Onondaga County, Syracuse Rat Control Situation:
Hi. I have recently noticed poop in one area of my garage which is also right next to where I have piled up a bunch of stuff I planned to sale at a yard sale so it is very possible there is more that I am not seeing easily within that stuff. We live next to a lot of undeveloped wooded land where we know there are a good bit of deer and presumably many varieties of wildlife and some cats we see around our house have killed a few rats lately but I looked at your rat droppings and what I saw in my garage doesn't seem to fit into the rat poop pictures or descriptions I found on your site. I an sending in separate email to see if you can tell me what I am most likely dealing with. My house is in a rural area outside Syracuse NY.
David: I live in Northern New York State and recently purchased a home that has have roof rats, and I've been told when the rats are beaten back some, the mice will come. There is already evidence of this, as I've noticed half eaten mice carcasses at various points. I hired a pest control company to trap the rats moving forward, but their plan is not as systematic and comprehensive as yours, so I want to do the sealing up myself. Though the task is daunting because I live in the country and my house has a Spanish tile roof that many describe a porous, I have done this before and think I can at least slow the problem to a light crawl. That said, I'm interested in equipment recommendations. I notice you use full body jump suits and face masks. What brands do you use? And your vacuum, does it require a hepa filter. You mention multiple speeds, will I need various vacuums to do the job? Can you recommend people who do this in Sonoma County (Santa Rosa City), California? thanks, John
Syracuse Rat Control Tip of The Week
What Can I Do About A Trap-Shy Rat?
There are instances where rats tend to be trap-shy by trying as much as possible not to get too close to the trap to avoid getting caught. This particular situation can be a result of several reasons. The first and most common reason is that the rats have witnessed other rats getting trapped. Another reason is that the rats might be scared of the newly introduced object along their route.
Whatever the reason might be, getting the rats to put aside their fears and go for the bait requires a whole lot of planning and patience. Right here, we will be taking you through what you can do to stop the rats in your home from being trap-shy.
Aside from being a very common household pest, rats are habitual and will study their environment as much as they can in other to easily detect when something goes wrong or differs from the way it used to be. This naturally prompts them into being trap-shy when they notice the unusual new trap in their environment.
To stop this and make the rats in your home attracted to baits, you are going to have to take your time and repeat the following process continuously. The first thing you have to do is to make the rats in your home feel comfortable around the traps. To achieve this, all you have to do is place unset traps along their route and let them move around it without getting trapped. Naturally, rats like to move around on sawdust. You can also place sawdust on and around the traps to make it more appealing to them and make them feel comfortable and safe around the trap.
After doing that for a while, you can then go ahead and set the traps with bait. To increase your chances of trapping them, you can choose to place sawdust on and around the traps.
