Duval County, Jacksonville Rat Control Situation:
Dear sir, I current have something in my attic that I think is a rat or mouse. My pest control company has placed bait for rodents in the attic to no avail. They have also complete an outside "plug the holes treatment. There is a section off my attic that is hard to access due to vaulted ceilings. The noise is in the area that no one can get to. It is mainly in the early morning, no so much at night. Can you recommend someone in the northeast Florida coast area, I am about 17 miles north of Saint Augustine, south of Jacksonville FL. Thank you, Jocelyn
If by "bait", you mean poison, that's not a good idea. You need to find the entry holes and seal them. I do know someone in your area.
Thank you for posting helpful info about rat removal. I was going to have my husband get rat poison. Glad to know that's the wrong way. What is the best bait to use in the wood rat traps? Will peanut butter work? I have no idea what rats will eat.
Peanut butter and seeds should work just fine, but there's a heck of a lot more to rat control than the type of bait used!
Jacksonville Rat Control Tip of The Week
Reasons Why Relocated Rats Don't Survive Out Of Their Usual Territory
After trapping a rat in your home, you will have to decide either to kill it or relocate it. If killing a rat doesn't go down well with you because it makes you feel inhumane, you will be left with no other option but to relocate it.
If you have decided to relocate a trapped rat into a new territory, you need to understand the fact that it might not survive. Despite being a very smart household pest, rats find it very difficult to cope in a new environment for several reasons. The following are the reasons why a relocated rat won't survive out of their usual territory.
The first reason why rats won't survive in a new environment is that they are accustomed to their old environment. They have spent their entire life studying where they stay, knowing the exact place to find water and food in order to survive daily. Transferring this survival instinct to a new environment is a quite difficult thing to do for rats. As a result of these differences, they will find it difficult to locate food and water which they need to survive in any environment they are relocated to.
The presence of predators in the new environment is another reason why rats will find it difficult to survive. Animals like cats, snakes, and birds hunt for rats and will take advantage of the fact that the newly introduced rat doesn't know its way around to capture it.
When you introduce a rat into a new environment, it is going to meet other street rats that are already accustomed to that specific environment. Rats being animals that exhibit dominance in the form of hierarchy, where the submissive group is traumatized by the dominant rats, your rat will face multiple brutal battles and might end up in bad shape in the process. Over time, they will either get killed or too weak to look for food and shelter.
All these clearly show why any rat you decide to relocate might never survive the effects of leaving your home and being transferred into a new environment.