In your kitchen, rats can cause significant damage, contaminate your food supply, and spread potentially fatal diseases. It’s true that saying aloud, “There’s a rat in my kitchen!” is never a good idea. If you discover a rat in your kitchen, there are several steps you can take to get rid of rodents.
How to determine and detect if you have rats coming from your sewer system:
Sniff the vent stack on your roof to check for any potential rodent urine odors. Find the roof vent that originates from your kitchen sink drain. You don’t need to be an expert to recognize this strong odor. If rats are present inside your kitchen wall, you can compare this vent stack to the other vents and you will notice a significant difference.
Effectiveness can also be achieved by determining and removing potential points of entry. Rats typically gain access to homes by chewing holes in the walls and floorboards as well as existing cracks and crevices. Rodents have easy access points through the holes around oven gas pipes and the plumbing beneath sinks. Be sure to examine the spaces between floorboards, as well. After identifying these holes, they should be filled with cement.
Even the smallest food particles can give scavenger rodents something to eat. All food waste should be disposed of quickly and effectively to help avoid a kitchen rat infestation. Rats can also gnaw through hard surfaces like wood and other materials. They have a history of causing damage to cabinets and pantries stocked with soft plastic or cardboard containers. In order to prevent food from spoiling, it is best to store it in glass and metal containers.
How quickly do rats reproduce?
Female rats can mate up to 500 times in just six hours, and brown rats can give birth to up to 2,000 babies in a single year – with up to 22 young in a single litter. Considering rats have a gestational period of less than a month, it’s easy to see how populations quickly get out of control.
You’ll notice more droppings and damage as the rat population increases near or inside your home.