Understanding Rat Behavior: Insights For Effective Rat Control
When it comes to battling an infestation of rats, it’s important to understand rat behavior and why they’re drawn to your property in the first place. Rats, like many other pests, are opportunistic, and these rodents are likely to seek out food, moisture, and shelter. If your property has many of these factors within easy access, it’s likely that you’ll start to find it difficult to keep rats away.
Rats will make their nests as close to food sources as possible, and they prefer to hide in dark and secluded spaces; you are most likely to find rats around food storage areas, in the space between walls, and in crawl spaces, basements, and attics. You will most likely see rats scavenging around your home at nighttime, as this is when they are most active.
Rat-Borne Diseases: Common Illnesses Transmitted By Rats
The biggest problem with rodent infestations is the risk of illness. The diseases rats carry include major health risks such as hantavirus, leptospirosis, plague, tularemia, and salmonella, among many others. As rats scavenge throughout food preparation and storage areas, they contaminate these surfaces and any items they interact with. Rat droppings also present a major health issue when left throughout your property.
If you want to avoid health problems with rats, it’s important to be proactive about rat control and prevention. Our team at Hawk Mosquito & Pest can help you with this.
Rat Prevention Tips: Eliminating Attractants And Sealing Entry Points
Rat prevention tips are key in deterring rat infestations from taking place on your property. Below, we give you our best tips on eliminating attractants and sealing entry points that might be attracting rats looking for food, moisture, and shelter.
- Repair cracks and gaps around your property’s foundation, windows, doors, roof tiles, and any utility lines that lead into your property.
- Further rat-proof interior areas by utilizing window and door screens, installing weather stripping and door sweeps, and making sure that vented areas near attics and crawl spaces are covered with screens.
- Store leftover food properly and never leave out dirty dishes or food and drink spills, as the aroma of food easily attracts rats.
- Make sure outdoor trash cans are tightly secured and dispose of trash from interior areas promptly, as rats are prone to scavenging in these areas.
- Eliminate leaks and drainage issues that might contribute to the excess moisture rats love to pursue on your property.
- Clear outdoor areas of long grasses, overgrown foliage, and debris piles or woodpiles as they are likely to attract rats looking for an easy hiding spot.
Contact Hawk Mosquito & Pest today for more rat prevention advice.
Call The Rat Control Experts: Ensuring Safe And Effective Elimination
Rat control is something best left to the professionals, as DIY tactics and store-bought removal options will often leave you directly exposing yourself to these pests. Hawk Mosquito & Pest provides you with pest control in Chesapeake that safely and effectively eliminates all traces of rats from your property and protects you from the illnesses and other dangers that rat infestations bring.
Contact our expert team at Hawk Mosquito & Pest today to learn more about our rat control solutions or to get started removing these troublesome rodents from your Chesapeake property.