Greene County, Springfield Rat Control Situation:
Hi I saw your website and hope u can help. My neighbors with the cold weather the mice have came. This has been ongoing battle for a couple months. My cat has caught almost 11 , poison killed the rest, along with traps, now it seems there are some new ones in my ceiling, they have chewed so far three holes through my ceiling, I can hear them at night running and scratching, I detest rodents but am at my wits end just when I thought I had them beat they are back in the ceiling where I cannot get to them. Should I put out another round of poison and traps or call a professional! Help at this rate I will have holes all over my ceiling and need a lot of drywall patches!! I am at my wits end can u suggest anything?
I found your website and thought you might be able to help me with a problem I've got here. I've had a lot of my stuff in storage for a few years whilst traveling, and have just returned and found that rats got into a fair bit of it. Some of it I was willing to throw away. However, there's some books that I'd like to be able to salvage which have soaked up rat urine. Or if not the urine itself, the odour of it. Do you have any suggestions? You might need to be aware that I live in Australia, so some of the chemicals or products you may recommend may not necessarily be available to me here. But whatever you recommend would be greatly appreciated anyway! My husband and I are experiencing a foul smell in the ceiling closer to our car port area. It smells the worst outside. There was a Possum in the ceiling but fortunately it fell out of the roof siding outside but I think it may have carried something up there and now there are a million flies and a bad smell up there. Can you please help.
Springfield Rat Control Tip of The Week
How Likely Is It That A Rat In The Attic Will Have A Nest Of Babies?
Rats are among the most common pest animal species that people may have to deal with around the home, and because they are quite small they can often be quite elusive little animals to deal with as well. They are quite good climbers when it comes to moving around a domestic property, so if you are worried about rats, they won?t necessarily be around ground level. Because the attic or roof space of most domestic properties is rarely used, it can often be the dark quiet place where rats can get a foothold and build a nest without being noticed by the people living beneath.
Do Rats Have A Mating Season?
Like most wild animals, rats in the wild do have a mating season, where they will normally copulate and impregnate female rats in the spring, and then the female will then give birth a few weeks later, and can then have a few litters over the summer. However, the reason for the mating season is that in rural areas there are limited food sources available during the winter months, so it is impractical for rats to mate during these months. However, over recent decades, a growing number of rats are actually giving birth throughout the year because food sources are also present throughout the year, so whatever time of the year you discover rats in the attic, you may find there are babies there too.
How Often Will Rats Give Birth?
Because of how quickly rats can go from mating to giving birth to a litter of baby rats, a female rat can often be back and ready to mate again within a few weeks from giving birth. This means that in some cases female rats can give birth to up to ten litters a year, so the population of rats from one breeding female can increase very quickly. It is also worth noting that a baby female will actually become sexually mature herself after around six weeks from birth, so the possibility for a rat population to expand very quickly where there is sufficient food is certainly there.
Dealing With Rats In The Attic
When it comes to dealing with a rat infestation, the first step is to identify where in the attic the rats are active, and while taking the appropriate precautions, look for areas where there is a buildup of rat droppings. You should then place several rat traps in these areas of the attic, along with a small amount of food as bait, and the next step is simply to watch and wait. You should remove any rat carcasses as they are caught in your traps, and then re-lay the trap with a new serving of bait, and you should then continue this process until you no longer see any signs of fresh rat activity, and when you are no longer catching any more rats. You will then need to carry out the appropriate repairs.
What To Do With A Nest Of Baby Rats
In some cases you may actually find a nest of baby rats in the attic, and if they are very young they will often be unable to look after themselves, and will ultimately die if they have to live without the support and feeding from their mother. Because of how common they are, baby rats are rarely suitable to be looked after by a wildlife rehabilitator, so in this case the most humane thing that you can do will be to kill those baby rats as humanely as possible.
