Muscogee County, Columbus Rat Control Situation:
Hello David. We live in Georgia in a double-wide mobile home, & are having a problem with rats underneath in our insulation. A few years ago, my daughter lived in our mobile, & when we moved back in, we discovered that, because of her habits of leaving food & garbage around, our house was terribly infested with roaches, & that we also had rats in the house. After trying lots of roach traps & sprays, we still had roaches, & finally got rid of them with boric acid. Now we turned our attention to the rats. My husband came home with poison & snap traps, but because of fear for my pets, & also not wanting to kill them because I keep pet rats, I bought a humane trap. Well, we caught a couple of babies, but because I tried to transfer them to another container so I could catch more before trying to release them, they escaped, & then they became too leary of the trap, so we caught no more. Then I bought an electronic zapper, which does kill them quickly, but only one at a time, but it seemed to have gotten them out of the house, that & cleaning up food messes. Now we are having a problem again. I have them in a small travel trailer, & also in the insulation under our mobile home. They must also be in the walls because I found droppings coming out of the crack between my tub & shower wall. Since there are many openings in the skirting, it is easy for them to come & go, & even if we were to fix the skirting, I'm sure they would find a way in. It is very difficult to go under the mobile because it is not very high, & you have to snake crawl most of it, & a lot of the insulation is torn down. Another problem is money. In these difficult times, money is very scarce, so we don't have hundreds of dollars to pay a pro. Treating this problem in a mobile home is a lot different then treating an attic. Do you have any suggestions as to how we can handle this problem?
Columbus Rat Control Tip of The Week
Rats And Black Pepper
Rats eat almost anything. In their search for food, they can gnaw on plastic, wood, and even electrical wiring. A rat presence in your home can cause a lot of economic damage.
When this expense is added to the health problems rats' body fluids can cause, the best thing a person can do is getting them out of the house as soon as possible. The most common extermination way is using traps or rodenticides. However, there are more natural methods such as the use of peppers that cause unpleasant odors and tastes for the rodent and quickly drive them away.
Odors That Repel
Using repellents with unpleasant odors for rats is a way to keep them away from you in a friendly way. The advantage of not having to deal with the rodent's carcass can be worth the effort of constantly using these temporary methods. Rodents use their sense of smell to socialize as well as to survive. An odor such as ammonia often drives them away because it is very similar to the urine of large animals that could devour them. Spicy odors are perceived as dangerous chemicals that are also often avoided at all costs.
Black Pepper
Spicy food odors are unbearable for rats, thanks to their high capsaicin content. These natural compounds give the food its spicy effect, but they are also often very irritating to the mucous membranes and lungs of rodents. If ingested, they can cause a burning sensation in the taste buds and olfactory glands. Pepper is known to be able to scare away rats temporarily although this is not scientifically proven.
For all those people who are afraid of having to deal with poisons or homemade traps, finding new and less harmful options is a headache; however, homemade repellents like black pepper avoid harming other animals and humans, being a perfect choice. In any case, even if they are harmless odors, it is advisable to seek the advice and follow the instructions of a professional in the field.
