Wyandotte County, Kansas City Rat Control Situation:
I pray that you receive my email. My house in Kansas City was infested with roof rats this year while my Daughter and four year old grandson were living in the house. I was living in the back guest room. They were continuously ill with flu symptoms and moved out. We had hired Tru Pest Control to help with the rats with no avail. Finally after they moved out the rats disappeared. However as my husband and I removed some built in cabinets in the family room, we uncovered two rat holes, nests, lots of feces. We disposed of the cabinets and haven't done anything else since. We are still living in the guest room in the back of the house. We do not have any rats. The house was built in 1940. The main house which was infested with rats has original wood floors and the entire front house has a crawl space. The guest room was originally a garage so it sits on the ground and has a cement floor. I am 58 yrs old, my husband is 59 yrs old and has been disabled since 1992. He has had his aortic and mitral heart valves replaced with mechanical valves and has a pacemaker. The BIG question is, will the house ever be safe for us to live in again? The decontamination sounds brutal and I am very sensitive to chemicals. We will never own the home free and clear in our lifetime. Should we even attempt to fix it up to live in or move??
Kansas City Rat Control Tip of The Week
Are Rats Nocturnal?
Biologically, rats are nocturnal. These animals come out at dusk to look for food and carry out other activities, then go back into hiding at dawn. Their choice of coming out at dusk is dependent on many things that have to do with their natural behavior and biology. Right here, we will be taking you through some of these factors.
The first factor is that rats are silent animals and will prefer to operate in an environment with less noise. Their involvement with humans and special liking for staying in places close to human settlements will make them want to stay in hiding during the day time because the activities of humans during the day causes noise that they can't cope with.
Another factor that modifies rats to being nocturnal is the fact that their instinct only makes it possible for them to feel relaxed and active when there is less danger. This is nearly impossible during the day time as many of their natural predators will be active during that exact time.
Third, rats like are sneaky and will always prefer to operate in hiding without the occupants of the house knowing. The night has limited light and the occupants are most likely to be at rest during this time. This gives rats all the time and opportunities they need to carry out their rat business without any form of interruption.
However, rats are also capable of moving around during the day if they have a safe route through which they can travel. The routes are usually dark and safe even during the day when there are noises and disturbances from humans.
