Cuyahoga County, Cleveland Rat Control Situation:
David, Thanks for the informative site. We live on the meadow, near Cleveland, Ohio. We have rats that have done significant damage to our cars. Our house is well sealed, and have had none inside the house that we are aware of. Below the house we have about 20 traps set with peanut butter, but after 5 days, have not caught a single rat. Some traps have no bait left, a couple have been tripped, but no rats were caught. I understand poison is not a good choice. How do we stop them from damaging our cars? Interestingly, we've lived here for 9 years and never had a problem before this year, can't figure out what changed. Thanks for any advice. Best, Gerry
Hello. I have rodents in the attic/under gutter. When can I have someone come out to remove them and how much is it? Other option is trying to remove them ourselves. Were do we find a trap? We have squirrels entering our attic through the exhaust fan. Although a screen was placed over the fan about six months ago, the squirrels rendered that ineffective. What can we do?! I thought I'd let you know that the device I used worked perfectly, and the squirrels exited the attic, and so far, have not gotten back in. I'm going to give it another day or so, and seal the hole and remove the 'cage'. It was much preferable to climbing a ladder daily to release trapped rats. Mitch
Would appreciate your professional advice on: 1) removal and installation of attic insulation; a local pest control company partially removed, sanitized and installed new insulation around 6 years ago but problem persisted; we cannot get rid of bird mites or rat mites in the house; sent specimen to pest control lab who identified pest as bird mites; we've had rats in the attic as well; can removal and installation of new attic insulation solve the problem? can you recommend a company in Cleveland OH to do this? 2) gophers, who have taken over the ravine behind the house; how does one control these pests? gardener has used poison but they keep coming back & multiplying. Thanks for any assistance you may offer.
Cleveland Rat Control Tip of The Week
Norway Rat Biology
The Norway rat is typically nocturnal. It is a good swimmer; however, unlike the related black rat, it is a poor climber. Norway rats burrow well, and regularly uncover broad tunnel systems.
Rats are equipped for creating ultrasonic vocalizations, both as grown-ups and babies. They may likewise transmit short, high frequency, socially-prompted vocalization during interaction with different rats or animals. This call most takes after a trilling sound but is undetectable to human ears. Rats can discernibly be heard through calls sounding like squeaks when they are in trouble.
These rats are omnivores. This implies they can eat both plants and animals. As predators, rats are opportunistic.
The Norway rat can breed consistently if the conditions are reasonable, and a female can deliver up to twelve litters in a year. The gestation period is just 21 days, and litters can number up to fourteen, albeit smaller litters are common. In this way, the rat population can increase rapidly. Rats have a lifespan of around three years, yet regularly live less than one year.
Norway rats live in enormous hierarchical groups, either in tunnels or subsurface places, such as sewers and basements. When food is hard to come by, the rats lower in the social order are the first to die. If a large portion of a rat populace is eliminated from a zone, the rest will expand their reproductive rate, and rapidly reestablish the old populace level. This makes it imperative to have a plan to get rid of the entire rat population on your property if an infestation occurs.
