If you suspect your home has a rat infestation, it’s crucial to take action immediately. Female rats can have up to 40 offspring each year, and if a few pregnant female rats take up residence in your home, it can escalate into a full-blown infestation seemingly overnight.
Read on for more about the signs of rats in your Chicago home and the problems rats can cause in your home. Find out about the safest way to eliminate rats in your Chicago home and the natural ways to keep rats away from your Chicago home.
Signs Of Rats In Your Chicago Home
Luckily for homeowners, rats aren’t the most unsuspecting pests. Instead, they leave signs of their presence all around the areas they infest.
Here are a few signs that you have rats in your Chicago home:
- Rub marks along baseboards and the bottom of walls, caused by rats rubbing up against them, leaving behind grease and dirt residue. Rats have poor eyesight, so it’s typical for them to accidentally bump into surfaces and objects as they make their way through a home.
- Damage to household items and possessions. Rats’ teeth never stop growing throughout their lifetime, and to find relief and trim them down, they frequently chew on wood, plastic, and other materials. Commonly, rats will chew through electrical cables, posing a fire hazard.
- Rat nests in warm areas, such as in kitchens or laundry rooms, underneath appliances, in the voids between walls, and in attics. To make their nests, rats will use whatever material is available to them, including paper and cloth.
Scratching noises are caused by rats’ nails rubbing on the floor as they pitter-patter around your home.
The Problems Rats Can Cause In Your Chicago Home
There are two chief problems that rats can cause in your Chicago home: they are a threat to health and human safety, and they can cause significant damage to your home and personal possessions.
While rats may feed on foods such as greasy meats and candy, they’ll also feed on foul sources, such as rotting food in dumpsters, roadkill, and feces. When they do so, they pick up disease-causing bacteria they transport, contaminating surfaces through their saliva and waste.
In addition to causing damage to household possessions and items, both through their incessant gnawing and their nest-building behaviors, rats are also, predictably, dirty houseguests, leaving waste everywhere they go. With all the damage rats cause, it’s no surprise that their presence poses a risk to health and human safety.
The Safest Way To Eliminate Rats In Your Chicago Home
The only way to get rid of rats in your Chicago home that’s effective, safe, and quick is with professional pest control services. The pros at family-owned Aerex Pest Control have more than 70 years of experience serving Chicago homeowners and offer a pest-free guarantee.
At the first sign of rats and other pests, call Aerex Pest Control today at (847) 255-8888.
Natural Ways To Keep Rats Away From Your Chicago Home
Aside from professional pest control services, there are natural solutions that Chicago homeowners can use to prevent rats from returning. Here are three:
- Use Essential Oils: Rats detest the smell of peppermint, citronella, and eucalyptus. Mix 10 to 15 drops of one essential oil with eight ounces of water, mix it up in a spray bottle, and spray entryways as well as pantry spaces and anywhere else you suspect rats may find their way in or hide out.
- Properly Store Pantry Food: Keeping pantry food stored in airtight containers, which are preferably glass rather than plastic, can dissuade rogue rats from infesting your food source—and alerting other rats to what they’ve found.
- Keep Your Yard Clean: Overgrown brush, piles of leaves, and excessive fallen branches provide ample space for rats to hide and nest. Keeping your yard clean of debris and regularly trimming shrubbery and cutting grass can further help to dissuade these pests.