Albemarle County, Charlottesville Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, My name is Nancy my family and I live in Charlottesville Va. and we have had a rat problem in our house. We hired a company for rat removal and got rid of the rat problem for now. However the rat(s) were living in the ceiling in the basement laundry room. There is feces in the ceiling and the removal control recommended we pull down the ceiling which is just thin wood paneling, in order to remove the feces, and take away a place for them to hide in the future. After reading your website we are concerned about having my husband do this work. I'm pregnant an we have a small child in the house as well and don't want to be stirring up potential illness or problems. Also there are a lot of electrical conduits attached to the ceiling which we are concerned about. Do you think we can do this ourselves, or do you think we should hire a professional if you recommend a pro, how do we find someone to do this work? Everyone we've found just seem to be about removal of the rats, not clean up.
Dear David- Help! Need man. However, I am a single gal of retired age -semi rural. I am about to use a cylindrical attachment for drill to cut a 2 " drywall plug out of bathroom wall. This bath was added on. The noise does not always come from the same "section" so I am about to guess and go along the wall avoiding studs and taking plugs out (under counters) until I get to him/her. Then I will put a live rodent trap up to the hole and hopefully remove it that way before it dies. Question: Does this approach make sense? If I wait for a man to come help I fear it will die in the wall.
Dear David, We had heavy rain this past spring in the Charlottesville Virginia area ( so much for the drought) and there was a huge exodus of rats and mice into all of our homes. It was so widespread that traps were sold out in a 50 mile radius. Recently I pulled the bottom cushions of a sleeper coach up to turn them and discovered large clay colored dropping ( it was almost the size of rabbit food pellets) all over the back part of the seat area. Then a mouse or rat ran out a few days later. I believe it was in the mattress for some time. They also came up from a heating vent in a little used room. I am concerned about using the heat since they are under my house in the crawl space. What kind of company could I call to remove and dispose of the mattress safely? Would I be able to use a fabric safe disinfectant to save the couch and then replace the mattress? It is a very expensive couch that I wish to keep. I had my ducts cleaned a few years ago and I wonder if that loosened them and made it easy for the rats to get in.Thank you
Charlottesville Rat Control Tip of The Week
Do Rats Consume Or Like Cheese?
Being an omnivorous animal, rats tend to feed on anything their claws can grab. This feeding habit with no restrictions allows them to feed on vegetables, fruits, meats, grains, and even dairy products. There's however a myth that rats prefer cheese to any other type of food. As a result of this, many people consider cheese as a rat's favorite and will prefer using them as baits whenever they want to trap rats.
This might seem like a very good idea, but the fact is there is nothing in particular that clearly states that rats prefer cheese to other food. Although they do eat it when they have access to it, that doesn't make it the food they like
To help you understand this better and know whether or not rats consume and like cheese we will be taking you through the diet of a rat. With this, we will be able to provide an answer to the question above.
Rats are voracious eaters; all they care about is to fill up their stomach with food. They only become choosy when there is an abundant source of food and several options to choose from. In situations like this, rats will prefer to eat other foods like meat, grains, and fruits instead of eating cheese.
Apart from all that has already been mentioned above, the nutritional value of cheese is low compared to what rats need daily. This simply means that if you keep a rat as a pet, offering it a meal plan that is mainly comprised of cheese is a bad idea.