If you want to keep rats out of your attic you ll need to find any gaps or holes in the eaves or other areas that they might be using to gain entry and.
Getting rid of roof rats in attic.
Roof rats can cause significant damage from spreading diseases to damaging property and even causing house fires.
The common lifespan of these rodents is about one year.
Roof rats are slimmer and are better climbers making nests higher up in trees walls and especially inside attics where it is warm and dry.
And other animals such as snakes track this scent too.
This scent encourages new rats to gnaw their way into your attic so it s important to get rid of this scent.
The roof rats become sexually mature in just a couple months.
What you ll want to look for are any signs that the rats are present including droppings tracks gnaw marks burrows runways and rodent sounds.
Roof rats are known by a variety of other names including palm rats fruit rats ship rats and alexandrian rats.
Get rid of roof rats in four basic steps.
The most common way rats get into attics are through damaged eaves and vent openings.
They will nest in trees attics voids along the roof line and in ceilings.
After the rats are gone many experts recommend taking extra measures to clean up around your property and inside the attic so other rats won t be attracted to the scent of the rats that used to live there.
However many rats you re dealing with and wherever they might be in your attic or home or elsewhere around your property the best strategy for getting rid of them is a defensive one.
Blocks of rat poison.
Step 1 in order to assess the severity of the rat problem and to get a better idea of where to bait and trap you will first need to perform a thorough inspection of the premises.
Norway rats are larger and bulkier that roof rats and like to build nests in lower lying areas such as basements or walls on the ground floor or underground.
If you live in these zones your attic may become the target of roof rats which can create a variety of problems for your family and property.
In dense populations these rodents will establish a social hierarchy wherein dominant males mate more than subordinate males.
Rats leave behind a strong pheromone scent which attracts new rats to the attic.
Rats can climb on any surface and fit in most spaces and tend to breed very quickly meaning that your handful of rats in the attic problem could soon become a widespread infestation.
Because the roof rats climb well common nesting sites are above the ground.
Roof rats also referred to as ship rats or black rats are small sized rodents that receive their name from their liking for finding shelter in the higher parts of buildings.
Females become sexually mature in 68 90 days with 5 8 pups per litter.
Roof rats become sexually mature between two and five months producing four to six litters per year that consist of six to eight young each.
They have 4 6 litters per year.
Roof rats habits and biology.
