5 Simple Ways to Identify a Rat Infestation

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Have you been wondering if the scratching noises or dark brown droppings are caused by a rat infestation in your home? If you don’t know how to identify rats that are living in your home, it can be difficult to know when it’s the right time to call a rat exterminator. A potential rat infestation is something that you want to avoid as much as you can. When rats are invading your home, it can make life difficult for you and your family. This is why it’s important for you to know when to call in a professional to help you avoid any more issues. To find out how you can identify rats in your home, you should keep on reading.

Signs of Rats

Rat Droppings

Did you know that a rat can produce up to 40 droppings in a single night? These droppings can be found in specific locations around your house. If you start noticing a concentration of dark brown droppings in certain parts of the house, then you should consider calling in a professional to deal with your mess.

Rub Marks

You’d be surprised to find that rats have terrible eyesight. This means that they have to get creative when they navigate around your home. Generally, this includes using established routes. However, since they usually live in sewers, their bodies are full of dirt and grime. When they use their familiar routes to get to where they need to, their bodies leave dirty marks on the objects that they use to move around.

Scratching Noises

There are two main types of rats that you can find in your home. Firstly, you can have black rats or attic rats. These agile climbers often make those scratching noises you hear in the dead of the night when they move around your home. The other kind are called brown rats. These are responsible for any random grinding that you hear when you’re asleep.

Rat Holes

When it comes to the two types of common residential rats, you should know that your brown rats enjoy digging through to get where they need to. In addition, they use their excavated burrows for other things such as nesting, food storage, and shelter amongst others. You’re likely to find these burrows near your most solid structures.

Footprints and Nests

If your basement hasn’t been used for a while, and it’s a tad bit dusty, you’re likely to notice rat footprints when you do an inspection. If you want to know if you have rats in your home, you should sprinkle some white flour where you’ve seen the footprints. If you find new footprints the next day, you should know that you have rats that have infested your basement.

You’d also be surprised to find that rats can use scrap materials from your homes such as cardboard and any other items that are soft enough to create nests. You can find these nests in your attic, cavity walls, and even in lofts.

In summary, knowing how to identify if you have any rats in your home is important. It should help you to avoid more problems such as structural damage in your home. But rats don’t just affect the value of your home, they also impact the hygiene in your home. Rats are notorious for leaving their discolored droppings all over your home. Knowing how to identify a potential rat infestation is crucial. It should save you time and money. Most importantly, it helps you to know when you should call in a rat exterminator to help you with your problem.

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