There is no pest as unsettling as a rat. These small rodents are quick to act, potentially destroying parts of your home and yard with their chewing and defecation. Rats are known to carry bacteria, diseases, and insects that can harm both pets and humans.

Located along the Atlantic coast, Wilmington has a humid subtropical climate with mild winters and hot, humid summers, which means rats don’t face extreme cold. This allows them to breed year-round and maintain high populations without seasonal die-offs.

Signs of a Rat Infestation

When rats enter homes, they prefer to stay out of sight in undisturbed areas. Rats climb walls, run across power lines, swim up through pipes, and squeeze in through small openings in the exterior of buildings to gain entry.

Identifying a rat infestation, however, is easy, especially as the rodents increase in number. Rats move around a lot and individuals should listen for the sounds of scurrying in attics, false ceilings, and wall voids. These noises intensify at nighttime, as rats are nocturnal and become most active after dusk.

Additionally, homeowners should look for rat droppings around sources of food, like pantries, smudge marks on walls left by the greasy, oily fur of rats, and gnawing damage.

Dangers of a Rat Infestation

Rats in the house can create serious problems for both people and property. Their droppings have been known to contain disease-causing pathogens, while their constant gnawing causes property damage and can even start electrical fires. Rats also get into and contaminate food intended for humans and pets. Due to the health risks created by rat infestations, professional pest control is often the best way to achieve complete rat removal safely and effectively.

Professional Rat Rodent Control

Rats breed throughout the year, reproducing seven or eight times yearly with seven or more offspring per litter. It doesn’t take long for your home to become infested with rats. The more rats you have, the more damage occurs. Calling a rat rodent control expert at the first sign of rodent activity is crucial.

Trying to control a rat problem yourself can lead to mistakes that worsen the situation. Using the wrong traps, insufficient traps, or the wrong bait can mean the rat population in your home will continue growing. Placing a trap in the wrong place may lead to a rat dying within your walls. The smell of decay can be intolerable.

Rat control experts devise a comprehensive plan consisting of an inspection, trapping, removal, exclusion, prevention, and sanitization. They have the proper tools to assess and implement the rat control plan so that you and your family are safe and do not have to worry about future rat problems.

Professional Rat Inspection

The rat control process starts with a thorough inspection from a certified professional, like our Critter Control service technicians, who will look for signs of rats in your home, such as:

• Entry points that can be as small as a quarter
• Cracks and openings around doors and windows
• Droppings and urine trails along baseboards or appliances
• Nesting activities
• Gnaw marks on wood, plastic, vinyl, wires, etc.

Once the inspection is complete, the technician can remove the rats using their equipment.

Rat Trapping and Removal

Trapping is the most effective method of rat control. The size of the infestation will determine the number of traps, the types of traps, and the rat bait to use. Infestation size also determines the process’s length, which can range from a few days to weeks. With a large colony, other control measures, including tamper-resistant bait stations, may be required around the perimeter of your structure.

The sooner you call the professionals for help, the sooner trapping and rat removal can begin. They take care of everything, including proper disposal and sanitization, so all evidence of rats is removed.

Post-Removal Cleanup

After removing the animal, the wildlife service technician applies sanitization agents to ensure the area is clean and won’t affect you or your family. Any traces of rat feces or urine can lead to unwanted consequences, including attracting more rodents and growing mold spores. Technicians will thoroughly disinfect where necessary, including removing dead rats. With that, you can breathe easier in your own home. Beyond sanitation, our specialists will help with certain repairs, such as replacing damaged insulation.

Rat Exclusion and Preventing Rats

If you successfully remove every rat in your home but do not implement exclusion and prevention techniques, your home is at risk for future rat activity. One of our technicians’ first exclusion methods is to seal up all quarter-inch or larger entry points.

A few common entry points include:

• foundation cracks
• loose-fitting screens
• holes for pipes
• chimneys
• loose soffits

Rats will likely gnaw through materials like plastic, wood, and caulking to enter your home. The professionals will use sealants, wire mesh, and other rat-proofing structures to safeguard your home.

Rats in the Attic

One of the main reasons rats invade homes is for shelter from cold weather. As attics are some of the warmest spaces in houses, it’s no wonder rodents, like Norway and roof rats, enjoy constructing nests in these secluded top stories.

The pests gain entry through vents, gaps in roof eaves, and through holes in building exteriors. Roof rats are especially talented climbers and easily use tall trees and wires running to and from roofs to gain access.

Signs of Rats in the Attic

Homeowners may be alerted to the presence of rats in the attic by sounds, sights, and smells. Usually the most apparent signs of infestation are the scratching and scurrying sounds these rodents make. As rats are nocturnal, they are noisiest when individuals are settling in for a night of rest. Additionally, home residents may notice visual cues such as rat droppings, teeth marks in food containers, and even tracks. Finally, the musky smell of rat presence and malodorous collections of droppings and urine are sure indications of rat infestations in the attic.

Rat Damage in Attics

Residents of homes are put at risk when there are rats in the attic. As the rodents must constantly gnaw to keep the length of their teeth manageable, they can damage the structural integrity of buildings by chewing through wooden support beams. Rats also target electrical wires and heighten the possibility of fire.

Rats in the Wall

Rats are particularly fond of settling in the dark, secluded areas between walls once they’re inside homes as these spaces have lots of insulation to tear apart and use for bedding as well as wooden boards to gnaw on. At night, these pests venture out into the body of houses to gather food from pantries, countertops, and garbage cans before retreating back to their nests in the walls.

To detect the presence of rats in walls, residents should remain alert for rat droppings around homes, oily smudge marks, and gnawed holes in walls and food containers. Droppings are long, cylindrical pellets typically dark brown in color that can be found wherever rats frequent.

Smudge marks appear as greasy patches on floors and walls as a result of the pests’ dirty fur rubbing up against a surface. Finally, rats use their large front teeth to chew access holes into walls and gnaw open food containers. These openings are ragged around the edges and may only be as large as half an inch in diameter.

You should also listen for rustling, clawing, and squeaking sounds coming from inside wall cavities. These sounds intensify in the evenings when the rodents are preparing for a night of activity. Another sure sign of a rat infestation is the pungent smell of urine concentrated within the walls where the pests nest.