Bucks County, Quakertown Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, First of all, thank you for your beautiful website, absolutely great! My wife and I are looking into renting an older single family house in a rural area near Quakertown PA, actually closer to Pennsburg. However, the house has been empty for 3 years, and the attic, crawl space, and older wooden garage show a lot of rat poop and urine traces, particularly visible in the garage. The previous renters also confirmed that they had a rat problem. The house interior walls and ceilings will be re-painted and it well get new floor coverings. Pending painting and new floor coverings, the landlord had the garage power washed and, although we have not seen it yet after the power wash, this seems to have washed away (washed to where?) the rat poop, etc. The landlord is also willing to hire a professional to help get rid of the rats and seal the access holes; since the house may need to be tented for termites, the thought is that this may also kill most of the rats. My questions are: 1.Will the termite tenting in deed also kill the rats? 2.Even if most rats are caught, and/or killed during tenting, and the access holes are sealed, what are the health dangers of rat cadavers that may be under the attic insulation, or inside the walls? 3.What is the health danger of remaining rat urine and poop traces in the attic (insulation), crawl space (dirt), walls, garage wood work, yard, etc.? 4.Aside from health danger issues, how long will the smell of rat urine and poop be around, and can this smell still penetrate through newly painted walls, ceiling, and new tile/wood floor coverings into the living spaces? 5.Last, but not least, do you know anyone in the Ventura County area who has experience with the humanly removal of rats? (Catch alive and release somewhere else?). 6.Alternatively, is there anyone you could recommend in the Ventura County area to help us with this?
So last December had Taurus fuel pump replaced and yes, a nice nest to sleep when not chewing wires discovered upon dropping fuel tank. As 2001 older car and with USAA for 36 years, talked them into homeboy rewire with junk yard wire harness vs. salvage car. With rat feeders ten feet from outside condo parking,they really love my car's wires! (actually worse as 4-5 years ago spent a small fortune on recurring shorts and wires-mechanic loved me but of course would not bust the rats- $1200 later) Heck only have 100k miles on the 2001 Ford and about to retire and need some help to keep the vermints elsewhere-maybe another older Taurus 2 chew on-trained cats-stuffed giant rats nearby!!! Attice boys we have-no prob-they come in sometimes in winter-car is prob 1.
Quakertown Rat Control Tip of The Week
Why Don't Repellents Work Well To Get A Rat Out Of The Attic?
The urgent need for people to get rid of rats in their attic has made many consider humane removal methods apart from trapping and killing, one of which is the use of repellents. But here is the question! Do repellents work in getting rats out of attics?
The main idea of a repellent is to make the environment unsuitable for rats. This is achieved by using several techniques such as, scents and sound emissions. Although there is a wide range of repellents to choose from, the fact is that the use of repellents might not give you the kind of result that you desire in the long run. It might help keep them away for a while, but when the effects of the repellents subside, they will come back.
Let's take a look at some supposed effective rat repellents and how they were designed to work. With this, you will have a clear picture of the result you might get when you choose to use repellents to get rid of the rats in your attic.
Scent repellents are one of the most common repellents that are readily available in stores. This repellent is designed to use intense scent to either irritate or nauseate the rats. When used the first time, this might help repel the rats as intended. But with time, these rats will get used to this scent and will tend to stay until they get accustomed to it.
Another commonly used rat repellent is mechanical repellents. Apart from being ineffective, they are also very expensive. These repellents are designed to use sound and light waves to repel rats in the attic. This will also not give the desired results simply because rats are intelligent animals and will figure out that the mechanism can't cause any harm to them.
Having realized this, the best thing you can do to repel rats in your attic is by making it less appealing to them. This can be done by cleaning out the trash and making sure there are no hiding places for the rats.
