If rats are your regular guests I would advise you to move out; but if that’s not an option, this article provides you with some effective solutions to get rid of those wire-eating, smelly pestilential buggers. When it comes to getting rid of rats, be prepared to take in a lot of knowledgeable on the subject, because it’s likely that ignoring the possibilities is what brought your rat infestation on in the first place!

Identify your Rat Problem

The first thing you want to do is to identify what kind of rat problem you have, this means find out what kind of rodents are plaguing you. There are essentially three types which annoy you, of course there are many more but these are the most common household and office pests. They are house mice, the Norway rats and roof rats. So of course, there’s always the chance that you have a mouse problem and not a rat problem!

You can differentiate from the rats by checking the type of droppings. If you have spotted a rat by the tail to body proportions you can use effective traps accordingly. Norway rats usually have tails that are shorter than the length of the rat’s head and body combined. Their evidence of existence is usually at ground levels. Roof rats as their name implies, are fond on higher areas like ledges, roof cavities in between layers, etc. Their tails are longer than the head and the body of the rat combined.

Mark the Rat Territory

To start the removal, have a basic idea of the layout of your home or office wherever you have the infestation. The first day or two sprinkle some white powder; any talcum powder will do, around places where the rats have left evidence like scraped walls or furniture, chewed out holes in unexpected areas that seem to be easily accessible by small creatures, or cut wiring and the like. In the places where you may have holes, take some newspaper or any other paper, scrunch it into a ball and stuff the holes.

Checking Back on Your Problem Areas

After two days or so, check the areas, the places sprinkled with the powder should have feet prints and tail swishing evidence if it is an active area, the holes where you stuffed paper in would have been disturbed or partially chewed through. OK, so after deciding where the rats are going inside your location, start with these solutions.

Cleaning and Preparing

Any open areas like sink holes and other drainage areas should immediately be cleaned thoroughly and reinforced with a stainless steel drain, to ensure that they cannot be moved, seal them in using a waterproof sealer available in all hardware stores. Then you want to buy rat traps for big rats, and small traps like the sticky paper for smaller rats.

Methods to Get Rid of the Rats

Cluttered areas are a rat favorite, clear all clutter and if you have discovered most of the locations rats are prone to the traps should work. Rat poison is generally a last resort as they cause rats to die in corners that aren’t usually visible and the only way you come to know is when your house reeks of dead rat. Shockers are another alternative but the tried and tested traps seem to work best. Big rats will not get stuck to the paper, the small rats will, so take them and drown them or throw them far away.

The dustbins should be kept tightly closed and no food should be allowed in the open. The basic idea is the cleaner and cleaner the area, the less prone it is to rats. Storing items in plastics is to be avoided as the rodents will simply eat through it. The dustbins and open pantries are usually the places where rats attack so store everything in steel containers with tight lids. If the rat problem still persists, call an exterminator.