Orleans Parish County, New Orleans Rat Control Situation:
Hi from New Orleans. I must say ure website is absolutley brilliant.Thank you for such a wealth of advise. I realise now that setting traps willy nilly doesn't work. I have caught a couple of mice over the past 6 weeks. But there is still something crawling around up there, and i CANNOT GET IT. Originally i'm sure it was mice as i caught 2/3 of them. But today i saw some rat droppings. I feel a bit spooked as i can hear this rodent on and off during the night. Sometimes right behind the wall at the head of the bed!! Have u ever heard of a cat used in an attic space (where i have a rat) to catch a rat? I have the cat, but maybe id have a problem with a lost cat in the attic if i put her up! What do you think? Thanks again for your greta website.
My response: You can try putting your cat up there, but it probably won't solve the rat problem. Inspect the house and find out how the rodents are getting inside. Seal up every single last entry/exit hole and gap with steel. Trap, properly trap on rat runways, ALL the rats, and remove them from the house.
I have been reading a lot of your website and am sure I can NOT do this myself. I am going to contact Trutech in Gadsden and hopefully can get them to come out and get rid of this problem. I read your price range and maybe they will let me pay a large amount down and monthly installments for the rest if it is much more than 500.00. My house is very very small so I hope that's a plus. Anyway I apologize for emailing you three times. I should have read further before contacting you. Thanks again! I forgot to mention that my attic is impossible to even look in. There is only a very small hole hat is supposed to be the attic and it is in my closet but I could not even get my head through ANSI am a small woman. Thanks
New Orleans 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.