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The Best Ways to Get Rid of Rats

Best Ways to Use Traps, Rodent Baits, Repelling Smells, and When to Call a Pro

Rats in the home can cause a great deal of damage, contaminate food, and carry disease. Unfortunately, you may not know you have a rat problem until it's already out of control. It can also be tough to permanently stop rats from coming in unless you close up every crevice, hole, and gap around your home. Read on to learn how to identify rats, the signs that you have this rodent problem, and the best tips on how to get rid of rats in the fastest and most effective ways possible.

How to Get Rid of Rats

The Spruce / Alex Dos Diaz

rat snap trap
​The Spruce / Michelle Becker 

How to Identify Rats

The most identifying characteristic of a rat is the tail. Their tails are long and nearly hairless. If there is hair on the tail, it is short and bristly. The tail of a rat may be slightly longer or shorter than its body. Rats are also usually more than double the size of a mouse. Rats are about 9 to 11 inches long; mice are about 3 to 4 inches long, possibly 7 inches long at the most.

What Attracts Rats to the House?

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.

Once nested in your home, rats grow in numbers by having babies. They can begin reproducing at three months of age and typically live for one year.

Signs of Rat Infestation

Signs of rat presence include:

  • Live or dead rats
  • Droppings, especially around human or pet food or in or around 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.

Snap Traps

Rat-sized wooden or plastic traps can be very effective for killing rats and are the least expensive option. When using a 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.

Warning

Place all traps where they will not be disturbed or come into contact with children or pets. Rat traps are powerful and can cause serious injuries and some are toxic.

​​Live Traps

Live traps use the rodents' natural tendency to investigate and wiggle into holes. 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

Bait stations are self-contained, enclosed devices containing an approved type of rodenticide in block or paste form. The rodenticide lures the rodent into the entrance of the station. 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). There are refillable and non-refillable stations, and stations must be sold with a rodenticide in the package; you cannot buy it separately. The bait is entirely contained inside the station so it is protected against accidental contact or ingestion by children or non-target animals.

rat trap and rodenticide tablets
​The Spruce / Michelle Becker

How to Prevent Rats

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

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.
  • Tidy 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. Keep stacks of firewood away from the house.

Close Holes and Cracks

  • 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 patch large holes with galvanized hardware cloth, plywood, cement board, siding, or other exterior-rated material.
  • Another easy entrance to a home is damaged or missing crawlspace and attic vents; cover these with hardware cloth.

When to Call a Professional to Treat a Rat Infestation

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 home remedies while waiting for the pest control service to arrive.

person setting a rat trap
The Spruce / Michelle Becker
FAQ
  • What do rats hate the most?

    Rats especially hate the smell of peppermint more than any other smell. Mix equal parts peppermint oil and water in a spray bottle and spray generously around your home or soak cotton balls in peppermint oil and put those around the interior of your home. It may repel a rat or two but will not usually help with infestations.

  • What should I use to bait a rat trap?

    Dry pet food can be a very attractive bait for rats; so can nuts, dried fruits, and dried meats, such as bacon. These can be attached to the trap with thread, wire, or even glue. For rats, soft baits, such as peanut butter and cheese, are not always effective, because the rat can sometimes pull off the bait without snapping the trap.

  • Are glue boards effective for rats?

    Glue boards are not usually very effective in rat control, as these larger rodents can sometimes pull themselves loose from the glue or, if caught by only a foot or two, they can simply drag the board around. Glue boards are generally considered less humane than other traps because they do not kill the rodent; they just keep it stuck until it starves to death or until it is dispatched by the person who set the trap (an unpleasant task, to say the least).

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Diseases Directly Transmitted by Rodents. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  2. Managing Rats and Mice. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service,

  3. Rats. University of California.

  4. Restrictions on Rodenticide Products. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  5. Natural Rat Deterrent. Orkin.

  6. Witmer, Gary. The Changing Role of Rodenticides and Their Alternatives in the Management of Commensal Rodents. USDA National Wildlife Research Center.