Hennepin County, Minneapolis Rat Control Situation:
Hi, David, Thank you very much to establish your very educational and candid website. I bought a house half a year ago and it had rats in the attic and in the crawl space. I hired a rodent removal guy to take care of the problem. I spent almost $1000 but I still had rats - he didn't seal all the entry points. Anyway, I then did a lot of research in rats. lol. According to my rodent guy, there was about 10 rats living in my attic. But his trap caught none after sealing all the holes (He thought he did but there was two crawl space vent open). He then claimed that all rats gone because they are "scared". Later I set traps myself and I caught two large roof rats (really large, almost 12 oz each I would say). After that, no more caught. In October, I hired an insulation company to remove ALL the batt insulation from my attic. There was still thousands of droppings left on the joist bays. I painstakingly vaccuum them out (me wearing face masks). Now the attic is clean. However, I could not find ANY gnaw marks on wood, nor electric wires, nor on anything else. Why is that? How could it be? This house had tens of thousands of rat droppings in the attic, thousands of droppings in the garage and thousands in the crawl space. But I am not able to spot their damage other than the droppings? I thought rats have to chew on stuffs to keep their teeth from growing too long. I hope you could help answer this question. It always bugs me if there is something unexplainable. Thanks! Guangchi from Minneapolis Area
Minneapolis Rat Control Tip of The Week
Why Using Poison Causes Dead Rats In The House
Unintended Victims:
Using poison can be quite risky as you could put your pets as well as young children at risk. If you're laying down rat poison throughout your home, it's possible that it could easily become targeted by toddlers who might be attracted to the small size and colors. Your pets could also be taking an unplanned trip to the hospital if they happen to ingest any of the rat poison as well.
It's Harmful To The Environment:
Using rat poison not only causes dead rats in the house but it's also harmful to the environment. You could end up with a predator in your home that's scavenging off of the dead rats, it could kill off some of the plant life in your area and it can lead to the chance that you might end up with other animals falling victim to the rat poison as well. Many homeowners have woken up to find a bobcat, fox, or coyote killed in their backyard from ingesting a rat that ate poison or from ingesting the poison themselves.
It Also Doesn't Solve The Problem:
Rats are finicky creatures and you might end up with just a few of them dead in the house before they communicate with one another and begin to avoid the areas where you place down poison and traps. Rather than facing ongoing difficulty with poisons and not getting all of the rats out of your home, choosing a different method could be a wise choice for making improvements for the future.
It's Often Time-consuming:
You might end up having to change out the poison or change your trap location on a regular basis just to capture a few rats. This can often be more time-consuming for you and your family.