Wherever food and shelter are plentiful, that’s where you’ll find Norway rats. Parks and recreational areas, older industrial areas, rail yards and back alleys are a real breeding ground for both species. Sewers, abandoned warehouses and garbage refuges are also places that rats frequent due to the abundance of food. The Norway rat typically likes to live in burrows underground or inside walls, whereas the black rat loves to climb and can be found in upper levels of buildings more often than Norway rats. Black rats use nests and make their home in trees or vines.

Rats can reproduce young four to six times a year having litters of four to ten. Once they have reached the age of three to six months, they have the ability of reproducing. One female can wean about twenty young a year. Life expectancy for a rat is about nine months.

Black and Norway rats will consume many different types of plant and animal foods such as seed that has been spilled from bird feeders or pet food that has been left outdoors. One ounce of food is all that is needed in one day for a rat to survive with some access to water. Norway rats will eat insects, meat refuse, bird eggs, and, given the opportunity, will devour small mammals and mice.

Rat Problems

Contamination of Food
Food contamination by their urine and feces is one of the major problems humans face with rats. Rats contaminate huge percentages of agricultural produce each year and have been known to contaminate food stuffs such as popcorn.

Disease
Rats are enormous carriers of many different diseases, and it has been reported that rats bite more than fifteen thousand people per year involving very young, old or incapacitated. Some of the diseases caused by rats are bubonic plague, salmonella, leptospirosis, hantavirus and tularemia.

Rat Solutions

Exclude
The size of a quarter is the size of the hole that is needed for a rat to find its way inside your home or dwelling. Holes of this size should be sealed with heavy-weight material, i.e. heavy-gauge screening, or can be plugged with wire mesh. Caulking or foam sealants can be used, but only in conjunction with screening or wire mesh as rats can eat their way through these sealants.

Habitat Modification
Good sanitation is essential to keep rats away. Keep the grounds near your dwelling free of debris food stuffs need to be kept in sealed “rat proof” containers. Birdseed, lawn clippings and garbage are another attractant for rats. Use tightly closed garbage containers. Do not have your pet’s food outside, but, if your pet resides outside, feed him and collect the food after twenty minutes.

Remove
Live catch traps may be used as rat traps to humanely capture and release rats. The HAVAHART® 0745 and l025 traps are best suited for use as rat traps. They should be placed where activity has been seen. Suggested baits for rat traps are cheese, bread, birdseed, peanuts and peanut butter.

Exterminator
A good exterminator can also solve your rat problems.

Lethal Control
The Victor® M201 or M205 snap rat traps work well as humane killing devices and should be placed along walls or behind appliances. Rodenticides are another effective form of lethal control.

Rodenticides
Rodenticides are a convenient and effective method of rodent control.  Rodent bait packs can be used for indoor and outdoor control and can be placed along walls, by gnawed openings in or beside burrows, in corners or in locations where rodents and their signs have been seen.  Victor offers a variety of rodenticide bait solutions.

Repel
Ultrasonic devices can be another solution. These devices give off an inaudible sound to humans or non-rodent animals, but keeps rats out of your house. Also try the Victor® Sonic Pest Chaser.