When the elements outside get too severe, wild rodents like rats will start looking for more comfortable locations to establish a nest. Unfortunately, rats often target residential homes as their best bet for warm shelter and accessible food and water, especially during the colder months. While they are simply trying to survive, rats have no place inside your home.
If you have noticed signs of rat activity or are worried that rats may attempt to make their way into your walls for shelter, then follow these tips for rat-proofing your home.
Prevention is the best way to ensure that a rat issue never becomes an uncontrollable infestation.
To help keep rats out of your home, it is recommended that you start with the following:
Look for cracks, gaps, or holes in your foundation, walls, or roof that are ¼” or larger. Rats can squeeze through tiny openings, so it’s important to have these exterior vulnerabilities identified and sealed.
Inspect your doors, door frames, and window frames from the inside for any gaps or openings. Similarly, if the opening is ¼” or bigger, it should be caulked and repaired by you or a trained professional.
Rats have been known to enter homes through roof vents and air conditioning and dryer ducts, so reinforcing them with a metal mesh screen is a perfect solution to keep rats out.
Rats want three things when they come to your home: food, water, and shelter. Denying two of these things makes your home much less desirable to nuisance rats. Bring in bird feeders, pet bowls, and fix leaky garden hoses to help keep hungry and thirsty rats at bay.
At Critter Control® of Orlando, we offer a full range of animal exclusion services, including rat prevention and removal. Our experienced rat removal technicians will quickly and safely remove nuisance rats and other unwelcome wildlife from your Central Florida property and keep them from returning. To schedule your inspection and receive a free estimate for our humane and efficient rat removal services, call Critter Control® of Orlando today at 407-295-7194.