How to catch a rat in an apartment

People have interacted with rats since ancient times. Scientists claim that the ancestors of rats appeared on Earth long before humans. Like humans, rats have the unique ability to adapt to different living conditions. These rodents can make their home in basements, sewers, ventilation systems, and in your home or apartment. It is a mistake to believe that rats and mice are not dangerous. In fact, they can cause serious damage to your home and are also carriers of dangerous diseases and infections.

If you discover the presence of rodents in your premises, immediate measures to catch and destroy them are necessary. Rats, like mice, reproduce at an amazing rate, so taking action right away is key to successfully controlling them.

Why is a rat dangerous for humans?

In addition to their ability to adapt to various conditions, rodents are highly intelligent and can overcome obstacles, climb various surfaces and enter rooms through even the smallest cracks. They show amazing resourcefulness, especially when it comes to finding food.

It is usually not difficult to detect the presence of a rat in the house. They leave behind many marks, including chewed food, damaged objects such as plastic, wood and even concrete, and, even more dangerous, chewed electrical wires. This can cause a short circuit and, in extreme cases, cause a fire. Rats are practically omnivores, but they especially prefer grain foods.

In winter, rats begin to look for warm places and food. To do this, they use ventilation shafts, water pipes, walls and wires to spread throughout the house.

Rats have strong immunity and adapt to poisons, reproducing very quickly. Over the course of several years, one female can bring in more than six thousand rats. In cases of extreme hunger or rabies, rats can attack animals several times their size, and even humans. A pack of rats can even attack a cat or a small dog.

For many people, zemmiphobia, the fear of rodents, exists. However, rats can cause real damage to your home. If they carry viruses or diseases, it becomes a serious threat to humans. Let's take a closer look at this point.

The rat is the source of viral diseases

Rats can carry about seventy types of diseases, including rabies, tuberculosis, fever, tularemia, plague, typhus and many other dangerous infections. This wide range of diseases is associated with places where rats live, such as landfills, basements and trash cans. It is here that rats find the main sources of infection that can be transmitted to humans.

If you find chewed food, feces or fur left by a rat, do not come into contact with these products under any circumstances. Through them you can become infected with dangerous diseases. If you are bitten by a rat, also contact your doctor immediately for medical attention.

How to protect yourself before catching rats

Before you start catching rats, it is important to ensure the safety of yourself and your loved ones, taking into account the possible unpredictable results of hunting rodents.

To safely catch rats in your home, you should take the following measures:

1. Never touch a rat with your bare hands, use gloves.
2. Be sure to wear gloves, safety glasses and, if possible, a mask.
3. Place rat traps and traps out of the reach of children and pets.
4. Be calm and prepared when dealing with rodents, as frightened mice and rats can become aggressive.
5. If you are bitten by a rat, immediately use disinfectants and consult a doctor.
6. Bury dead rats in remote locations.
7. Inform all family members about the methods you plan to use to solve the rodent problem. This will help prevent possible negative consequences for everyone living in the house.

Search for rats and mice in the apartment

Before you begin to actively exterminate rodents, it is important to find out how they got into your area. Tiny holes and narrow passages are enough for mice. Carefully inspect the base of the walls, the junctions of the baseboards, the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom - perhaps this is where they created holes for future passages. All these passages and openings should be sealed immediately.

If you have a private home, try to place traps near possible rodent hiding places. They can make their home in the attic, basement, garage or shed. Sometimes you may hear rodent sounds at night, as that is when they are actively searching for food.

For an effective fight, one important point should be taken into account. When installing mousetraps and traps in the house, it is important to position them so that they face the movement of rats. Never touch traps and bait with bare hands - use gloves. Otherwise, the rodent may pick up your scent and avoid the trap. Only by observing these conditions can you count on success in the fight against rodents.

Prevention is the main way to fight

Rats prefer hidden and secluded places where they create their burrows and nests. By following simple prevention rules, you can prevent this problem from recurring in your home.

Here are some simple tips to help strengthen your position in effective rodent control:

1. Check your home for cracks and crevices and seal them.
2. Wash dishes immediately and don't let trash accumulate.
3. Cover ventilation shafts with grilles.
4. Get rid of unnecessary things, rags and old items.
5. Check wood floors for holes.
6. Limit rodents' access to food and water.

