Montgomery County, Montgomery Rat Control Situation:
David, I hope you can help. My wife and two kids bought our dream house a couple hundred yards from the cliff of the Pacifica ocean here in Moss Beach, CA. I started hearing some scratching in the walls, and began a four month battle with rats that I am losing. I went under the house and there were empty poison containers (from previous owners), thousands of rat poos, and about 20 rat carcasses. I cleaned it all up, and over many, many hours sealed what I believe to be every single tiny nook around the house (I caught a couple rats in the act of going into some holes). We've gone several weeks at a time without any rats, then occassionally we'll hear one. I catch one or two now and then under the house with snap traps, glue traps, but they are small rats, and there are hardly any new poos. Our roof is not accessible to any trees, or anything touching the ground except the water drains. We do have a ton of gopher holes and tunnels all around the house, even right next to the foundation (but none that seem to open up under the house) But currently none of us are sleeping because of one (what sounds like) big rat. It runs around and scratches all night between about 10 pm and 6 am. It is above and around our bedroom (below the kitchen) walls. Sometimes I feel like taking my chances with a pick axe, and blowing open the wall like a madman trying to get that rat. What would be your recommendation? Thank you so much, Marc
Montgomery Rat Control Tip of The Week
How Do Wildlife Rehabilitators Deal With Rats?
Even though rats do cause a nuisance in homes, they also need to be treated humanely when indisposed. In a situation where you find a stray and injured rat in your home, the best thing you can do is to contact a wildlife rehabilitator to help evacuate the rat immediately. While waiting for the rehabilitator, you need to avoid any physical contact with the animal, as rats are often carriers of different kinds of pathogens and diseases.
Wildlife rehabilitators are licensed professionals that help to evacuate animals from people's home, treat them if they have health issues, and release them back into the wild. Unlike other animals, wildlife rehabilitators handle rats specially.
Since stray rats do find it very difficult to survive on their own if relocated into the wild immediately, the first thing wild rehabilitators do is to nurture the rats for days or weeks to ensure that they are in good health. To do this, the rats are introduced into a box filled with woodland debris to make them feel comfortable and are properly fed with good food. This nurturing process continues until the rats can survive on their own without the help of anyone.
After successfully nurturing them, the wildlife rehabilitator can then go ahead and release the rat back into the wild. The release of the rat into the wild is not just done indiscriminately. Wildlife rehabilitators look for areas with a possible place of shelter for the rat with an abundant source of food.
Wildlife rehabilitators make sure evacuated rats stand a chance of living. Therefore, don't hesitate to contact a wildlife rehabilitator if you have stray, injured rats in your home.
