Sometimes you will have a severe rat infestation either in your yard or even in your home itself. This can be terrifying and even horrifying and is a severe danger to the people inside. Your children and pets are especially in danger from rats in the house as they tend to eat things on the ground like rat feces. This can be incredibly dangerous but what can be more dangerous is a child or pet getting their hand or paw in a snap trap. Modern snap traps are intended to kill the rat instantly and have enough force to remove a hand, especially a small one. Poison, even in a bait station can be a severe danger as well. While the bait stations are solidly built an aggressive large dog can often simply bite them clean in half and access the poison inside. A child may have small enough hands to reach inside an exterior bait station which is much larger and easier to access in that way. The poison used to kill rats is made to be safe and durable but you have to know the child has been eating it to get them treated. This is why a lot of people have sought out safe and often human ways of catching rats, forcing rats out of the house and even getting them off your property.
Exclusion and a one-way door. What is that stuff? Exclusion is a professional term used by exterminators to describe the sealing off possible entryways. These entryways allow anything from cockroaches to raccoons to enter your home and cause damage and illness and costly repairs. Professional exterminators and technicians can exclude openings that would allow this and with some research, you can do it too. The materials you will need can be vast so make sure to inspect every opening first and then research the best way to seal it. One trick exterminators will use for rats is called a one-way door. This device can be installed on a hole that has not been sealed. Why is this useful? Rats do not live in your house permanently. They enter to find food and then leave to sleep in their burrows. You can exclude every single opening but one, attach a one-way door and watch as rats leave your home only to be trapped outside.
You can also treat rats outside using humane capture traps, this can take a long time but will be effective and safe for your pets and children. You can buy a bunch of them and set them up with bait all over the yard but there may be something even easier you can do.
If you live near a ravine or a public park with water access like a pond or river then you will be plagued by rodents every year, mostly in the late fall but for mice, it can be any time of year. This means you will have to fight them off every year like clockwork. If you do not live in one of these areas then it’s likely that your property is attracting the rats, that you may be attracting them yourself. Bird feeders are one of the biggest mistakes. Rats love the seeds that spill on the ground. If you can get rid of all the food outside, pet food, feeding children outside, bird feeders and dinner parties then you can make your property unappealing to the rats. If your property has a water feature or a leaky hose or has dips in the ground that fill with water when it rains then you will need to fix it all because rats are especially attracted to properties where they have access to water.
