Sacramento County, Sacramento Rat Control Situation:
Hello David, I am desperate now. I have four children all under the age of thirteen. I need some help. I have an infestation of rats in my house. They were mainly in the walls and attic. One Sorry huge rat I killed that came in my house is dead. I poisoned him. I cut down my hedges because I had huge holes behind them. I filled it with dirt. The next door neighbor elevated her house and her problem ran behind my hedges. I put rat traps in the attic, poison, glue traps. Always fixing holes. I still have rats. I Heard one just last night fall down my wall. I live by woods and the rats seem out of control. Never had a problem for the thirteen years I have been living here until the neighbor elevated her house next door to me. Please any suggestions would be appreciated. I also hired orkin and it didn't help either. Very concerned, Angela in Sacramento CA
Hi David. I discovered your web site while googling "rat urine". We have had an occasional problem with rats over the past 3 years and thought we had the problem fixed last fall after a 1 year contract with a local pest control company. This past weekend we smelled a dead rat and found a small one in the crawl space. The smell dissipated and this morning we woke up to a horrible urine smell which came from the front hallway/living room (they are side by side). This is above the area where we found the dead rat, which we removed. As we don't know exactly where the smell is, we don't want to start ripping down drywall. Do you know of any good company in the Vancouver area of British Columbia that can help us with the clean-up and blocking the rats entry? Or, if not, what type of things should we be looking for when calling pest control. We are at our wits end and really believed that we had solved the problem. Thank you in advance for your advice. Robert
Hello, thanks for the informative page. I have a room addition that was built onto my house and the the rats have chewed an opening from the outside where the water pipes come in. The space they are scratching in is a wall space between the old building and new building and as of now there is no access to the attic or into the house they just have this cavity they have found. I don't want to seal up the hole with them in there. What do your recomend as the best course of action. thanks, Bill
Sacramento Rat Control Tip of The Week
Are Cats Good at Keeping Rats Away?
When it comes to removing rats from homes, the use of cats in hunting these rodents is one of the best natural ways of getting that done. Cats and rats are natural enemies; hence cats are good at keeping rats away. The only issue with keeping cats to remove rats from your home is that there is a high probability of it being prone to catching other non-target animals like frogs, birds, and lizards. Also, there are no guarantees that the cat you bring into your home to keep rats away will help catch the rat within a specific time.
Apart from the hunting skills that cats use to remove rats, the scent of a cat will also make rats stay away from your home. Rats have a well-developed sense of smell and can easily pick up slight scents. With this, they can sense the presence of a cat in a particular area and stay as far as possible away from it. This survival instinct of rats will send them packing.
But for this to work the way you want it to, you need to find a cat that displays typical hunting behavior. Naturally, cats do have hunting instincts and the urge to catch rats. But this only gets triggered when the right environment is in place or the cats are encouraged to do so.
If you want a cat with a good hunting instinct, the first thing you need to do is to make inquiries as to whether the mother of the kitten was a good hunter or not. Cats learn the required hunting skills from their mother. If you want the cat you will be introducing into your home to be a good hunter, it will need to learn these hunting skills from its mother.
Are cats good at keeping rats away?
When it comes to removing rats from homes, the use of cats in hunting these rodents is one of the best natural ways of getting that done. Cats and rats are natural enemies; hence cats are good at keeping rats away. The only issue with keeping cats to remove rats from your home is that there is a high probability of it being prone to catching other non-target animals like frogs, birds, and lizards. Also, there are no guarantees that the cat you bring into your home to keep rats away will help catch the rat within a specific time.
Apart from the hunting skills that cats use to remove rats, the scent of a cat will also make rats stay away from your home. Rats have a well-developed sense of smell and can easily pick up slight scents. With this, they can sense the presence of a cat in a particular area and stay as far as possible away from it. This survival instinct of rats will send them packing.
But for this to work the way you want it to, you need to find a cat that displays typical hunting behavior. Naturally, cats do have hunting instincts and the urge to catch rats. But this only gets triggered when the right environment is in place or the cats are encouraged to do so.
If you want a cat with a good hunting instinct, the first thing you need to do is to make inquiries as to whether the mother of the kitten was a good hunter or not. Cats learn the required hunting skills from their mother. If you want the cat you will be introducing into your home to be a good hunter, it will need to learn these hunting skills from its mother.
