Alachua County, Gainesville Rat Control Situation:
sir. first i want to thank you for all of this info. i have found one damn rat. i tried getting him out the door, but he ran right past me and up into the eves. very little or no evidence of him until i saw him. did i read they follow cockroaches? big palmetto style bugs. do they go after them to eat em? if so, ive many areas to address to seal. very fast son of a gun too. do u suggest i try baby powder at possible entry points for further evidence? ive only seen the one, but i know wheres one, more more than likely to follow. id love to shoot em, but the neighbors wouldnt like that. i reside in holiday florida. lots of work to do on eves and small openings, i just want to handle the lil bastard. thank you again. keith t. future rat murderer.....
Dear David, I am having a esculating problem with roof rats. I also have a disgruntled neighbor who I suspect of comitting malicious activity around my property. Is there anyway possible that acts of malicious behavior (such as tossing dog food, bird seeds ect. onto my property ) can be causing my rat problem. If so, how can I safeguard my attic from this invasion. The strange thing about the roof rat noise in the attic is that it is not consistent. My neighbor went on thanksgiving vacation and I did not hear the rat activity in the attic for one week. Upon his return, the problem returned. Is this possible and is there something I can do to safeguard the attic? I realize this is a strange situation.
Gainesville Rat Control Tip of The Week
Reasons Why Relocated Rats Don't Survive Out Of Their Usual Territory
After trapping a rat in your home, you will have to decide either to kill it or relocate it. If killing a rat doesn't go down well with you because it makes you feel inhumane, you will be left with no other option but to relocate it.
If you have decided to relocate a trapped rat into a new territory, you need to understand the fact that it might not survive. Despite being a very smart household pest, rats find it very difficult to cope in a new environment for several reasons. The following are the reasons why a relocated rat won't survive out of their usual territory.
The first reason why rats won't survive in a new environment is that they are accustomed to their old environment. They have spent their entire life studying where they stay, knowing the exact place to find water and food in order to survive daily. Transferring this survival instinct to a new environment is a quite difficult thing to do for rats. As a result of these differences, they will find it difficult to locate food and water which they need to survive in any environment they are relocated to.
The presence of predators in the new environment is another reason why rats will find it difficult to survive. Animals like cats, snakes, and birds hunt for rats and will take advantage of the fact that the newly introduced rat doesn't know its way around to capture it.
When you introduce a rat into a new environment, it is going to meet other street rats that are already accustomed to that specific environment. Rats being animals that exhibit dominance in the form of hierarchy, where the submissive group is traumatized by the dominant rats, your rat will face multiple brutal battles and might end up in bad shape in the process. Over time, they will either get killed or too weak to look for food and shelter.
All these clearly show why any rat you decide to relocate might never survive the effects of leaving your home and being transferred into a new environment.
