Madison County, Huntsville Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, I found your website online -- very informative for removing rats and squirrels from attics. My problem is the animal(s), which I'm guessing are rats or mice because they only scratch at night, is in the ceiling, but there is no attic or crawl space. The structure is a two story condo and the scratching sound is in the same location for the past 2 - 3 nights: in the ceiling of the small landing between the two upstairs bedrooms. There is a recessed light in that ceiling, and removing the light cover does provide a small access into the ceiling. The actual hole is about 6 - 7" wide, but there is an old-style light can in the hole, which only has a few small openings in it. Last year prior to painting the ceiling we removed the light cover and down came some animal droppings. Even though we weren't hearing any animal noises at that time, we set two Victor mouse traps which we were able to fit inside the small openings. We didn't catch anything so eventually, we just put the light cover back on. Now, there is very active scratching in the ceiling a few inches from the light so there is definately something alive in there. If it's a mouse, we can probably set a trap like we did before and I believe there is enough of an opening to remove the trap with a mouse in it. If it's a larger critter like a rat, we may or may not be able to set the larger trap and/or remove the trap with the dead animal because the opening may be too small. Even if we are successful at trapping and removing the animal, there is little access to remove the droppings or see if they've done any damage in there. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Nicole in Huntsville AL
Between floors is hard. If you can get a trap inside, great. You still need to Inspect the house and find out how the rodents are getting inside and seal up every single last entry/exit hole and gap with steel.
Huntsville Rat Control Tip of The Week
Are rats hibernating creatures?
Rats are nocturnal:
Rats sleep a lot even without cold conditions. The average rat will sleep between 12 to 15 hours a day and in colder conditions they will often seek warmth so that they can sleep safely for this amount of time. Because rats often walk around at night, detecting them can be somewhat difficult. Making sure that you can detect them often means checking into areas where they could nest or remaining somewhat attuned to what is going on in the night time when they are most active.
Rats breed throughout the year:
Even in the wintertime rats are continuing to breed, make their nests, and live without any issues. They don't hibernate during winter. Instead, rats will continue to breed. Most rats are able to wean a litter in about one month and leave the babies to fend for themselves after that period of time.
Rats will seek spaces to live:
Even though they don't hibernate, rats will seek warm and safe conditions. This means that in the wintertime it's likely that they will be looking for space inside your home where they can spend time sheltering throughout the winter. Spotting areas were rats can get into your home can be important to preventing an infestation.
Food gets scarce in winter:
If you are in an area where the climate gets cold this can lead many rats to find an area where they can access food much easier. Rather than getting stuck with very little food supply over several months, they can detect food that's in your home and then stay close to it.