Even though warmer weather is slowly arriving, many nights are still cold, leaving the local rat population looking for a warm and safe place to escape the chill. Unfortunately, this place is often in the roof of your house.
Rock n Roll Rats from Your Roof
It can be hard to tell if you have rats in your roof. Often the first signs are small holes in items stored in your pantry or droppings on your kitchen countertops or floors. You may also have electrical or dishwasher problems as rats love to chew through electrical wiring and dishwasher pipes!
Other common signs that you may have a rat problem are the scratching and gnawing noises they make. These sounds occur throughout both the day and night.
If you think you may have rats, and you don’t want your small band of rodent residents turning into a full blown concert, you really need a little bit of DIY prevention combined with calling in the experts to treat the problem.
If you think you have rats, remove possible sources of food by keeping your food stored away in airtight containers, and cleaning up crumbs and pet food. You may also want to rethink your compost pile and moving to sealed compost bins to remove a potential food source.
You can stop rats from getting into the house by cutting away branches that are close to, or touching the roof. Rats are expert climbers and can jump upwards of a metre in order to get to a roof.
Cleaning up loose objects in the garden that could serve as a nest for rats is also advised, as is encouraging a resident carpet python to take up residence in your roof.
While, preventative baiting is recommended if you have chickens or a rat problem, it needs to be carried out by a licensed pest controller such as our Rat Man.
DIY baiting is discouraged as it poses the risk of poisoning native wildlife, children and pets. DIY baits are also absorbed through the skin and can be very dangerous when mishandled.
Our team can advise on the correct way to treat rats for your property, ensuring that you have peace and quiet without pesky rodents destroying your property like a rock band in a hotel!
