A plush leather couch is a luxury that not everyone can afford. If you are one of those who own one, you’d be happy to sprawl in it. But suddenly, you hear a tiny squeak from around the room and you immediately know that your designer couch is in danger of being damaged. Although they are small in size, rats and mice can actually cause drastic bad things to happen. They can send your family and friends away from your house for good. Aside from rodent bites, rats and mice are also feared for the threat of fleas, mites, and bacteria they carry on their fur.
The Attractors of Rats and Mice
Before you even start putting any traps or repellents to stop rats and mice, you should first be able to identify where they came from and why they are infesting your home. Most of the time, the main attractors of rodents are food chunks left unclean, poorly-maintained pipelines, and water that is easily available. There might also be holes around your house that you do not know. Interestingly, rodents can squeeze themselves in a small hole that is the size of a nickel.
Confirming Rodent Problems
It is easy to identify rodent issues as they leave obvious effects. For one, they leave rat droppings. They are also known to gnaw on just everything they see. If you notice gnawing holes in your clothes or even your furniture and walls, you are experiencing rat problems.
The Basic Prevention
Don’t wait until rodents damage your things at home. It is better to prevent them so they do not even get the chance to enter your abode. There are many ways to get rid of rats without resorting to killing them. It includes chemical repellents, natural remedies, end even simply building a fence to keep them out.
Ammonia and Mothballs
Ammonia is known to be an aid in cleaning but they can also repel rats. Just mix 2 cups of ammonia with 100mL of water and 2 spoons of detergent. Place it in locations where rats would most likely appear. The scent of ammonia is too strong for rats so when they smell it, they’d avoid it. Mothballs, on the other hand, can be readily used. Place them along the walls in hard to reach places. But, keep in mind to avoid touching them with bare hands.
Kitchen and Pantry Solutions
There are also natural remedies to preventing rat infestation that are readily available in your fridge. Among these natural repellents are pepper, onions, and bay leaves. Pepper and onions give off a natural smell that rats and mice hate. Placing them in locations where rats and mice most likely come from like small holes in your wall will do the trick of keeping them away for a few months or even years. Bay leaves are quite the opposite. The smell of bay leaves is attractive to rodents but once they consume bay leaves, the secondary metabolites of the leaves will be very strong for a rodent system to digest. Out of all the methods of repelling rats, bay leaves might be the most humane way of killing them and ensuring a permanent solution to rat issues at home.
Scare Them Away
Many people will find it silly but it is a somehow an effective method to repel rats and mice. Owls and snakes are natural predators of rodents. Rats and mice fear the sight of them. So, you can buy a few plastic owl models and snake toys and place them in your garden. Owl feathers can even do the trick. This is one of the cheapest alternatives to repellents and you don’t actually hurt rodents, you just drive them away.
Humane Traps
There are readily available rattrap cages in the market. If you find them a little expensive, you can always build one on your own. Basically, a rat trap cage is a trap where you lure rats and mice with food hanging inside the cage. Once they bite on the food, the mechanism of the cage will make one side close and trapping the rat inside. You caught the rat but you didn’t actually kill it. You can then release them out in a field far from your house.
Build a Fortress
If you find holes around your house, patch it up immediately. You can also build small fences that are made of natural rat repellent or you can use the information about the scents that rats hate and spray your fence with these scents so you can drive rats away from home.
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How to Kill Rats page.
