Rats are medium-sized rodent mammals widespread around the globe, that are part of the genus Rattus. The most common species of rats (as household pests) are Rattus rattus (black rat) and Rattus norvegicus (gray rat). They differ from mice by their larger body volume, elongated snout, and a longer tail.

Rats can be found both inside the house and outside (in the garden, terraces, etc.). Their presence is most often detected in kitchen spaces with food or waste disposal sites. They can cause damage to food, furniture, floors/walls (in an attempt to enter the home). In addition, they can be carriers of diseases and parasites (fleas, ticks).

Signs of a rat infestation

Excrements are one of the signs of rats’ existence in the house. Most of the time, they are found in hidden places (behind cabinets, behind the oven, under sinks) but also on the floor, along the rodent paths. 

When rats are present you can sometimes hear during the night noises in the walls or under the floor. Damaged packaging, pipes or gnawed furniture, and sometimes nests made out of scraps of paper or wood are clear signs of the presence of big rodents in the house.

Fighting rats indoors

The best solution for outdoors is using traps for capturing rats thus eliminating them. It is not indicated the use of raticide indoors because rodents only die after a few days, a situation in which if the elimination is not performed in controlled conditions their dead bodies can start to smell bad and can represent sources of infection.

Usually, traps are placed on the rodent’s path to attract them as rapidly as possible. These can be placed in different places, next to walls or in corners, behind furniture.

Baits are normally used along with traps (pieces of food or professional attractants) which have the purpose of attracting rodents in the race. The most common food bait is peanut butter but other foods with a strong flavor such as chocolate, smoked meat, cheese or jellies are also effective. However, when rats have other food sources using professional attractants is imperative if you wish to be effective. Areas without or with poor water sources may impose the use of liquid professional attractants to lure rats easier.

Rat Trap Options 

Glue traps

They are made out of glue-based cardboard or plastic containing an attractant to lure the rodents. Glue traps can be rapidly mounted, do not require reinforcement, and are disposable after catching the rats. Do not place them in areas with dust or high humidity because they can be easily damaged. Also, very low or very high temperatures can affect the texture of the adhesive, reducing its efficiency. 

To obtain efficient control over rodents – for rats only – it is recommended to place the glue boards inside the rat station, this way diminishing the chances that the pest will struggle and escape.

Recommended glue traps for combating rats:

Glue traps are designed to capture the rats from a certain surface and they look like boards covered in a layer of glue. Used together with a special attractant for rodents they are the best way to capture them. Traps might differ in size, some of them being able to catch several rats at the same time. Traps are thrown together with the caught rodents.

Mechanical traps

These traps are used together with baits (food or special attractants) and when triggered they instantly kill the rats. They need to be placed in hidden places in such a way they are not accessible to children or pets. If a trap is accidentally disarmed, it will have to be re-armed. Therefore a constant check is required. 

The advantage of mechanical traps is that they can be reused, ideally washed with hot water before. This will remove the smell of captured rodents which could decrease the efficiency of the trap. Their disinfection is also important in order not to spread the pathogens from one rat to another and, implicitly, in the environment.

Recommended mechanical traps for combating rats:

Using transmitters along with mechanical traps can make trapped pests monitoring easier. The device is attached to the trap and gives an audio signal when it is activated. When a rat is caught this transmitter emits 3 beeps at intervals of 30 seconds. The frequency allows you to receive sound over a wide area. This way there is no need for the constant check of traps but it is recommended to remove the captured rat as soon as possible.

Recommended transmitters:

Transmitters are electrical devices specially designed to facilitate indoor rodent control when using mechanical traps. When monitoring each captured pest, constant checking of traps is not necessary. Therefore, they are intended especially in areas such as office buildings, supermarkets, in narrow and difficult to access areas such as ceilings, suspended ceilings, etc.

Self-locking traps

Metal traps that block the rats inside but do not kill them on the spot. Constant checking is required and reinforcement after each caught pest. They are used together with a bait (special attractant or pieces of food). Same as mechanical traps, these can be reused after being washed and disinfected.

Mechanical traps are reusable traps, which, unlike self-locking ones, instantly kill rats. They act when rodents trigger the flap and disarm the trap. They can be made out of plastic or wood. They can generally be used with attractants in solid or liquid form.

Recommended self-locking traps for combating rats:

Self-locking traps are metal cages that capture rats without killing them. Usually, a food attractant is placed inside the trap to entice the rodents. Once they are in, the rodents get trapped. Self-locking traps can catch more rats, which can be released later, outside the household.

Electric traps

Made out of plastic and metal they capture rats and kill them by emitting high voltage shocks. They are used strictly inside, in spaces free of humidity and dust. They can be used together with professional attractants or food attractants (peanut butter, hazelnut cream). Based on batteries they work with a single set of 4 and they can eliminate up to 50 rats.

The electric trap has a sensor that detects the presence of pests and emits a high voltage electric current when one comes into contact with metal plates. For the rat to be electrocuted it is necessary to touch both plates, the discharge of the emitted electric current, being done through the pest, from one plate to another. Depending on the type of trap, a capture is marked with a green light or a notification sent to the connected device (smartphone/tablet). The trap can be reused after removing the pest and careful cleaning. The metal plates need cleaning especially to ensure their electrical conductivity.

The best electric traps for combating rats:

These traps operate by luring the rats into the trap, capturing and then killing them by electric shock. They need to be used exclusively outdoors, they can be reused (after proper cleaning), and they immediately signal the capture of a rat.

