What attracts rats to your house?
What attracts rats to your house? This is a question that may often be on your mind, after all, none of use want rats in our homes! These rodents as carriers of diseases can pose many health threats if they are in your home. But even without such a risk involved, it’s still going to be pretty petrifying to come across a rodent when your not expecting it!
What attracts rats to your house? Rats motivation
Rats like all animals have one main motivation – to carry on their genes. This is best done by producing offspring which survives. The longer they are alive the more offspring they can produce and the more they can protect them. So the rat has two objectives: find a place where it can safely breed and to get the resources essential to life (e.g. water, warmth and food).
What attracts rats to your house? Rat breeding
So where is a good place for rats to breed? Well unfortunately, that is often our houses. Our houses being designed to protect us from the elements, do as a side effect also achieve that for pests such as rats. However they are attracted to the dark far more than humans are and as such are very interested in wall cavities and lofts.
Wall cavities are a great hiding space for rats
What attracts rats to your house? Food sources
Open food sources also attracts rats. Rats being able to eat just about anything will be attracted to our disposed food, so compost bins and dustbins are unfortunately a great source of interest for rats – if they are able to get in that is! Another way rats can be attracted to your garden is by food which isn’t our waste, but rather food we are growing with the intent of eating – fruit trees and vegetables to name a few. However, home grown food will only attract rats if it’s ripe, so there is no need to worry about it if it’s still growing!
What attracts rats to your house? Factors you can’t control
Finally, rats may be induced to enter your house through no fault of your own. You might have secured all your food disposal, made sure there is no ripe food in the ground and even blocked all potential entrances into your home (such as cracked pipes). Well unfortunately for rats and humans, rat don’t have as much space to live in as they would of done thousands of years ago. Continued human expansion increasingly limits this – so rats not wanting to freeze to death are forced to try and find new places to live. Unfortunately this ends up being our homes.
If you are having trouble with rats finding their way into your home, give us a call.