Palm Beach County, Boca Raton Rat Control Situation:
Hello: I just read the information from your email. I recently moved into an actually nice home in the Boca Raton area; however the backyard is a woody area and cross from it is the swamp. The owners of the home told me they had a cat so they never saw a rat except what the cat bought in after killing it. When I moved in which was 3 weeks ago, I started to experience rats in the kitchen, saw droppings all over my stove area. I became overwhelmed and my two children (girls) are now petrified. The owner reluctantly paid for an exterminator because they swore they never had a problem. When the exterminator came out they did a walk through. In the attic rat droppings everywhere, in the downstairs closet rat droppings and in the garage. The exterminator sealed up two openings from the attic, and I was told a tree need to cut down because that was how they were getting in, but in the closet downstairs they seem to have inhabit that area. The exterminator wanted me to remove the poison that was put down and they set traps in all 3 areas mentioned. Do you think this will rid the problem or do I need to relocate?
Hi David - I'm in Boca Raton FL and you don't have anyone here!!! I've had mice in my attic since we built our house - 10 yrs ago. I've snap trapped probably over 100 over the years, and again, now that its getting cold here, we hear the scratching at night. I've also used poison blocks that I scatter throughout the attic. I find them scrivelled up sometimes, but with blown in insulation it is hard to find their paths etc. I've got a stone veneer which results in lots of gaps where the top of the wall meets the metal soffit, so I'm wondering how to proceed on sealing that up? Any help you can suggest would be much appreciated. Thanks Bob
Boca Raton Rat Control Tip of The Week
What Can I Do About A Trap-Shy Rat?
There are instances where rats tend to be trap-shy by trying as much as possible not to get too close to the trap to avoid getting caught. This particular situation can be a result of several reasons. The first and most common reason is that the rats have witnessed other rats getting trapped. Another reason is that the rats might be scared of the newly introduced object along their route.
Whatever the reason might be, getting the rats to put aside their fears and go for the bait requires a whole lot of planning and patience. Right here, we will be taking you through what you can do to stop the rats in your home from being trap-shy.
Aside from being a very common household pest, rats are habitual and will study their environment as much as they can in other to easily detect when something goes wrong or differs from the way it used to be. This naturally prompts them into being trap-shy when they notice the unusual new trap in their environment.
To stop this and make the rats in your home attracted to baits, you are going to have to take your time and repeat the following process continuously. The first thing you have to do is to make the rats in your home feel comfortable around the traps. To achieve this, all you have to do is place unset traps along their route and let them move around it without getting trapped. Naturally, rats like to move around on sawdust. You can also place sawdust on and around the traps to make it more appealing to them and make them feel comfortable and safe around the trap.
After doing that for a while, you can then go ahead and set the traps with bait. To increase your chances of trapping them, you can choose to place sawdust on and around the traps.