Are you looking for ways to preventing rats from entering house? Then, you come to the right place to get the tips on rat-proofing your house!
Seeing a rat in your house will undoubtedly give any homeowner stress and headache all the time. This because most people aware that finding a rat inside house meaning you will face at least two risks at the same time:
- The potential disease that spread or carry by rats to your family member
- Costly structural damage that rats may pose to your house
Rats are smart creatures, and agile enough to find a way inside your house with ease. Once rats are inside your house, they like to make their nests close to food and water sources. To make things more complicated, they tend to build their nest in hard-to-reach places, such as attics and ceilings.
Despite rats being labeled as “nocturnal” and “shy” creatures; but most rat species are known as commensal animals. Commensal for rats means they have the ability to live close to human settlements. Therefore, it is not surprising that rats always become the number one enemy in modern urban dwellings.
Getting rid of rats once they have established a nest inside your house can be difficult. But there are some initial steps you can take in preventing rats from entering house. Learn more some prevention tips that Rentokil can suggest in stopping rats entering house in this article below!
What attracts rats to your house?
Before we discuss some actions you can do to preventing rats from entering house; you need to understand some basic reasons what attracts rats to your house.
Just like any other pests reason when invading your house, what attract rats to your house are includes:
- Food sources
- Water sources
- Shelter
Rats eat up to 10% of their body weight in a day, and they can’t live without water. They are also always looking for warm places, and tend to stay dry during the rainy season. On the other hand, your house not only supplies sufficient food and drink sources but also provides an ideal environment for rat breeding.
For that reason these facts are simply the reason why your house is always becoming their favorite place to go.
Preventing rats from entering house
Rats are agile and flexible creatures. They are known to make the most of any opportunity to get inside your home. In most cases, rats are entering the house through 3 access point including but not limited to:
- Holes or cracks in the walls
- Roof
- Drain pipes
One of the rat species like black rats or also known as roof rats are excellent climbers. They are able to enter your house by climbing on tree limbs to reach your home’s roof for nesting.
Meanwhile, brown rats or Norway rats prefer nesting on the ground level. They often dig ground burrows to make nests under your home structures or close to garbage dumps. Norway rats are also particularly good swimmers. They could swim through sewers and enter your house through floor drains. So, if you find there’s a rat in your sewer system, they are most likely Norway rats.
Interesting read: The difference between rats and mice
Considering how rats enter your home with ease; it is important to take initial steps in preventing rats from house even long before you can discover its presence.
There are 3 ways you can do to preventing rats from entering house, including:
1. Seal any holes and cracks in the walls
Rats can easily enter your home through very tiny openings found in walls. Their bodies even allow them to squeeze through the hole as small as pencil diameters! Thus if you have any holes in interior and exterior walls that are larger than 5 mm, then don’t be surprised if rats can squeeze through inside.
When preventing rats entering house you have to start by doing a thorough inspection on your interior and exterior walls. Look for any gaps and cracks that large enough for rats to go through. Seal off any holes and cracks in the walls with stainless steel wire wool and caulking or concrete.
2. Repair roof damage
It is no mere coincidence that another name for black rat is roof rat. Roof rats are particularly more agile than any other type of rats in finding a way to get inside your home, especially from the rooftops.
These rat species have the ability to climb overhanging branches and utility poles to gain access to your home through gaps in broken roof tiles. Repair immediately any roof damage and seal gaps using the wire mesh to stopping rats entering house.
3. Equip drain pipes with a tight-fitting grates
Did you know? Rats can actually enter your home through the toilet bowls or sinks?
Although this may sound hard to believe, but it is possible to see rats get inside your house through your toilet! In fact, Norway rats or “sewer rats” commonly found nesting and moving around the neighbourhood through the drainage system. They can swim up to half mile in open water and are able to survive by treading water for 3 days!
Drain pipes are providing a good living environment for rats. This is mainly because the drain pipes provide all necessities for rats to survive in one place: food, water, and warm places for nesting.
Therefore, the best way to preventing rats from house through your drain can be done by doing:
- Cover your drain pipes with a tight-fitting grate; periodically inspect the covers to make sure it always in good condition
- Seal your drainage to ensure there are no openings on the pipeworks.
- Equip floor drains with metal grates
- Have a habit to close the toilet lid after use
Best way to get rid of rats fast
We understand that finding a rat infestation in the home can be a very disturbing and frustrating problem. If you could see one rat in the house, there probably would be many more rats nesting inside your house. And if you keep seeing a rat in your house during the daytime, meaning their nest is becoming overpopulated. In this sense, it means that you currently have serious rat problems at place!
How to get rats out of your house?
As the experts in rat control services, Rentokil offer the quickest and most effective way to get rid of rats fast in your house by:
- Identify the source & extent of the infestation
- Recommend and implement targeted treatment and proofing solutions
- Safely get rid of rats from your home and prevent the infestation from reoccurring in the future
Contact Rentokil today at 150808 or fill in our online form to schedule a free property inspection and to discuss your options for rat control and prevention.
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