Getting rid of rats are difficult and not a fun task to do at home! Due to their capabilities and troublesome that they might pose at home, rats are known as a smart and intelligent pest to manage. Rats are one of a kind of household pest that known as good climbers, smugglers and burrowers.
They could enter your homes by squirm through the smallest cracks and holes found in walls, floor and foundations as well as through gaps in windows or ceiling.
It’s not surprising that commonly homeowners might not recognize its appearance until the signs of rat infestation are obviously appear at home, these are includes the presence of damage materials and large holes in floorboards and walls.
5 reasons why getting rid of rats in your home might become a difficult task for the untrained individual
Exceptionally agile and frisky animal
Despite known as carriers of many diseases, rats as pest are considered as agile animal and only need 1 cm for adult rats to squeeze into your building. Their flexible body shapes makes it easier for rats to sneak in to your home from every small cracks and narrowest gap though.
Extremely efficient in reproduction
Generally, sexual maturity ranges between 5 and 8 weeks. Female rats reproduce up to 8 times in their lifespan, with averaging 4 to 7 pups.
Therefore, a single female may produce up to 56 offspring annually. But even small populations of can cause considerable damage, or even worst, your family’s meals could be contaminated with rats dropping, urine and saliva.
Intelligent creatures
Known as intelligent pests, they have excellent memories are very adaptive to urban environment. As they are neophobic, they turn suspicious on new things such as traps, baits and control tools. Thus, its requires time and diligent efforts to gain control effect.
Skilled in hiding capabilities
Rats like to hide with sufficient and tight spaces. Rats can be quite secretive and live in your home for a long time without you even noticing its presence. They also keep themselves out of reach and hide, such as high locations on the attic, cramp basements or narrow crawl spaces.
Remember not to give rats camouflage opportunities among bulky items, boxes, unwanted newspapers and available junks. Remove them to uncover any hiding places.
Attracted to what we consume
Just like any other pests, rats need critical elements to survive: shelter, water and food. They feed on similar food as humans such as cereals, fruits, grains or even nuts.
Food source can be available not just to humans but also for rats! To avoid repeating rat problem, it is important to keep these sources of out of reach from rats after our consumption or food preparation.
5 simple tips to prevent rats from entering your home
- Finding all cracks, openings and holes and seal them proofs (e.g. cement or plaster)
- All doors and windows have to close properly (if possible install nets on your window vents)
- Store foods in glass or metal containers with air-tight lids
- Dispose of all food waste as soon as possible
- Tightly closed garbage bin outside the house
Knowing you have a rat problem can be distressing, so it’s best to do everything you can to try and avoid the situation in the first place – since rats could spread diseases to human and animal through its dropping and urine.
Need a rat control solution? Contact us for more advice on how to prevent and get rid of rats at home.
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