Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, I'm in southern California. I have at least one rat in my ceiling, maybe two or more. I've read your website and really appreciate the great insight you're providing. Based on your advice, I've caught 3 rats around the outside my house (over the last 2 months), trimmed trees back (3 days ago), and plugged all the access holes I could identify (3 weeks ago).
Yet I still have at least one rat in my attic. Though I've place several snap traps (baited with peanut butter and bird seed) in the attic, I get no nibbles. I also cannot find any evidence of their paths. I've moved the trap several time with no success. From inside the house, I hear them in sections of the attic (about 3:00 am) that are completely inaccessible to me (because of firewalls.)
So I hired a pest extermination company. For $275 they put some poison bait stations outside, and three snap traps in the attic that are baited with a beef jerkey substance. The traps are near the attic access panel - not near the rat noise activity. The guy's reply was that the scent would lure them. He also reviewed my hole-plugging and said it was fine. He didn't get onto my roof. It's been three days and I check the snap traps in the morning and around dusk each night.
My questions are:
1. Is it safe to assume that the rat(s) sleep in my house during the day and at night they are coming and going outside? Does this mean I've missed an access point?
2. Considering the inaccessibility, is it common to drill a hole in the ceiling (like a 4" hole for recessed lighting) to place traps in the attic for those inaccessible places? If I drill a hole, then I can stick a camera up there and take pictures to look for evidence, place the traps, monitor them, etc. But then I've got a hole to deal with.
3. Is it worth parking myself on the roof and patiently waiting to see where the rats are coming and going?
4. Have I given the beef jerkey snap-traps enough time to do their thing? Any other advice? Thanks for your help!
Los Angeles Rat Control Tip of The Week
City Subways And The Presence Of Rats
Rats, like pigeons, badgers, and foxes thrive in urban environments, even moving to these places. Cities are full of garbage dumps, abandoned lands, and sewers that can provide a cozy burrow for rats to live in and raise their families. Human beings have provided the perfect conditions for the well-being of this species.
Sewers And Rats
Sewers can provide everything needed for an exponential multiplication of rodents. The problem is that the more rats there are, the more they need food, so to get it they will be severely aggressive towards each other. This aggressiveness and the search for new food sources can cause serious damage to the city.
Rats Are The Real Infection
These rodents are known for carrying bacteria that cause infectious diseases leading humans to death. Something similar occurs with rats when they spread through sewers, subways, garbage dumps, and train tracks.
Rats survive thanks to the mountains of garbage in the city and play a vital role in reducing this waste. However, wiring or holes and infrastructure problems can be just some of the catastrophic consequences for the city's subway system.
Super-rats
Humans love junk food and in big cities, high-calorie garbage has given the rats that eat it the energy they need to grow exorbitantly even creating resistance to some rat poisons.
The well-being of citizens begins with professional pest control combined with a mind-set of not throwing garbage into the environment. Briefly, if there is neither food nor garbage, there are no rats. The fewer rats there are in places like the subway, the fewer rats will be able to reach homes. The more we take care of the city, the fewer health problems or economic damage there will be.
