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Catching rats in your home is often harder than it sounds. Due to rats’ high intelligence, fear of new things, and strong memories, they can easily outsmart traps and flourish in the process. The best chance of stopping rats is before they find their way onto your property.
How to Catch Rats In Your Home
Rats are common pests in New Jersey; with its dense population and diverse landscapes, it’s one of the most rat-active areas in the nation. Although rats enjoy city life, thriving in sewers and alleyways, they often make their way into the suburbs as well. This leaves homeowners wondering how to catch rats, remove them, and keep them away for good.
Rat traps come in a variety of types, including lethal and humane; either way, they should be placed along walls where rats frequently travel (or wherever they’re leaving evidence).
Bait should have a strong enough odor to lure rats; good options include peanut butter, bacon, dried fruit, pet food, chocolate, and nuts. While rats don’t like cheese as much as pop culture claims, odorous and soft cheeses can be effective (like brie, cheddar, gouda, blue cheese, and cream cheese). Whatever food you use, make sure it’s something that’s difficult for rats to steal without triggering the trap; an apple is a good option, whereas applesauce is something rats may lick away without causing the trap to spring.
If you use a humane trap, make a point to check it at least once a day. Some people release rats near fields, forests, or creeks, while others believe introducing them to unfamiliar surroundings is cruel. You can always contact your local animal control for guidance and information about local laws. Don’t release them in your backyard, front yard, or down the street; rats have spatial memory and can navigate back to your home by rote.
Why Rat Traps Fail
Even when you put traps in the right places and fill them with tempting goodies, they don’t always work. In fact, rat traps often fail simply because rats are evolutionarily geared to fear new things, including that shiny new trap sitting on the top shelf of the pantry. If something is unfamiliar, many rats will make a point of avoiding it, even changing their behaviors to do so.Â
Rat traps also fail when better, tastier, and more diverse food is available elsewhere. You might fill your trap with your best peanut butter, but if rats can access an open bag of dog food, birdseed, or a trash can, they’ll skip the Skippy for a more eclectic rodent buffet. If you use food that is old, stale, or spoiled, rats will likewise be unimpressed by your efforts.Â
A third reason rat traps fail is because of rodents’ high intelligence; rats are smartypants, and while they don’t have the critical thinking skills to recognize that you’re trying to remove them from their warm and cozy home, they do remember if they’ve been trapped before. If they had a bad experience, narrowly escaping a trap, for example, they’ll be wary of putting themselves in that position again.
How to Spot a Rat Infestation
Rats are nocturnal creatures that stay hidden during the day, becoming more active from dusk to dawn. This means you won’t always come face to face with one of these furry foes. If you come across several, the chances are fairly good that you have an infestation spiraling out of control. But even when rats stay out of sight, there are certain signs that indicate an infestation.
Rat droppings (dark brown and capsule-shaped) are among the biggest red flags, especially when found along walls (where rats frequently travel). Rat droppings are quite a bit larger than mouse droppings, which helps distinguish one pest from another.Â
Other signs of infestation include squeaking, scratching, and scurrying sounds, which are more frequent in the middle of the night (though any time of day should raise suspicion). Rats are prolific gnawers, so teeth marks on cables, cords, walls, furniture, and food packaging are an indication of rodent activity as well.Â
These rodents travel the same routes day after day, and many leave grease marks or string their bedding (shredded paper, blankets, or clothing) along wall bases. If an infestation is large or a rat dies inside your wall void, your home might emit an unpleasant, musty smell.
Keeping Rats Out of Your Home
Learning how to catch rats isn’t as important as keeping them out to start. Rats are common in commercial buildings as well as residential homes; they’re attracted to people by the mess we leave behind and follow us wherever we go. Because they want to be our best friends, keeping them out can be a challenge, but it’s not impossible.
Rats can squeeze through openings half an inch wide, which allows them to turn small gaps and cracks into entryways; sealing these off, even if they seem too small to matter, is the best way to avoid an infestation. Rodents frequently enter through gaps around rooflines, vents, pipes, foundations, and doors.
Reducing attractants is important, too. Rats aren’t just after warmth and shelter; they want a nice place to eat. If you make food accessible by leaving pantry items improperly sealed, leaving pet food bags open, and storing trash cans without lids, you’ll attract rats . . . and other pests!
Moisture from things like leaky pipes, clogged roof eaves, and easily accessible pet bowls also attracts rats (and, of course, mosquitoes). Adding a few plumbing projects to your to-do list can help your property become less of a pest paradise.
Rat Experts at Your Service
At Kapture, we are experts at removing rats from homes and businesses. With same-day services, fast-acting solutions, and custom-designed plans, we’ll assess your home, look for entry points and attractants, and treat any infestations. We offer preventative maintenance and a money-back guarantee.