You'll soon learn if you have a rat inside your home.
They're not the most discreet of creatures, and if you don't
hear them chattering and scuffling around, you'll soon spot
signs of their existence. They pee and poo wherever they
are, and they can leave a trail of the stuff in their wake.
If you've notice rat or mouse poo, you have a problem you
can't ignore. It's time to take action.
The attic is one of the most common places to find rats in your home. In fact, quite a few wild animals like to make their homes up there, so we would definitely recommend checking it out from time to time to make sure you don't have any small and furry invaders. You will easily see where the rats are most active up there, a trail of feces and urine in their wake, and this will make it easy to know where to set your traps, if that's the rat removal method you've gone with. It will be just below the level of the roof that you will find the most common entrance points are, and this is definitely the first spot you should check if you have rats in the attic.
What happens when the rats get below the attic, however? What if they've gotten in the ceiling, or even in the walls? Even worse than that, what happens if you have rats actually running around your home? It's not a nice prospect, we know that, but once again, we have some advice for you. The first thing - don't panic! If you come across a rat, it will more than likely run away than stay and try to fight you. It's a lot faster than you are too, so you won't have a hope in hell's chance of catching it. You have two options here - you can either call in the professionals and get them to sort the problem out, which isn't a bad response, by the way, or you can deal with the problem yourself. This will involve an inspection of your home to work out where and how the critters are getting in, and then sealing up the holes, leaving one or two main holes free, which you will then attach exclusion devices to. These exclusion devices work in the same way as a one-way door. They let the rats out of your home (or commercial property) but they won't be able to get back in again. The door only works in one way. All of the other smaller and lesser-used holes will already have been sealed (hopefully), and they are unable to get back in. They will then move on, no longer your concern. As long as you keep up to date with your home repairs and maintenance, you should find that you no longer have a rat problem. If they do come back, you haven't done a good enough job of sealing up the holes, or not all rats were evicted before you sealed up the final holes.
There are a lot of things to take into account when trying to get rid of rats from your property, and we would always recommend hiring a professional to do the job properly. If you are going to do the job yourself, however, you can, but just make sure you do a thorough cleanup job. There are disease threats present in the dead bodies and feces of these rats, and that's something you definitely won't want left lying around in your home.
Go back to the Rats in the Attic home page.
Read more articles about rats:
How to get rats out of a wall
How to keep rats out of my garden
How to keep rats out of my garbage
How to get rats out of the garage
How to get rats out of your car
Rat diseases symptoms in humans
What diseases do rats carry?
Fastest way to get rid of rats
What equipment is needed to trap a rat?
How to inspect a house for rat entry holes
Do rats enter a building through the plumbing?
