There are many ways to eliminate rats in your house once you’ve had an infestation. Common methods to do so are setting up traps and using poison. But after catching a few of these pests, you might have not eliminated all of them yet.
So how do you know when all the rats in your house are gone? Some appropriate measures to know whether all the rats are gone is to conduct DIY confirmation tests for rat infestation. These include leaving crackers, powder or flour, and peppermint oil around your house to see if they are left untouched. Afterward, you may check for any remaining signs of these rodents on your property.
DIY Confirmation Tests for Rat Infestation
After attempting to eliminate rats in your house, you would want to do some confirmation tests to know if there are still a few remaining in your property. Since you have probably tried to eliminate the pests using different methods, it is important to take an extra step to know whether they are completely gone from your home.
Using household items is a cheap and easy way to help check if there are still rodents inside your home. Here are some do-it-yourself confirmation tests for rat infestation using household items.
1. Leaving Crackers
Leaving crackers around your house is a great way to confirm if there are still rats. These rodents can live on an ounce of food per day and are known to eat almost any kind of food that they find. Since they consistently look for food, this method could indicate whether or not there are still rats remaining in your place.
To do this, you would simply want to leave some crackers around your house. After doing so, check if the crackers have moved or if there are any bite marks on them. If there are, it might be a sign that you haven’t eliminated all the rats.
2. Sprinkling Powder or Flour
Another confirmation test is sprinkling powder or flour around the floor or areas where you might suspect rats move around. As rodents are known to scurry around your house to look for food and water, powder or flour can help you detect whether any tiny footsteps have been around the area.
Sprinkle some powder or flour around your house, and check whether there are tiny footprints on it. Since rats have small feet, they will likely leave some footprints when they step on talc or flour.
3. Using Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil can also be a great indicator of whether there are still rats inside your house. Simply put some peppermint oil on a cotton ball and place it on possible entry points of your house.
Rats are sensitive to strong scents like peppermint, so they would tend to avoid any areas where these cotton balls have been placed. Afterward, you should check for any marks on the cotton ball to know if a rat has come in contact with it.
Additionally, this method can also be a good way to keep the rats away for a while. These rodents have a strong sense of smell so they will tend to avoid items with strong scents. This goes for other items like citronella oil and castor oil as well.
Remaining Signs of Rats in Your Place
Lastly, it is best to check for any remaining signs of rats in your place. After doing confirmation tests, checking these will help you determine if you have eliminated all the rats in your place.
Before doing these confirmation tests, it is important that you also learn and identify the different places that these rodents enter and seek shelter to make tracking them easier and more efficient. This includes any pipes or vents that they will want to hide in. Here are some signs to look out for:
1. Smell and Sounds of Rats
A musky odor can indicate that there are still rats present inside your property because these pests tend to leave urine and droppings behind. These rodents urinate in many places to “mark” their territory. Over time, the urine and droppings that rats leave behind break down and start to smell like ammonia because it contains nitrogen-rich urea.
Constant sounds of squeaking, scratching, and scurrying can also mean that rats are still present in your house. You may hear these sounds in the walls or in the attic because these places provide a dark area for rats to nest.
It is also important to remember that rats are nocturnal creatures, so they are mostly active at night. This means that you should pay attention to these sounds more during the night time.
If you see any rats during the day, it could mean that their nest has been disturbed or they are hunting for food. It can also mean that there is a bigger infestation inside your home.
2. Signs of Gnawing
Gnaw marks are important signs to look out for when checking for rat infestation. Rats tend to chew on food packaging, electrical wires, paper, and cardboard. These rodents are known to travel by chewing through almost any type of material to travel and to obtain food and water.
They also create entry holes by chewing through pipes, walls, and floors.
Rats also have to constantly gnaw on something because this is their means of survival in the wild. These rodents have incisors and powerful jaws that enable them to acquire food and nesting materials. They also have to chew on things all the time because it helps wear their teeth down.
3. Grease Marks
Grease marks around the house can be a sign of an active rat infestation. Since rodents scurry around to look for food, they follow a usual trail to help guide them around. Because of this, they tend to leave around grease marks caused by their oily fur. Unexplained grease marks around your house might mean that you have not eliminated all the rats.
4. Unusual Pet Behavior
Unusual pet behavior may indicate that there are still remaining signs of rats in your place. If you own a pet, you may want to pay attention to the way they act. For example, a dog may start barking out of nowhere or tend to be more alert. They may also paw at places where rats can be found, like under the fridge or stove.
Rodent Control at Positive Pest Management
If you want to effectively eliminate all the rats from your home, you may want to consider professional services instead. Here at Positive Pest Management, we offer professional rodent control services in the New York City area and Nassau County Long Island.
We have a team of professional staff that will take care of your rodent infestation. Our team is eager to help you and will quickly handle any bug and pest problems that you may have.
Positive Pest Management promises quality extermination work that will suit your needs. We get to know our customers first to create customized pest control solutions. Feel free to contact us whenever you need professional help.
Read more: Does Ammonia Keep Rats Away?
