Saint Louis County, St. Louis Rat Control Situation:
Hi David! I have a quick question that I'm hoping you can help me with. My husband and I are hearing noises in the attic and we noticed that the outside vent to the dryer has been pulled away from the house. We have some contraction going on in two rooms and after we put Sheetrock up, the next morning a hole was chewed where the ceiling meets the crawl space between the first and second floors. There were also rat droppings on the floor. We went out and bought snap traps (6) and set 2 in the room with the hole, one in the laundry room, 2 in the main attic, and one in the smaller attic above the room. The next morning half the traps were triggered but nothing caught. We reset all the traps and the next morning all the traps were triggered and empty. The rat had also gotten into the pantry during the night and found a bag of dog treats and tried to pull them out under the door. The reset all the traps, wrapping the trigger with gauze and coating it with peanut butter to make it harder for them to just lick it off. For three weeks now the traps have been untouched. We don't have much activity in the attic either. Last night I took some of the dog treats and put it with the peanut butter as added incentive and we finally caught one... A big one. My question is, is it likely that there are more or that we only had the one? We have two dogs inside and it boggles my mind that rats would be ballsy enough to roam the house when there are dogs around! Should I keep the traps out and see what happens or do you think we got it? Only the one trap with the rat was triggered. Thanks so much for your time, Zui in St. Louis MO
My response: If the traps were triggered with no trap, you were definitely using the wrong traps for the animal you were dealing with. So if it was definitely large rat traps that you were using, then you didn't have a rat - maybe an opossum or something. And if it was rat, then you used the wrong traps - did you you mouse traps, by chance?
St. Louis Rat Control Tip of The Week
How Far And High Can A Rat Jump?
Jumping is a major part of many animals' survival instincts including rats. But in the case of these small rodents, they have a special way of using this particular survival instinct to their best advantage. One of the most common rats around, which is the brown rat, is known to be able to jump over four feet horizontally or in a downward slope and leap vertically to about 77 centimeters without hurting itself. This clearly shows how high rats can jump and how well they can suspend themselves in the air.
The jumping performance of rats depends mainly on their species because some rats are big while others have lighter bodies which tend to support agile movements. For instance, black rats with lean bodies are known to be able to leap over five feet. While brown rats with large body frames find it quite difficult to leap but do well at jumping downwards.
Another reason why some rats jump better than others is mainly because of their better survival instincts and hunting abilities. Rats in the wild are better at jumping than those in the suburban and urban areas. Therefore, you shouldn't expect the rats in your home to jump or leap that high.
Rats are naturally silent animals and will prefer to move around unnoticed. But in some cases, they make use of their jumping skills. One of the special cases in which they use their jumping skills is when they see a possible threat or a predator. They often use this to propel their speed and get away as soon as they can. Their speed and swift body movements are one of the ways they can stay alive and avoid been eaten by a predator.
