Rats!! How do they get in your home?
/Your worst nightmare! Rats! Rats in your house……
No matter how clean you keep your home rats can still get in and have a little rat rave in your kitchen cupboards. Mice and rats spread disease through their urine and droppings. They also cause a lot of damage to your home and furnishings and can chew through electrical wires, increasing the risk of fire and electrocution.
There are a few simple things you can do to prevent these hairy home invaders. In this article, we advise how rats are attracted to your house and how to prevent them from making themselves at home in your home.
What attracts rats to your home?
Rats are nocturnal creatures, so can be hard to spot in daylight. You might not be able to see them but you will surely hear them scrambling around. Rodents seek a dry and warm habitat with a food and water source, especially as the climate cools.
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With this in mind, there are a number of steps you can take to make your home less appealing and harder to sneak into.
How to keep rats out of your home!
#1 Fill in holes and cracks
This may be hard to believe but rats can fit through gaps as small as half an inch. You need to check your home exterior for gaps and holes and seal them with wire wool, caulk, metal kick plates, or cement.
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#2 Drains and vents
Rats are also known to enter premises through damaged drains, so it’s important to make sure that these are well maintained and checked regularly. Ensure any of your external vents are securely attached to your wall. A loose vent could be the perfect doorway for a rat infestation.
#3 Close bin lids and declutter
Keep clutter to a minimum and move objects away from walls to ensure you can check what’s hiding behind them. Less clutter means fewer places to hide. Ensure waste is kept in a closed bin so they can’t smell out some tasty tidbits in your food scraps.
Try and keep your bins out of direct sunlight to help reduce the smells and decrease the rate of decomposition that rats are attracted too.
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#4 Secure your attic space
Did you know that rats can climb trees!! They can also leap pretty far both horizontally and vertically, in fact, a rat can climb a tree four feet away from your home and leap onto your roof or walls.
It's not uncommon to see rats running along rooflines. Ensure to get your roof checked yearly for gaps, loose fascia boards, or damaged shingles.
In Summary,
Doing regular maintenance checks around your home will keep rats at bay. Fill in the little gaps you see around your home, keep all your rubbish covered and out of sunlight, and don’t skip your yearly roof inspection. These small steps will prevent what could be a much bigger rat infestation in the future.
Do you want some professional advice? Contact us.