Saint Louis County, St. Louis Rat Control Situation:
Hi David! I have a quick question that I'm hoping you can help me with. My husband and I are hearing noises in the attic and we noticed that the outside vent to the dryer has been pulled away from the house. We have some contraction going on in two rooms and after we put Sheetrock up, the next morning a hole was chewed where the ceiling meets the crawl space between the first and second floors. There were also rat droppings on the floor. We went out and bought snap traps (6) and set 2 in the room with the hole, one in the laundry room, 2 in the main attic, and one in the smaller attic above the room. The next morning half the traps were triggered but nothing caught. We reset all the traps and the next morning all the traps were triggered and empty. The rat had also gotten into the pantry during the night and found a bag of dog treats and tried to pull them out under the door. The reset all the traps, wrapping the trigger with gauze and coating it with peanut butter to make it harder for them to just lick it off. For three weeks now the traps have been untouched. We don't have much activity in the attic either. Last night I took some of the dog treats and put it with the peanut butter as added incentive and we finally caught one... A big one. My question is, is it likely that there are more or that we only had the one? We have two dogs inside and it boggles my mind that rats would be ballsy enough to roam the house when there are dogs around! Should I keep the traps out and see what happens or do you think we got it? Only the one trap with the rat was triggered. Thanks so much for your time, Zui in St. Louis MO
My response: If the traps were triggered with no trap, you were definitely using the wrong traps for the animal you were dealing with. So if it was definitely large rat traps that you were using, then you didn't have a rat - maybe an opossum or something. And if it was rat, then you used the wrong traps - did you you mouse traps, by chance?
St. Louis Rat Control Tip of The Week
Tips To Get Rid Of Rats In The Attic
It's normal for you to have that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you keep hearing that scurrying sound coming from your attic because of the indecent activities of rats. To put an end to this weird feeling, you need to get rid of the rats living in your attic.
Have you been wanting to do this but you don't know how to go about it? Right here, we will be sharing some tips on how to get rid of rats in the attic. With the following tips, you will be able to do as you please and keep your attic free from rats.
When it comes to getting rid of rats in your attic, the first thing you need to do is to inspect your house in order for you to know exactly how the rats got into your attic. Being a very flexible animal with an ability to sneak around and pass through openings as small as a quarter of an inch, rats can enter into your attic through different openings. What this implies is that you need to inspect your attic properly to know how they got in.
The second step you need to take is to inspect your attic to know the extent to which the rats have damaged your attic. Rats in the attic are capable of chewing your wires and tearing the insulation in the roofing for their nests.
After inspecting the attic, the next thing you need to do is seal up all the entry holes that you were able to find while inspecting the attic. This should be done with durable materials that rats can't chew. Materials like this include steel screens and metal.
Lastly, you need to trap or kill the rats using either a snap trap or a one-way exclusion funnel. Do not use rat poisons to get rid of the rats in your attic. It will only create more environmental problems instead of reducing them.