As the weather cools through the fall and winter months, rats are more likely to leave their burrows to seek out alternative shelter. Unfortunately, one of the most common locations for this alternative shelter can be your house.
Homes provide a stable and dry environment that can be an ideal location for rats to raise their young. Given that rats give birth every 3-4 weeks, if they ever get into your house, they are likely to stay a while and they are likely to multiply.
The best solution to avoid this potentially exponential problem is to eliminate the possibility of rats from entering your home in the first place.
The first thing you need to know is that rats can fit through a hole the size of a quarter. And the second thing you need to know is that rats cannot chew through steel.
In order to prevent rats from entering your home, follow these simple steps:
Step #1: Walk around the perimeter of your house to identify any potential entrances at least the size of a quarter. You may need a ladder to identify any high reaching spots as rodents are actually pretty great climbers.
Step #2: Block off any potential entrances with Xcluder Steel Wool. Essentially you just need to stuff any holes you find with this material.
Step #3: Review all doors leading to the outside of your house to see if there are any gaps underneath that could be used as potential entrances to the home. You’d be surprised at how small a gap is needed in order for rodents to squeeze through, so I’d lean towards a preventative solution if you have any doubts.
Step #4: If you find any gaps in step #3, install the Xcluder Door Sweep. Essentially, this attaches to the base of your door and will fill any gaps with a material that the rodents cannot chew through.
Following the 4 steps above can be surprisingly effective with keeping rats out of your house.
I hope that this article has been helpful for you. If you have any questions/comments, please leave them below.
Thank you!!
RKD
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Rightly said as the weather cools through the fall and winter months, rats are more likely to leave their burrows to seek out alternative shelter. This post helps us in eliminating the possibility of rats entering our home.
Great article!
Hello! I;m so sorry for the delay in my response as I took a few years off of the throne. And to your comment, yes! Once it get’s cold out, the rodent need to improvise so naturally they flock towards what the humans use for shelter (i.e. our homes lol). Anyways, hope all is well and thank you for the comment! RKD