One of the reasons why a rat infestation in your home is so problematic is the fact that rats are hard to trap. It can be very frustrating to deal with these pests. But no matter how frustrating it may be, you should still persevere in getting rid of your rat problem, because of the health risks it poses.
Here are some of the reasons why rats are hard to trap.
1. Rats are hard to trap because they are larger than mice
Rats are not mice. Rats are larger and significantly stronger. You have to use rat traps and not mouse traps, or else the traps will be useless.
It’s easy to make a mistake in choosing the right traps. One of the reasons is the misdiagnosis of your pest problem at home.
It’s easy to think that you have a mouse problem and not a rat problem because they have similar signs. You may see open passageways in your walls, food containers that are bit open, and the occasional small furry creature at the corner of your eye.
Mouse traps don’t work on rats because they are too small to actually trap rats and too light to actually cause damage to rats. Diagnose your pest problem at home before buying traps. Make sure that you are dealing with rats and not mice.
2. Rats have more food preferences than you think
You may have seen it in cartoons before. Characters usually bait rats with cheese or peanut butter. While these baits work in cartoons, they don’t necessarily work in real life. Don’t be surprised if the rat infesting your home doesn’t respond to your baits.
Different rats have different food preferences, and this makes them harder to trap. But the good news here is that rats are omnivores, so they eat a wide range of foods. They typically like fruits, nuts, seeds, and other agricultural products.
So, if you really want to trap a rat, it’s best to use these food types as baits instead of the cartoonish cheese cubes with holes. Also make sure to handle the traps and baits with gloves on, because rats have a strong sense of smell and they can detect if these things have been placed by you.
3. Rats are smart by nature
There is a reason why rats in cartoons are often portrayed as mischievous, as the home owners hilariously fail on getting rid of them. This is also true in real life.
Rats are smart. They are very suspicious of their surroundings and are extra careful of unfamiliar objects. They may intentionally avoid the baits and traps you have just placed in your home simply because they are not familiar with these things. They know that those things were not there the last time they passed that spot in your home.
But don’t worry. This doesn’t mean that baits and traps are completely useless against these pests. The trick is to let the rats be familiar with your baits and traps. Place more baits around the vicinity of the traps so rats encounter them more and become less suspicious of them.
Yes, it will appear like you are intentionally feeding the pests in your home, but this technique really increases your chances of getting rid of the pests for good.
4. Rats travel around your home carefully
You almost never see rats running around in the open. Most of the time, you just have a glimpse of rats before they completely disappear from your sight. Many times, you don’t even see them and just hear them making noise between the walls and food containers.
Rats are very careful in traveling around your home, and this can make them very hard to trap.
The simple solution here is to place your traps strategically. Since the rats don’t like to be in the open where they can be spotted easily, you should also place the traps on passageways that are not in plain sight.
Also examine your home to know the places where there is usually rodent activity. Rats do have their favorite spots, such as the spots where they can get food and water. It’s ideal to place the baits and traps on such spots because the baits and traps can blend in with the other food and water sources and become less suspicious.
5. Rats reproduce quickly
Female rats will be able to reproduce after just 5 weeks of maturity. Pregnancy will take another 3 weeks. And this pregnancy can bring out up to 14 new rats. To make things worse, female rats can reproduce throughout the year. It’s not uncommon for female rats to have 5 pregnancies a year, especially if they are living and eating comfortably.
This is such an alarming rate of reproduction. These pests can build a colony inside your home in just a few weeks. And it will be hard to get rid of this colony completely because of the reproduction rate alone.
You can successfully trap a rat here and there, but it won’t matter, because there are a lot more rats hidden in your home who can reproduce and replace the rats you have captured and killed.
It’s a numbers game at this point, so you have to use multiple traps to get rid of rats faster than they reproduce. This can take a lot of time and effort. If you think it’s too complicated, it’s best to get help from pest control services.
Rats are hard to trap, but they are not invincible
Indeed, rats are hard to trap. They are larger than mice and therefore require more specialized traps. They are smart and suspicious. And worst of all, they reproduce at an alarming rate.
But this doesn’t mean that you will suffer from a rat infestation forever. Get the appropriate baits and traps. Place them at strategic spots to outsmart the pests. And get professional help if necessary.
Rats are not invincible. With the right tactics and mindset, you can get rid of the rats infesting your home.