RECOMMENDED ATTRACTANTS: 

Attractants are specially designed to lure rats into the trap and they can be found in many forms: gel, liquid, solid, spray, etc. They can be used together with all types of traps, such as adhesive, mechanical, self-locking, electric, etc. both inside and outside.

Raticide foam

It is used only by authorized personnel for controlling rats in sensitive areas such as (factories, hospitals, etc). The foam needs to be applied into the access holes of the rodents so rats can come into contact with the raticide foam. The raticide foam will stick to their fur and paws and it will be carried into the nest contaminating a larger rodent population. When rats try to clean themselves they will come into contact with the raticide. 

Recommended raticide foam:

Raticide foam is a product that can be exclusively used by pest control operators to control rats indoors, where the degree of infestation is high. Due to its formulation, the foam manages to eliminate rats effectively because it is easily carried by the rodents that come in contact with it.

Use disinfectants to eliminate specific odors coming from the infested indoor areas. You can use disinfectants in liquid, powder, or aerosol form, depending on the type and size of the treated space.

Combating rats outdoors

Outside the house: place poisoning stations (with raticide), around the area of interest, to create a barrier against rats. In this way, rats who approach the house in search of food and shelter will be attracted by the raticide bait placed in the poisoning stations and will return to their nests.

Bait stations

These are special boxes made to protect raticide or traps from environmental conditions or to prevent other animals from reaching the poison or coming into contact with placed traps. They can be made out of plastic, cardboard, or metal.  Poisoning stations made out of corrugated plastic can be damaged by other animals, and cardboard ones are not resistant to moisture. Therefore they are often used together with traps and as a rule, they are placed in covered spaces protected from animal access. When using raticide it is recommended to use poisoning stations that can be locked with a key.

Intoxication stations are generally placed around the house (especially near access areas, waste storage sites, or where signs of rat activity are observed).

Recommended bait stations:

These are special boxes made to protect raticide or traps from environmental conditions or to prevent other animals from reaching the poison or coming into contact with placed traps. They do not replace rat traps and do not block them inside the container. They can be made of materials such as plastic, cardboard, depending on the space for which they are intended.

The labeling of intoxication stations is important to keep track of how many you used but also of the type of raticide.

Professional spray attractants have a greater efficiency on rodent control when used in intoxication stations and also mechanical traps.

Raticides

They contain in their formulation an active poisonous substance for the rodents and a special attractant that works as bait. These act by ingestion, more precisely, rats feed with the raticide bait, and the active substance with anticoagulant effect produces a generalized hemorrhage in the body of the mammal. Normally the rats die after 2-8 days from ingesting the poison. However, this differs depending on the amount of consumed raticide, the concentration of the active substance, the size of the animal. 

Raticide can be found as sachets filled with paste, pellets, wax cubes, powder, whole wheat bait, etc. The recommended dose of raticide for rats is between – 60 – 150 g. Apply raticide using protective gloves, because the rats can easily feel human smell and thus avoid the bait. Check the station for bait at intervals of 2-3 weeks and based on the quantity of bait consumed, increase or decrease the raticide dose for each. For the treatment to be efficient, it is recommended for the poisoning station to have two different bait formulations, according to rodents’ preferences.

Recommended raticides to combat rats:

Raticide are biocidal products used to control the rat population. These are based on active substances (such as brodifacoum, bromadiolone, coumatetralyl, etc.) and additives as bait. Raticide acts through ingestion, they have an anticoagulant effect and they cause the death of rodents by hemorrhage. The death of rats can occur in 2-8 days, depending on the amount of raticide ingested, the size of the rat, the type of active substance, and its concentration. 

Recommended protective gloves:

The safety equipment has the role of protecting the person that is performing the treatments from the dangerous substances in the composition of the raticide. This category includes protective gloves, coveralls, masks, etc. The equipment is chosen according to the type of treatment, as well as the substances used or the pest you want to combat.

Ultrasound device

They are electrical devices designed to scare and keep rodents away. Their functioning is based on emitting sound waves of different frequencies, to disturb rats and discourage their activity in a  certain area. The sound waves are imperceptible to non-target creatures. It is generally placed in large, frequently circulated spaces.

Also, to prevent rodents from coming inside, their holes and access ways can be sealed using special materials. 

Rodent repellents

They can be found as paste, wire mesh, wire sponge. They are used to prevent and block the entry of rats into the protected areas by sealing access roads. The paste repellents are applied using a specific gun. You can seal cracks, holes, joints with a diameter of at least 5 mm, applying a thick layer of 10 mm. After that, the paste can be leveled with a spatula.

Sealing cracks/holes through which rats can access can also be done with the help of sponges/copper wire cloths. However, if the size of the access roads is larger, they can be blocked using wire mesh.

Recommended rodent repellents:

Repellents are products used to stop the access of rodents in a certain area and for sealing the accessways. The repellents create odor barriers, tactile or optical barriers or they produce unpleasant sensations to the targeted rodents, discouraging and preventing their entry into isolated enclosures. 

To conclude, an effective rodent control consists, first of all, in choosing the appropriate treatment according to the space to be treated but also combining several products/control methods. In addition, it is important to eliminate the elements that can attract rats, make rat elimination hard, as well as seal the access ways for the rodents.

No matter what pests are you fighting against, a combination of control and prevention methods will always be better and more effective. Make sure to keep your house and yard clean and free of easily accessible food and water sources. Do not feed pets outside, and do not leave leftovers unattended after they eat. Carefully store food and if you have grains, make sure their containers do not leak or the room is completely sealed, without any holes or cracks through which rats could enter. Mow your lawn, remove any woodpiles from the sides of your home, and do not keep bird feeders near the house.