps

How to Get Rid of Rats

The best ways to get rid of rats include snap traps, live traps, and bait stations. Rat traps are much larger and more dangerous than mousetraps and should be set where signs of rats are seen and in out-of-the-way, hidden areas, especially in attics, basements, and near food sources.

Always take care to keep traps away from potential triggering by children or pets. Traps are designed to kill and/or capture the pest so they must be regularly inspected, as a dead or dying rat or a food bait can attract secondary insects and cause an infestation.

Seal Cracks and Crevices

Holes and gaps in walls and along roof eaves are inviting. While you can't exactly rat-proof your home (they're very clever, persistent, and physically adept), you can make your home less inviting by sealing holes, cracks, gaps, and other potential entrances in exterior walls, soffits, roof vents, chimneys—any element that leads to a place of shelter. Use expanding spray foam to fill small gaps, and cover crawlspace and attic vents—common entryways—with hardware cloth.

Remove Food Sources

Rats love plentiful sources of food and water. Remove potential food and water sources for rats by keeping pet food in sealed containers, repairing leaky outdoor faucets, eliminating puddled water (which also breeds mosquitoes), and keeping the house clean.

Store food in tightly covered bins or the refrigerator. Long-term storage caches of food are prime targets for rats.

Remove Their Habitats

Remove places where rats can nest in your home. Start by tidying your home's exterior by removing leaves or debris piles, especially those near the house, and keeping all garbage in covered cans. Cut back tree limbs away from the roof and exterior walls, and keep stacks of firewood away from the house.

Set Rat Traps Indoors

The best way to prevent rats from becoming your roommates is to make your home uninviting and inhospitable.

• Snap Traps: When using a plastic or wooden snap trap to capture a rat, be sure to use a larger trap labeled for rat control. The small mouse traps are not likely to kill or hold the rat, and could, instead, inhumanely injure the rodent.

• Live Traps: When the rodent goes into the hole, a wind-up mechanism snaps to the other side of the trap where it is captured. These traps must be regularly inspected and emptied, as needed. In addition, once captured, the rodent must be humanely killed or released where it won't reenter the home or building or be of harm to others.
• Bait Stations: These are self-contained, enclosed devices containing an approved type of rodenticide in block or paste form. The rat enters, eats some of the bait, and leaves through the station's exit hole, then it dies (hopefully outdoors away from the house, but this is not always the case). The bait is entirely contained inside the station so it is protected against accidental contact or ingestion by children or non-target animals.

Try Natural Repellants

Natural scent repellants can be effective in keeping rats away due to their strong odor, which rats find unpleasant and irritating.

Ingredients such as peppermint oil, citronella, or vinegar emit scents that rats dislike, acting as a deterrent to their presence.

By strategically placing these repellants around entry points and areas prone to rat activity, you can create an environment that discourages rats from nesting or foraging in your home or garden.

Control Rats Outside

Before resorting to harsh chemicals or toxic methods to deal with rat infestations, it's important to explore safer and more humane alternatives. By incorporating natural plant deterrents into your pest control strategy, you can effectively deter rats without posing harm to your family, pets, or the environment.

Additionally, while baits and poisons may seem like quick fixes, they come with significant risks and should be considered as a last resort. Let's explore some plant-based solutions and alternative methods to keep rats at bay in your home and garden:

Plant deterrents for rats: Natural ingredients such as black pepper, catnip, chrysanthemum, garlic, lavender, and rosemary emit scents that rats find repulsive. By strategically planting these herbs or spices around your property or using them to create homemade repellants, you can create an inhospitable environment for rats without resorting to harmful chemicals.

Use baits cautiously: While toxic rat baits and poisons may seem like convenient solutions, they pose serious risks to children, pets, and wildlife. It's essential to use these methods with extreme caution and only as a last resort. Consider exploring other options first, such as trapping, exclusion, or natural deterrents, to address rat infestations effectively while minimizing harm to non-target organisms.

Call a Professional

Call a professional as soon as you spot a rat, dead or alive, to reduce the probability of a larger infestation. You can always try these home remedies while waiting for the pest control service to arrive.

When choosing a rat pest control provider in your area, be sure to research their reputation, credentials, and methods used to ensure they employ safe and effective practices tailored to your specific needs.