How to Get Rid of Rats?

Rats are the small pests in the house, office, or garden, increasing property damage. Typically, they reproduce at such a faster rate that a female mice takes less than a month to give birth to a litter and results in 2,000 babies in a single year. With this increased rat population, your chances of exposure to rat-borne diseases also increase.

Thus, it is never a wise idea to let rats take control of your space, and you need to be quick to get rid of them. Here is everything you need to know about how to get rid of rats with easy-to-recognize rat infestation signs and tips to drive them away. So, let's get started!

5 Signs of Rat Infestation at your Place

Whether indoors or outdoors, you can easily detect the presence of rats with these basic signs:

1. Use your sense of smell and sight to notice a rat's infestation. They have a strong ammonia-like smell in enclosed areas like cabinetry or pantry. Similarly, rats leave signs in the form of dark, pallet-shaped droppings near entry points or a place they visit.
2. Rats leave their marks, especially at duty or less-used areas. Sprinkling white flour or some powder near the footprints clearly indicates active rat infestation.
3. Gnawed, damaged, or shredded things suggest rats dine over papers, cloths, wires, or other food materials.
4. Damaged items, branches, and twigs in the lawn show rats are hiding in your plants or have established their nests outdoor.
5. There would be no other way to confirm rat infestation than finding alive or dead rats.

How to Get Rid of Rats Naturally?

When you have confirmed that rats are the culprit of nuisance, work on these ways to solve the problem of ‘How to get rid of rats naturally?’

Seal the Gaps and Cracks

Rats are small creatures with soft bodies, so they don’t need any special entrance. Tiny holes, cracks, pipes, and gaps are enough to give them a route and get entry through these channels. Therefore, if you want to keep rats at bay, seal any gaps in your interior or exterior walls. It would be great to permanently fill these gaps with cement or wire wool, caulk, or metal kick plates. Check them a few times a month to ensure the gaps or cracks are well-maintained.

Discourage Rat Nesting Places

There would be no better way to get rats naturally away than discouraging rat nesting places. Keep clutter to a minimum and don’t allow rats to reside in hidden areas. Move objects away from the walls to ensure you can check what’s hiding behind them. Similarly, eliminate potential food sources by storing food in a tightly sealed container and clearing up the shelves with spillages. 

Use Natural Deterrent

When it comes to getting rid of rats naturally, scents work really well as rats do not like strong scents and they are forced to drive out of your house. To prevent rats from entering the house, you can spread peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, or black pepper around the home's exterior. Similarly, apply your substance of choice along the line between your foundation and the ground. Sprinkling crushed pepper or pepper spray near opening, holes, or suspected rat sites help to discourage rat infestation as their nose get irritated and they prefer running.  

Get Benefit of Traps

Trapping rats is one of the most effective methods to control the rat population, and it is a poison-free technique. You just need to have a good idea of where the rats live and place the trap at their routes.

Some commonly used mouse traps include:

• Sticky traps are large, adhesive pads containing glue that adhere to rodents' feet and restrict them on the trap. When a rat passes over the sticky trap, its foot is trapped in the glue, and then you can discard the sticky patch with the rat.
• Snap traps are the most commonly used traps in homes are snap traps in which some food like peanut butter, unsalted seeds, bananas, or apples is used as bait. A trigger in the trap causes the bar to snap down and catch the mouse. When you successfully kill a rat, keep the bait in the trap and reset for another rat.
• Electric traps lure mice into an enclosed chamber before shocking them with electric shocks. It is fatal for mice and other small rodents are killed within seconds.

Dry Ice Solution

Dry ice is another easy and natural way to get rid of rodents and exterminate rats in any business or personal property. Dry ice is essentially the frozen form of carbon dioxide, and it produces gas that anesthetizes and kills rats within minutes. Remember to be careful when using this method to get rats naturally away. Wear gloves and other protective gear to avoid inhaling and direct encounters with it.   

Use Premium Ultrasonic Pest Repeller

Ultrasonic pest repellers like the iRepell dedicated desinged and tested against rats greatly contribute to getting rid of rats from distant premises, outdoors, indoors, or at any working site. These devices emit high-frequency sound waves that rats recognize and consider as a potential threat. In response to these vibrations, they are hampered and naturally get away from the site. When going for this approach, be sure to use a good device like iRepell ultrasonic pest repeller to eliminate rats completely.

4 Tips to Drive Rats Naturally Away in the Garden

1. Keep your garden tidy by removing overgrown trees, shrubs, and bushes close to your house, as rats love to hide in the thick bushes.
2. Rats avoid high traffic areas, so be active in your lawn and often move things around in the garden.
3. Rats love to eat pet food; thus, keep it is out of reach, and clean up pet food dishes right after feeding them.
4. Regularly clean birdcages, and if you suspect any mice in the cage, immediately use any method to keep rats naturally away from your yard.

Conclusion – How to Get Rid of Rats?

So, keeping rats away in your house is not a big deal. You just need to find whether a mouse has just gained entry or has developed a population. After that, follow methods to get rid of rats as mentioned, and you will be amazed to see rats will be gone in no time.