Rats are perhaps the most annoying type of pest that you will have to deal with at your property. You might be noticing them getting in your shed, garage, or even your home.
Sometimes you will even be dumbfounded about how they’re getting into the structures in the first place. If you took the time to seal up any holes or potential entrances at the ground level, how could the rats be getting in?
This leads some people to start wondering just how high rats are capable of climbing. Can they enter little holes or entrances that are fairly high up in the air?
It might disturb you to hear that rats are very capable climbers and jumpers. In fact, it is known that rats are able to leap approximately 36 inches into the air and they can leap around 48 inches horizontally.
Rats can definitely climb trees, and they will be able to use the trees to leap onto your roof in many cases. A rat could climb a tree that is around four feet from your house and use it to launch itself to clear the gap.
These rats are also very resilient when it comes to surviving falls, and experts say that they can withstand a 50-foot fall without it being that much of an issue. This means that when they miss their jumps, they aren’t going to have to hesitate to try again.
Now that you know more about how high they can jump, you’re going to want to figure out how you can keep them out. What can you do to protect your property from rats?
1 – Seal up Holes
Of course, the first thing that you want to do to try to keep rats out is to seal up holes that will make it easy for them to enter these structures.
Dealing with the holes that are lower to the ground might be easy, but you’ll also want to look for gaps in your walls or siding that they might be able to sneak into.
Sometimes vents can be an issue as well since rats can enter through there. It isn’t necessarily plausible to seal off your vents since you’re going to be using those, but you can come back to some deterrent measures that will be mentioned later in this article.
Just do a good job of sealing holes and filling gaps that will make it easy for the rats to get into your house. If you make the right moves, you shouldn’t have to deal with as many of them.
This alone might not be enough to solve all of your problems, though. Luckily, there are more ideas that will be able to help you out on your quest to eliminate rat issues.
2 – Remove Food Sources
One of the biggest reasons why rats are going to try to enter your shed, house, and garage will be to find food. If you can do a better job of eliminating food sources, the rats might not want to try to stick around.
You should be more proactive about eliminating things that rats can eat around your property. This could mean picking up the yard to remove things from plants or trees that have fallen on the ground, but it can also just refer to thoroughly cleaning.
Doing a more thorough job of cleaning your home will remove things such as crumbs that will be appealing to rats. You might also want to start storing pet food in secure containers and only bring the pet food out when it’s time to feed your pet.
Rats will most certainly steal your pet’s food when they see an opportunity to do so. If you limit the potential food source, they won’t find your home, garage, or shed to be as appealing any longer.
3 – Remove Rat Nests
Another potential thing that you will encounter will be a rat’s nest. If you run into a rat’s nest somewhere in your shed or garage, you will want to remove it promptly.
Rats will use various materials to build nests where they can live, breed, and generally be a nuisance to you. If you don’t take the time to remove these nests when you find them, you’re going to have continued problems with rats.
It’s generally best to wear gloves when you’re removing a rat nest, and you might need to get some powerful cleaning items such as bleach. Be thorough about the removal of the nests on your property so that you can take care of this annoying issue.
Anyone who doesn’t want to remove them themselves will also be able to call in the experts to get the job done. You can always contact local exterminators who will be more than happy to assist you with any issues that you are having.
4 – Glue Boards and Traps
Glue boards and other types of traps can be really helpful when you’re trying to eliminate rats. There are many different types of rat traps out there that you can use, and which ones you’ll want to go with might differ depending on what you want to accomplish.
For example, if you’re just looking to kill the rats, using a standard rat trap or mouse trap that will slam down on the rat will work nicely. Most people use that iconic design when they want to kill mice or rats, but there are other methods that work, too.
You could try to find humane traps if you aren’t interested in killing the rats, but they might just keep coming back if you choose to release them. This gives you a dilemma and makes it unclear what you should even do with the rats once they’re caught.
Glue boards are a very effective type of trap that makes it possible to just get the rats stuck on a board. You might go to check the glue board trap one day and discover that a rat is struggling to try to get free.
Lots of these traps will work well, but you can also choose to call in professionals if you just don’t want to have to bother with them. Some people contact exterminators that will come out and eliminate rats easily, and they can also assess the structures on your properties to recommend changes that you need to make.
It’s important to just use whatever methods you think will be best so that you can get the problem dealt with. Some people will be just fine eliminating the rats on their own, but others might not like having to do this.
5 – Rat Poison
Some people decide to just go ahead and make use of rat poison to take care of rat problems. It works really well because they’ll eat the poison and die, but this can be somewhat dangerous.
For example, if you have pets on your property, you wouldn’t want your dog to get sick because of eating rat poison. Rat poison has the potential to harm or kill more than just rats, and this might limit how practical it will be in your situation.
Regardless, it is something that can get good results, and it’s worth mentioning as an option. Some people have placed rat poison near vents and have had good results with getting rid of many of them.
6 – Get a Cat
Getting a cat might seem like a very obvious idea, but it’s a classic one that is going to work pretty well to keep rats at bay. When you have cats on your property, they’re naturally going to have the instinct to want to hunt down mice and rats.
Cats are very good at hunting and killing mice or rats that will enter their areas. They even seem to enjoy stalking them, but it’s good to keep in mind that some cats will be better at killing mice than others.
You could buy a cat that just seems a bit lazy and doesn’t want to do much, but you could also get one that relishes in being able to hunt down rats or mice. Either way, it’s worth thinking about whether getting one or two cats would be a good idea for your home.
It is potentially a natural way that you can take care of annoying pest issues, and it’s also fun to own cats. Cat ownership might not be for everybody, but it might be for you if this sounds like a good idea.
Take Care of Rats for Good
Taking care of rats for good should be possible so long as you use the above advice well. You might want to use only a few of the ideas above, or you might wish to use the vast majority of them.
Just know that it’s best to be proactive about taking care of rat problems. You don’t want the situation to get any worse than it already is, and it’s easier to deal with just a few than it is a large rat family.
If you’re struggling to handle this on your own, know that it’s easy to set things up with an exterminator. You should be able to have good luck with rat extermination on your own if you use the advice to its full potential, though.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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