When the temperatures start to plummet, rats start searching for food and shelter indoors, and in most cases our homes provide the perfect habitat. Rats continue to be active throughout the whole winter, and if your home is attractive enough to a rat, they could well choose to invade your home.
Below our team at Advance Pest Control Bristol have put together a handy guide on what you can do to make your home less appealing to rats this winter.
What Attracts Rats To Your Home?
Like us, rodents are mammals, so they need to keep their body temperature warm in order to stay alive. As well as this during the winter there is less food readily available to a rat, and this is when our homes become more and more attractive.
Other factors that make your home appealing to a rat include:
- Areas providing shelter such as woodpiles, leaf piles, shrubs or debris also any pet food or faeces.
- A cluttered or untidy home, particularly if food is left out and spills not cleaned up as soon as they happen.
- Easy access to food and water
- An easy entrance into your home, could be a small crack or hole.
How To Keep Rats Away From Your Home?
To keep rats away from your home in the first place you first need to consider what rats need in order to survive. If you take away potential food or shelter, then rats are less likely to nest near your home.
Below are a few tips on what you can do to keep rats away from your home:
- Fix and leaking outdoor taps so there will no longer be a reliable water supply
- Take a good look around your home and fix and holes or cracks that are larger than ½ cm.
- Keep any branches of trees near your home trimmed back so that rats cannot use the access the upper areas of your home. It is also a good idea to trim down any ivy or other climbing plants you may have around your home.
- Regularly clean your home, particularly in the kitchen, sweep regular and keep on top of the easy to forget areas such as under the fridge, toaster, oven and bin.
- It is a good idea to store dry foods such as cereal, biscuits and pet food in metal or glass containers, and don’t leave any food out, store leftovers in the fridge or freezer and keep bread in a bread bin.
- Feed pets indoors and keep their water bowl indoors as well, this also applies for litter boxes and any faeces should be pick up from around the garden as well.
- Ensure that lids to bins are completely sealed both indoors and outdoors.
- Clear up any leaves, dead plants, shrubs and fruits that have fallen around your garden, if you compost then it is worth getting a rat proof compost bin as oppose to leaving it out in the open.
- Keep your garden clean and clear of debris.
- Store any firewood as far away from your property as possible and only store as much as you need to use.
Its not a nice thought having a rat infestation in your home but unfortunately it is incredibly common across the UK, however you do have ways to prevent this. The first thing you need to do is know what attracts rats to your property so you have a better chance of keeping them away, the second is knowing a reliable pest controller that is experienced in rat control that can eliminate any infestations you may already have and also give you pest prevention options to help prevent any future infestations.
If you have a rat infestation or would like to know what pest prevention options you have for rat control contact Advance Pest Control Bristol today – 07771503107
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