The Easiest Way To Keep Your Home Rat-Free In Radford

Seeing rats in your yard or finding evidence of rats in your home can make you feel powerless. Knowledge is power. If you want to get control of a rat problem, you need to know how to find evidence and interpret the evidence you find. We're going to show you how to do this. Join us as we look at how to tell if rats are in your Radford home, what attracts rats, how they get in, and how to get rid of rats naturally. We'll also share with you what Radford pest control does to address rodent infestations.

Before we get started, we want to quickly remind you that you don't have to read articles about rat control to deal with a rat problem in Radford. You can jump to our contact page and reach out to us for immediate assistance. Our technicians have the training, experience, and professionalism to address your rat control issue. With that said, let's take a look at how you can keep your home rat-free.

How To Tell If You Are Dealing With A Rat Infestation

When you see a rat in your yard, it doesn't mean you have rats in your home, especially if it is a brown rat. A brown rat is a Norway rat. Norway rats often create ground burrows in yards and go in and out of homes. If you see a black rat in your yard, there is a good chance you have an indoor rodent infestation. Black rats commonly get into homes and stay. In both cases, it isn't good to see a rat. They are resourceful and determined critters. Here are a few ways to tell that relentless rats are infesting your home.

Droppings: Rats leave their black droppings in many places. It is gross to think about, but analyzing droppings can give you valuable insight. Moist black droppings are fresh. They indicate current rat activity. Clean these droppings up and check the location later to see if new droppings appear. If you see more droppings, the number of droppings indicates how severe your infestation is. Wear a mask and gloves when dealing with rat droppings to guard against diseases rats carry. If you want to know more about diseases caused by rats, check out resources provided on the internet by the CDC. 

Holes: Rats chew holes to get into your home and to move about inside your home. You may find these holes in exterior building materials. As you inspect the exterior of your home, be aware that you're looking for holes that are as small as one inch in diameter. Indoors, inspect baseboards, underneath cabinet overhangs, and behind appliances. While you're behind appliances, take the time to patch up the holes you find and clean up any droppings you see. Along with access holes, look for holes in stored food packages and items in your attic and storage rooms. 

Hairs: Rats leave hairs on shelves and around food packages. You may detect these hairs as you inspect your home for rat activity. They are subtle, so you'll have to examine food storage areas closely.

Grease Marks: The fur coat of a rat is often dirty because rats move about in dirty environments. Rats exploring your home will likely leave grease marks on baseboards, rafters, pipes, and other objects. The darker the grease marks, the more rats you have inside your home.  

Urine: Rats leave their urine in many places. They do this to help them navigate. Along with using their whiskers to feel the objects in their environment, they use smells to figure out where they are located in any given space. The more rats you have in your home, the stronger the scent of urine will be.

Detecting rodents is essential at every stage of a treatment plan. It helps to determine where rats are located inside your home. As you work to get rid of them, detection helps you to evaluate the success of your plan. When the rats are gone, detection gives you peace of mind. 

The Potential Causes Of A Rat Infestation

Another key element in controlling rats is determining the cause of your infestation. If you get rid of a few rats in your home, new rats can replace them. That is frustrating, so you need to get out into your yard and consider why and how they're getting inside.

Clutter: Rats have terrible eyesight. They use their other senses to get around, even in utter darkness. A sense they use quite a bit is their sense of touch. Their whiskers are constantly feeling their environment for objects on the ground. Remove ground objects and you can deter rats from wanting to come into your yard.

Food Sources: Rats eat many things. You can address some of them, such as bird seeds, nuts that fall from trees, garbage, and fruit. Move bird feeders away from your exterior, stay on top of cleaning up nuts, store garbage in covered containers, and protect fruit with fencing material.

Access: Rats get into homes by way of access routes. You can deter them by blocking or removing these routes. Put wire mesh in downspouts. Trim tree branches away from your roofline. Put upsidedown cones on pipes that run up the sides of your home.

Entry Points: Rats can chew a hole to access your home, but most of the time they'll use entry points that already exist. Use expanding foam or caulking material to fill in wood holes, gaps around pipes, and other potential points of entry. Additionally, replace protective materials where needed, such as screens, weatherstripping, door sweeps, and vent covers.

Once you've identified how rats are getting inside, turn your attention to indoor rodent control before you seal entry points and address routes. You want to give the rodents time to get out of your home.  

Here Are Six Tips For Dealing With Rats In Your Radford Home

Rats have a few reasons for wanting to live with you. Addressing attractants can make rats look for another place to live. Here are some tips to help you send those rats packing.

• Clean food debris. Rats feed on scraps. They find food on floors, shelves, and around appliances. Deep cleaning your home removes hidden food sources these animals are searching your home to find. 

• Clean up grease and oil. Rats need energy. They get energy from grease, oil, and proteins. You'll have success driving rats out if you clean the sides of your oven and make it hard for rats to find hearty food options in your home.

• Manage trash. Covering your trash is critical, but equally as critical is managing your trash. The scent of rotting organic matter (even when faint) will inspire rats to live in your home. Remove trash at least once a week, if not more often, and make sure to get it to the curb weekly.

• Address clutter. Whether inside or around your home, clutter inspires rats to live with you. Rats don't just use clutter for navigation; they also like cluttered environments because they hide in tight spaces. Clean and orderly storage spaces are resistant to rats.

• Protect your food. Rats are likely to target your kitchen and pantry foods. Put your food in sealed containers to keep smells in and rats out. Rats feed on seeds, nuts, bread, cheese, dry dog food, meats, and other hearty sources. 

• Remove general food options. There are ways you can accidentally provide food for rats. Check to make sure your kids don't leave food in wastepaper baskets or behind the couch. Put pet food down only during the day so that rats don't eat that food during the night when they're active in your home. 

Rats are strongly motivated by the availability of food. While they can live in a home that offers no food at all, they still need to find food somewhere. Apply these ideas to controlling exterior food as well.

What Does All Pest Control & Solutions Do About Rats In My Home?

It is hard work to address the conducive conditions that make rats want to live in your home. You may find yourself tempted to use control products. We didn't mention control products above because applying them requires training. All Pest Control & Solutions technicians have extensive training and field experience for dealing with rodents. It is essential to have training and experience when applying pest control products because these products often fail for lack of proper application. 

There are also safety issues to consider. While we could tell you the best bait for roof rats and Norway rats, you may use incorrect methods to apply the baits. Our technicians deploy tamper-resistant traps in locations that achieve results. Bait won't provide a solution on its own. Our professionals use traps, glue boards, exclusion work, and other products and methods. On top of this, our technicians will use a tested and scientific strategy of inspections, evaluations, and monitoring.

If you want to learn more about how All Pest Control & Solutions addresses rat infestations in Radford call or email us. There is no easier way to deal with rats than to let our licensed pest professionals handle your problem. Connect with us today.