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Rat Control and Monitoring

Rats

Rat control in your home or business can be pesky and difficult. Rats are very resourceful and good at tucking themselves away into parts of buildings that humans cannot reach. Once you’ve come to suspect that you may have some type of rodent living within your home your business, it’s essential to address the problem immediately to avoid any damage to your property or harm to the people living or working in the building.

To protect your home or business from rats, you need to learn about the behavior of this pest, take steps for prevention, and find effective treatment options should an infestation occur.

What are Rats?

Rats are a fairly common type of rodent. These pests can grow to be anywhere from a few inches in length to up to 10 inches. Pest control experts at Viking Pest explain rats often live near places with food scraps such as dumpsters and garbage cans. Although these pests can be found in the wild, they usually congregate in more populated areas like cities and towns. There are more than 60 species of this particular rodent, but the most common types in the United States include house rats, Norway rats (also called brown rats), and roof rats (or black rats). While rats can live in a variety of environments, they tend to prefer warmer temperatures and live in areas near humans as they feed off of scraps of food and garbage. Because of rats’ resourceful nature, they are quite good at finding their way into homes and businesses throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland where they may have easier access to food and water. Because rats tend to travel in packs, you may likely have multiple rats in your home or business by the time you notice one.

Rats start their packs when a male and female decide to nest in a suitable area. If you see a rat, our pest control experts at Viking Pest recommend immediate rat treatment and rat control measures.

SMART Rat Control

Viking is exclusive provider of SMART rodent control, an advanced pest management program that utilizes infrared monitoring and automated messaging to manage mice 24/7. SMART is a chemical-free solution to rodent problems that works at residential, commercial, and municipal levels. Viking Pest is committed to keeping homes and businesses throughout NJ, PA, DE, and the Eastern Shore of Maryland healthy, safe, and unwanted rodent free.

How Do I Identify Rats?

Rats are nocturnal creatures, which means that it may take some time before you notice these rodents. Residential rodent infestations can be easier to identify as you are more likely to notice rustling or other sounds of movement in your walls or ceiling during the night, explain exterminators at Viking Pest. For business infestations, it can be more difficult since most people are not in the office at night.

Rat control experts at Viking Pest state the telltale sign of a rodent infestation is rat droppings, which will help you identify the type of rodent and the extent of the infestation. If you are finding a large number of rat droppings in various sizes, this could indicate a large-scale infestation. The location of the rat droppings will also reveal where the rodents may be nesting or spending most of their time.

Other signs of rat infections include holes in the wall. Rats will chew through walls, leaving behind holes that are about the size of a quarter. They may chew on other areas of your NJ, PA, MD, or DE home or business where there is exposed wood or wooden furniture. Rats often build nests within your home or business by shredding pieces of paper or string, so be on the lookout for any sign of these rodent creations, explain the pest control experts at Viking Pest.

How Did I Get Rats?

Like many other types of pests, rats are looking for a place with shelter and food, particularly if rats have a mate with whom they are trying to nest. Rats usually make their way into homes and businesses through small gaps in doors or pipes, holes, or openings in the foundation or roof, or any other tiny entrance, explain exterminators at Viking Pest. If you have a large amount of trash sitting around, this may also attract rats to the area. Rats are also attracted to reliable sources of water. “The Achilles heel of rats is water,” says Craig S., Public Health Entomologist and Service Director at Viking Pest. “Unlike mice, rats require an ounce to an ounce and a half of water per day to survive.’

Our rat control experts at Viking Pest recommend you take steps as soon as possible to get rid of rats and implement rat prevention techniques. If not, you may be dealing with the problem for some time. Most wild rats live between two to three years. If adult rats decide to nest in your home or business, you will shortly be dealing with newborn rats as well.

rat control

What Are the Effects of Rats in and Around My Home or Business?

If you’ve ever run into a rat at your home or business, you know that feeling you experience. Most people are squeamish around rats. They project an image of uncleanliness and filth – even if the sighting happens in an area that’s clean. It can make you uncomfortable in your home. At a business, it can keep customers from coming into your facility or from ever coming back.

There are also worries about diseases that rats carry and can transfer to humans. Once you’ve identified a potential rat problem in your New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Delaware home or business, it’s essential that you call in pest control experts to get rid of the rats because before they pose a serious threat to your health. Rodents are known to carry many harmful diseases that can easily be transmitted to humans. Rat-bite fever, Salmonella, and Murine Typhus are all examples of diseases that rats can be responsible for carrying and spreading. Typically, diseases are passed through their feces and urine, but if you come into direct contact with one of these rodents, the rats may even bite. Once you get rid of the rats, it’s important to sanitize all surfaces to reduce the chance of someone getting sick.

How Do I Prevent Rats?

Once you’ve rid your NJ, PA, MD, or DE home or business of an infestation, you must implement strict rat control methods to prevent this incident from happening again in the future. Have your home or business fully inspected for any holes or openings that may have allowed the rodents to enter your home by the pest control professionals at Viking Pest. You should also enforce a greater level of sanitation to avoid attracting rats to your property in the first place. Any items that might be used as a rat nesting material like piles of leaves or mulch should be removed from the property as soon as possible.

How to Control Rats During a Renovation

According to statistics, mice and other rodents invade approximately 21 million homes during the winter in the US. Besides causing extensive damage, mice can also carry a variety of diseases, including salmonella and hantavirus.

If you are renovating a home, this can open even more opportunities for rodents to get in, especially if it is left unoccupied for certain periods without rat and mice control.

To protect your home and renovating projects from mice, our mice exterminators state how to deter and eradicate them.

Clear up the Yard

During renovations, it’s easy for the yard to get cluttered. Piles of building debris and materials can mount up, as well as any garbage from the remodeling/renovation process.

Unfortunately, this can create a paradise for mice. Mice love piles of wood, unraked leaves, garbage heaps, etc., explain the rodent control experts at Viking.

This gives mice cover to hide in before they make an entry into your home. To discourage this, our pest control experts recommend clearing any unnecessary heaps of building refuse. Stack materials neatly, rake up dead leaves, and dispose of woodpiles.

Get Rid of Garbage and Food

Do you have any full trash cans standing about? Maybe with food containers in them? If so, you want to empty these as soon as possible.

Garbage cans can act as both a food source and a place of shelter for incoming mice.

Seal the House

If you are renovating an older house, chances are there’re some chinks and cracks here and there that mice could get through. Mice and rats and can squeeze through very small holes and crevices and find their way into your home.

To stop this from happening, and prevent mice from invading your home and its renovations, Viking’s pest management professionals recommend making it a priority to seal up your eaves, windows, doors, and vents as soon as you can in the renovation process.

Disinfect & Sanitize Your Home of Business

Rats

Protecting Your Home or Business From Rats With Viking Pest Control

Viking Pest offers expert treatment designed to effectively and efficiently control and prevent pests from invading your home or business in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. Our use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques focuses on finding the core of the pest concern and controlling Rats from the source. Through IPM, pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, pets, and the environment. Call Viking today for your FREE and NO OBLIGATION estimate at 1-800-618-2847 or Schedule Online today!