Rats are a deadly infestation that comes with too many viruses and bacteria to count. The reason for this is that rats spend most of their time in the sewer and in their feces which tends to cause them to be coated in dangerous bacteria like plague and sepsis. If you eat food a rat has defecated on you can get food poisoning or even a staph infection. This is very serious and very real, having a rat infestation can be fatal if not dealt with properly.
If you have rats in your basement there are two general ways they would have gotten in. The two most common rats in North America are roof rats, once called ship rats and sewer rats which are named Norway rats which did come to this country on ships from the 1800s that came here from Norway. The roof rat does not like the basement and wants to be high up. Norway rats are the opposite. They like to be underground where there is water. For this reason, a sewer rat may have entered your home through an opening on the outside, broken foundation or an open vent like the dryer vent. They can chew through almost anything and that helps them penetrate homes but they also have another trick that helps them enter basements. They live mostly in the sewers so when they smell food that you could be cooking and yes, they can smell food from miles away through the sewer system, they will climb and swim in that direction until they come out of your basement drain pipe or worse, the toilet.
The best way to prevent this is by bolting a steel mesh to the floor to cover the drainpipe or to have a rat catcher installed in your plumbing. This is very effective for stopping rats but what if you already have them? There are many things you can do to get rid of rats, the most important is cutting off their food and water supply. Make sure they cannot access water with any ease. Food must also be kept away from them, stored tightly in pantries that are sealed and locked. Garbage must also be stored tightly and preferably placed in the garage. Make sure the garage door touches the ground or the rats can just slip through the bottom.
If the rat situation has gotten so severe that you cannot cope with it on your own then call The Exterminators Inc. And our trained and experienced rodent technicians will seal off the outside of your house from rats and then bait the outside with poison and the inside with multiple commercial-grade snap traps.
