Lucas County, Toledo Rat Control Situation:
Hi David- Thank you very much for your site. It has been extremely helpful. I caught my first and I hope only rat tonight (I know that's doubtful) due to your trapping advice. That said, I need advice on how to deal with rats burrowing into dirt basements. I have a half basement with a dirt crawl space and a narrow dirt trench around the perimeter for drainage. We found a rat a week ago and saw it has burrowed two holes outside down into the basement. Obviously it opened it up after we filled it in. Short of getting a new foundation I have no clue what to do. The best advice I have found was to put hardware paper down but that would be difficult in the crawl space. I spoke with a professional trapper in Toledo OH and he said there wasn't much I could do about them getting in other than keeping the traps set. We have lived here 8 years and never have seen a rat before. Mice yes but we have worked hard to close up the holes but clearly this is a different ball game. We are in a rural area and there are no dumpsters and the neighbors are clean etc. So I do not think it's a matter of cleanliness. Any advice you could give would be more than appreciated. And again, thank you for your site!!
I have sent a picture of the droppings I found, is it from a rat? I have set 2 traps in my attic and rat poison in saucers some of which has been eaten, but still have the rat or rats. I don't know what to do next buy some more poison? as I've run out. I did not want to pay a pest control company as I think normally they just use poison anyway, but if I cant get rid of them will have to. Shall I put the traps where the droppings were seen. This is terrible I can hear it or them at night in the attic, and would appreciate your advice.
Hi David! Thanks for your site and all of the useful info. I searched for the following for days, and still have nothing. How long do diseases remain "alive" in rat feces ? I have evidence of rat nesting in my outdoor storage shed that I first noticed about 6 months ago. I plugged the point of entry with steel wool and have not seen any activity since. I plan to clean the disturbed area and discard the damaged things. My question is, considering the age of the feces, is it and the contaminated area still potentially toxic or just ugly dirty !?
Toledo Rat Control Tip of The Week
What Equipment Do I Need To Trap A Rat?
Trapping a rat is not as difficult as it seems, provided you have the right kind of equipment. Rats are a highly intelligent household pest with prior knowledge of your unyielding intentions to either get them killed or captured. As a result of this, they will try as much as possible to run for their lives whenever they get the chance to.
For you to outsmart them and make your plans to trap them successfully, you need good quality traps set up at the spot the rats in your house pass through the most and the right process of setting these traps.
Have you decided to trap the rats in your home and you are looking for the equipment to use and the right way to go about this? The first thing you have to do to achieve your objective is to discover the exact routes of the rats in your house. These are the places you will be setting your traps once you are ready to capture them.
After that, the next thing you have to put in place is the right kind for bait. A good bait should help attract rats and not any other pest or animal in your home. If you just chose a random food substance as bait, you might end up trapping the pets in your home instead of the target pest.
After putting all of that in place, the most important piece of equipment you need to trap a rat is a good quality trap. Your choice of trap depends on whether you want to kill the rats with the trap or just trap them and later release them far away from your home.
If you choose to kill them directly with the trap, a lethal rat trap will be most appropriate. The only issue with the use of this trap is that you will have to get multiple traps and set them at different locations because this kind of trap can't trap more than one rat at a time.
On the other hand, if you choose to trap the rats and release them afterward, a one-way entry door trap will also be most appropriate. Also, while setting up either of these traps, you need to protect yourself at all times from the bacteria spread by the rats by wearing a pair of gloves and a protective mask.