These simple and straightforward prevention measures should be applied regularly to change the course of the fight and give you an advantage in this situation.

Folk remedies will help scare away rodents

For years, people have searched for thousands of ways to control rats. Traditional methods can also help get rid of these rodents in the house.

Let's look at a few of these methods:

1. Buy a cat or dog. Cats often catch rodents, and certain breeds of dogs specialize in hunting them. You can also use cat fur and place it around the room to create a rat-repellent scent.
2. Use aromatic oils. Rodents react to bright odors. Soak cotton balls in aromatic oils of bay leaf, peppermint or eucalyptus and place them in the corners of the room.
3. Use onion or black pepper scent. Rats may be repelled by the smell of onions or black pepper.
4. Place substances that are unpleasant to rats. If you are preparing vegetables for the winter, place bunches of wormwood indoors or create small mounds of boric acid or vines. These substances cause irritation in the respiratory tract of rats and may cause them to leave your home.

Extermination of pests in apartments and houses

When you have a rodent in your home, the most common question is choosing the right trap and bait. The market offers many types of rat traps and traps, and the question often arises of how not to waste money when choosing an effective means of control.

Immediately after trying to use folk remedies to repel rodents, many people turn their attention to homemade traps that can be made from available materials. Here are a few ways to make them:

1. Bucket trap: It is necessary to secure the bucket, lubricate its walls with vegetable oil and install a special structure in the form of a swing on its edge. The bait is placed in the center of the bucket. When the rat approaches the bait, it knocks over the mechanism and falls into the bucket, from which it cannot escape.
2. Plastic bottle trap: You can catch a rat using a regular plastic bottle. To do this, cut off the neck and make sharp cuts around the inner edge. Fold these cuts inward. The bait is placed at the bottom of the trap.
3. Pot Trap: This method is not the most effective, but sometimes it works. The pot is placed upside down and a coin is placed on the edge. The bait is placed inside. When the rat approaches the bait, it hits the coin and remains trapped.
4. Glue traps: This method is not always effective as rats are quite strong for their size and can escape a glue trap. The bait is placed in the center of a pallet or sheet of cardboard, and glue is poured around it. When the rodent approaches the bait, it gets stuck in the glue and cannot move further.

What bait should I put in the trap?

Choosing the right bait is the key to your success in rodent control. There are many bait options available, and what you choose will determine whether you can catch a rodent or not.

It is recommended to put the following ingredients in the trap:

• Meat or minced meat
• Fish
• Lard, preferably smoked
• Sausage
• Sometimes insects can be used

Smell plays an important role in attracting rodents. Therefore, it is advisable to put something smoked or food with a pronounced aroma in the trap.

Remember to use gloves when handling bait to avoid transferring human scent. If the trap has a human scent, the rodent will not approach it. It is also recommended to change the bait periodically, since experienced rodents may lose interest in it over time.

Rodent control products

In modern living conditions, the most effective way to combat rodents is deratization. By contacting a specialized company, you will receive a full range of pest control services. Professional consultants are ready to answer all your questions and provide expert advice.

Modern control methods are safe for both people and their pets. You will no longer have to suffer with traps, baits and subsequent removal of rodents. An experienced team of specialists will professionally cope with all tasks!

If you decide to try to fight rodents yourself, you have several options for traps:

• Poison and poisonous baits
• Electrical traps
• Ultrasonic traps
• Rattraps and mousetraps
• Traps

When used correctly and following the instructions, all of these products can show good results in catching and killing rodents.

F.A.Q.

Why are rats dangerous to humans?

Rats not only destroy your property, devour your food supplies and leave behind unpleasant odors and excrement, but they are also the source of many viral infections. There have been cases where rodents have chewed electrical wires, thereby causing fires.

How to catch a rodent in the house?

Over the thousand-year history of human interaction with rodents, many methods have been developed for their capture and extermination. You just need to choose the one that suits you. These can be folk remedies, homemade and ready-made traps, poisons and traps. However, the most effective and safest option for you would be to seek help from specialists to carry out professional pest control.

How to catch a rat on your own?

If you still decide to get rid of rats and mice on your own, traditional methods of catching and exterminating rodents will come to your aid. You can make homemade traps and baits from readily available materials such as plastic bottles, buckets or boxes. You can also prepare poisoned food from ordinary products and household chemicals.