What to Do About Rats in the Home

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If you have physically spotted a rat in your home, it's time to take affirmative action. Getting rid of rats doesn't need to be a tough task, but it will be if you waste your time and effort on the wrong approaches. These include using poison, repellents, and live catch-release methods.



As soon as you spot a rat or evidence of a rat infestation in your home, investigate further. There's no point in trying to chase after the rat because you'll lose it - it's a much faster and smaller animal than you are and it can get into all sorts of nooks and crannies. When you go looking for the obvious signs, you'll notice they are there in plentiful amounts - poop, urine patches, perhaps even chewed holes in the floor, walls, or personal belongings - all things that you hadn't spotted before. If you follow the direction that the rat is running in (up until the point you may or may not lose sight of it), there's a chance you may even find the entrance/exit point. That's a great place to start.

All of the things we mentioned will need to be repaired, sealed, or cleaned up, and you must do a proper job of it too. You will need to find a durable and hardwearing, metal-based material to keep rats from chewing right through it. Plastic, wood, and even drywall will prove to be no match for the sharp and hard-working teeth that rats have, even from a very early age.

You can't just seal up the building without doing anything about the rats though. If you do this, you'll be locking rats inside, rather than locking them outside. They'll be breeding inside your home; eating, sleeping and pooping inside your home; and causing damage and destruction inside your home. That's where snap traps play a huge part.

Although many would argue that killing rats using snap traps isn't a humane way to look at the problem, it actually usually ends up being the most humane approach. Most other efforts at rat removal either go entirely unsuccessful, at which point you'll still be dealing with the disease and destruction spread and caused by them, or they'll lead to the animal's death, which isn't the humane approach you wanted at all. Using certain repellents, such as water, ammonia-soaked rags, mothballs can lead to the rodents' death by accident, and you could even kill other non-pest animals in the same way.

When you use snap traps to get rid of rats inside the home, you are killing the anima instantly, without it needing to go through any undue pain or suffering, and you are reducing the population one at a time. With enough traps in just the right places, and the right sealing/cleanup operation to go with it, the rats can and will be eradicated from your property.

Alternatively, you could call in professional rat removal experts who will do the whole messy job for you. honing around for a quote might just be the smartest thing you did all day!

Go back to the Rat Removal page, or learn tips to do it yourself with my How to Get Rid of Rats guide.