Multnomah County, Portland Rat Control Situation:
I have had a serious problem with rats in my house--kitchen, bedrooms, in the walls, etc. I believe they began coming in from the garage which has been filled with junk for years. They ate through parts of my wooden door, through drywall, and even through wood along the sliding glass doors. I have been zapping them with the Rat Zapper, but I keep finding their feces all over and know it is dangerous. I am taking steps to arrange for the garage to be emptied and cleaned and have cleaned out my pantry, cleaned off all the lids, jars, etc, but I still see rat droppings in the living room and in two of the bedrooms. My kids are coming home to stay and I am fearful of disease. Can you clean those areas up and work simultaneously on sealing out entryways? Is it okay to use a dry vacuum to vacuum them up if I spray them well with Clorox first and then throw the vacuum away. I do not have the fancy masks, only the white ones. Is that dangerous. Please let me know what you recommend and costs for your services.
Hello sir. I need your advice. Me and my wife just bought our very first house in north Portland Oregon. My wife is due to give birth and we're to move in to this house by end of this month and there's no turning back since we already gave our landlord notice to move. This house requires some work but I'm emailing you mainly of one thing, rat infestation problem. We just took out an old stove from the kitchen and behind it, we saw about thousand rat droppings on the ground. And the house and detached garage smells. I'm not sure whether it's because house has been abandoned for over a year or what but we need rat problem resolved asap. On your website you mentioned using snap trap is the best way to get rid of rats. Where should I set up the traps? How many should I put? What kind of food should I put on the trap? Any other advice will be greatly appreciated.
Portland Rat Control Tip of The Week
Are rats hibernating creatures?
Rats are nocturnal:
Rats sleep a lot even without cold conditions. The average rat will sleep between 12 to 15 hours a day and in colder conditions they will often seek warmth so that they can sleep safely for this amount of time. Because rats often walk around at night, detecting them can be somewhat difficult. Making sure that you can detect them often means checking into areas where they could nest or remaining somewhat attuned to what is going on in the night time when they are most active.
Rats breed throughout the year:
Even in the wintertime rats are continuing to breed, make their nests, and live without any issues. They don't hibernate during winter. Instead, rats will continue to breed. Most rats are able to wean a litter in about one month and leave the babies to fend for themselves after that period of time.
Rats will seek spaces to live:
Even though they don't hibernate, rats will seek warm and safe conditions. This means that in the wintertime it's likely that they will be looking for space inside your home where they can spend time sheltering throughout the winter. Spotting areas were rats can get into your home can be important to preventing an infestation.
Food gets scarce in winter:
If you are in an area where the climate gets cold this can lead many rats to find an area where they can access food much easier. Rather than getting stuck with very little food supply over several months, they can detect food that's in your home and then stay close to it.
