Rats

How do I know I have a rat problem?

Luckily most rat problems are outside and are usually caused by a food source, rats using an area for cover or a water source or possibly a combination of all three.

In domestic gardens bird feeding, compost heaps and animal droppings are the main causes. You may see rats during daylight hours but they prefer to operate at night. Runs are told by lack of vegetation, smear marks, footprints and packed down earth. Rats lie in burrows dug into the earth and can cause damage by collecting nesting materials, soiling food with urine, excreta and hairs. The burrows can resemble small rabbit holes. They may dig the burrows in earth or in compost heaps but they are adaptable and make use of areas under sheds or inside buildings. Rats are extremely intelligent, adapting to their surroundings. This is what makes them one of the most successful animals on the planet and makes controlling rats a difficult task. If rats are inside the building you may hear them in wall cavities or roof spaces. You may see their droppings or smell the urine. 

Why should rats be treated?

Landowners have a legal obligation to treat rats. They carry diseases, they can start fires & cause other damage by chewing through cables, water pipes etc, they kill other wildlife and an infestation will breed and spread rapidly.

Preparation Prior to Treatment

Keep a record of where you see rats, ask you neighbours if they have them. Leave any droppings or damage for the technician to look at.

Treatment

The rat infestation will be treated with a cereal based poison bait containing an anticoagulant. This poison usually requires that the rats feed several times before dying or if they consume enough poison to give them a lethal dose on their first feed they will not suffer any ill effects until some time after feeding. This ensures that they do not become suspicious and associate the bait with illness or death and a 'complete kill' takes place killing all the rats in the colony. It can take up to 7 days before the rats start feeding on the bait as they are suspicious of new objects. It is important to achieve a complete kill as they breed at such a rapid rate that any survivors soon replace the dead with their offspring. (A healthy female rat will live for two years and can produce up to 60 young per year). Rats live in colonies with dominant and subordinate individuals. In heavy infestations rats can be seen feeding during the day, these are usually the subordinate old and weaker animals that feed during the more dangerous hours of daylight to avoid the more aggressive dominant rats. Rats are attracted to the smell of other animals and their food, so particular care should be taken when feeding pets, wild birds etc., the storage of any foodstuffs and the disposing of rubbish, including animal droppings. Should you find any dead bodies they must not be handled without protection and should be buried or burnt. There is a slight risk that rats may die in places that their bodies may smell (i.e. under floorboards), if this happens it is unfortunate but we can accept no responsibility.

What do I do afterwards? 

If rats are getting into a building it is essential that the entry points are located and filled (you may need a builder for this) or the problem will repeat in the future. If you do not wish rats to return then you must address the reasons as to why you had rats in the first place. Rats need three things in life to thrive: food, water and cover. Gardens will often include all three and any attempt to eliminate infestations and keep from being re infested will fail unless these three problems are addressed. The main culprit is bird feeding as this supplies rats with a high energy food at regular intervals in a fixed location. Birds are messy feeders and small amounts of nuts pecked off a feeder will support a population of rats which will breed all year round and then push out its young to the surrounding area to start new colony's. Bird feeding can damage wildlife by increasing the amount of rats, mice & grey squirrels in an area to an artificially high number which all can be harmful to the natural wildlife population. Many people die each year after catching diseases carried by rats & mice. Compost heaps often provide a warm place to live in the winter with a regular supply of food if used at regular intervals. Rats are also attracted to the smell of rubbish (bins) and any other animals. This includes predator animals such as dogs. The reason for this is that in the wild rats would eat left over food & droppings from foxes & other animals. The same applies to chickens, rabbits & guinea pigs. So if you have pets clear up droppings, check that their food is stored in a rat proof container, that litter & droppings are not put on compost heaps & that hutches & runs are rat proof.

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