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
What Is The Largest Size A Rat Can Get To Be?
With an average lifespan of about 2 - 3 years, some species of rats can grow as large as 4 pounds. But on average, almost all rats are bigger than mice. Also, the size of a rat fairly depends on the specie and the sex of the rat. Male rats usually are larger than females. They have a longer body frame with tails as long as their body and can grow as big as 2 lbs.
Domesticated rats usually do better when it comes to size mainly because they are provided with all they need to grow properly and healthily. For pet rats, an adult rat can grow to a length of 9 to 11 inches with a tail length of 7 to 9 inches. If properly managed, some large species of rats can even grow as long as 20 inches. It all depends on how well the rats are being managed and taken care of.
One of the most fascinating thing about rats is that having a large body size doesn't mean they won't be able to pass through small openings and enter into your home. Rats can compress their body in order to be able to pass through small openings. Provided the opening is wide enough to allow the easy passage of its head, it will pass through. Therefore, you shouldn't consider the fact that the rats in your neighborhood are too big to gain access to your home through small openings. Instead, you need to seal all small openings up as soon as possible to avoid a rat infestation.
When it comes to rats with large sizes, the Bosavi woolly rat is one of a kind. This specie of rat can weigh up to 3.5 lbs. and grow as long as 32 inches. Although, this particular specie of rat can only be found in volcanic caves.