As the winter ends and spring brings warmer weather, rats will begin to surface from their winter shelter. They’ll become most active during the summer when they’ll try to get inside homes and gardens, drawn by the smells of built-up organic matter. If you haven’t been cleaning your landscape regularly, you could be looking at a potential rat infestation in the middle of the summer. Why do rats break into homes during the summer, and is there anything you can do to stop them?
A large amount of droppings could spell full infestation.Summer is the Peak Season for Rats
Rats become most active during the summer since this is the time food and water sources are most available. Rats mate and reproduce throughout the year, but summer is the time for them to occupy new areas and settle for longer periods of time. If you have rats on your property, you might hear them making noises in your attic, inside walls, or basement. During summer storms, rats often get driven away from holes and cavities they were hiding in, forcing them to find a new shelter. This is when they’ll turn to human homes, occupying basements first, then spreading to walls and eventually attics. Some of the signs that there are rats present in your home include:
Hearing crackling noises, biting, and scratching – Rats will make these noises while they’re moving across your home, mainly attic and walls. These sounds could also be a sign that the rats are damaging your home, as they are biting and contaminating the structure of building materials and the insulation in your home.
The presence of feces – If you’ve been discovering piles of feces in dark and hidden areas of your home, there are good chances that the rats are to blame. If you discover any type of animal feces in your home, the situation is severe enough to get expert help. From that point on, consider your family to be at risk from disease and infections.
Rats breed in warm, dry places such as an attic.Traces of biting and scratch marks – If you notice small scratch marks on your furniture and floors, you have a good reason to suspect rats in your home. If you come across these marks in your kitchen and other areas where you store food, an urgent inspection is due to assess whether or not your food supplies have been contaminated and if they are safe to consume.
Skedaddle Has a Humane Solution for Your Summer Rat Problem
If you’ve been noticing any of these signs in your home the safest thing to do would be to get the help of a professional wildlife control company. If you try to remove rats on your own, you could easily end up with dead rats stuck in your walls and thousands of dollars worth of damage. Skedaddle will give you an exact assessment of the severity of the infestation, after which they’ll remove the rats using humane methods. Since the areas rats occupy most often get contaminated, we will perform disinfection and other adjustments to prevent the rats from coming back.