Rat Extermination

Wildlife can be a joy, but it can often also be your worst nightmare. Rats tend to fall into the latter category and for many, the experience of having rats in your home is one you’re likely to remember for some time in the future. There are a lot of problems that can come with rats and so whenever you spot signs or actual sightings of rats, it’s important to seek professional services such as rat extermination, as quickly as possible.

How To Spot Rats

There can sometimes be confusion between what are sightings or signs of rats because you might, instead, have mice. When you first discover the sign or sight of a rat, the chances are that they’ve been there for a week or two already and you might not have even been aware of them being in your home, or around it for that matter. However, there are some signs that can certainly help you determine if you have them or not.

Missing Food Or Chewed Food

There can sometimes be food that’s gone missing that might have been out on the side. Alternatively, there could be food on your countertops that have been chewed but not totally disposed of.

A Strange Smell

There’s a musty smell that often is very similar to the scent of urine. It’s not pleasant and once you get a whiff, you’re likely to know exactly why it’s in the air.

Gnawed Wires Or Woodwork

Rats like to eat just about anything and they can pretty much eat through most materials. With that being said, you might find signs of gnawed wires or woodwork and small holes around places that tend to usually be hidden away.

Shuffling Or Scratching Noises

And finally, there’s often the audible signs that you have rats and again, it makes it fairly obvious. If there are signs of shuffling or scratching noises, then it’s likely to be a rat, unless there have been other signs that tell you otherwise.

It’s worth mentioning that even though it’s often difficult to tell if it’s a mouse or rat that’s in your home, the main difference is size. A rat is notably much larger than a mouse and rats will often have a thicker tail than mice do.

Why Are Rats Dangerous In Your Home?

Unfortunately, like a lot of wildlife, they can often carry a lot of different diseases and bacteria that can cause harm to humans if you’re not careful. Some of these diseases can be salmonella, Hantavirus and Leptospirosis. All of which can cause severe illnesses, difficulty in breathing, and nausea to name but a few.

With the number of droppings that a rat can produce, there’s an increased risk that any of your households might pick up this bacteria around the home. When there’s more than one rat, an infestation can be quite the breeding ground for dangerous diseases.

What To Do When There Are Signs Of Rats

When it comes to signs or sightings of rats, the first thing you want to do is call up SWAT Wildlife to organize a rat removal service as quickly as possible. When you have even a single rat, it can feel like your house doesn’t belong to you and that you may often end up feeling fearful of running into it.

Of course, the rat or rats are likely to be more scared of you than you are of them but that doesn’t make it any easier to experience. Once you’ve given us a call, you’ll then want to remove any food or warm spots in your home like piles of dirty laundry, because these are things that will attract them and keep them coming back.

You’ll also want to think about finding the holes in which they’re getting into and temporarily blocking them off until the exterminator arrives. That way, you’ll hopefully reduce the risk of any more coming into your property. However, this isn’t always guaranteed to keep them out and you may find that the hole they’re coming in from is not even a place you’ve thought to look.

Gathering Information

When you spot rats, it’s important to try and gather as much information as you can before the exterminator gets there. This critical information can help to solve the issue a lot quicker as a result. Note things like where you’ve spotted the rat or rats, or where you’ve seen signs that a rat has been present.

Think about when you’ve seen the rats and how long it’s likely been since the infestation started. Look for those early signs and try to remember when it first started.

What Does The Rat Extermination Involve?

A rat infestation needs to be handled with careful attention and there may be several entries and exit points from which the rats are coming in and out. A property inspection is, therefore, necessary to access the full extent of the issue and how it can best be solved. There are usually target and environmentally-friendly processes involved that can help seal up access points and more importantly, lay down traps.

The methods used with SWAT Wildlife can use things like bait, traps, exclusion and in some cases, the eradication of the rats themselves from your home.

The problem that many people can have when it comes to rat extermination and doing it themselves is that sometimes an infestation may be the case and you only kill the one rat. There’s also rat poison, which many tend to lay down which can be dangerous to households and their pets, as well as being problematic if the rat dies in areas that can’t be accessed, like the walls for example.

Pick SWAT Wildlife For Rat Extermination Toronto

With any rat removal service, you want it to be as effective as possible, providing a removal that hopefully avoids anything happening like that again. We can help provide the knowledge and fixes needed to protect your home from rat infestation now and in the future.