A female rat can produce 84 rat pups every year, and if you’re cold, they’re cold! To ensure you don’t bring them in, here’s the hot tips for a cool, rodent-free winter.
Feeling a little grossed out by your new housemates? Even the cleanest homes can incur unwanted fur-tenants because rats are masters of infestation! If there’s one thing rats hate it’s the chill of winter, which is why they snuggle up indoors to ride out the chilly weather when it comes. Unfortunately, for homeowners that often means finding sanctuary in your place. They love a nice cosy ceiling to raise their 84 kids, to curl up in the warmth behind an appliance and they cannot wait to have a little browse through your pantry, or snack on a handy electrical cable.
Brisbane’s Warmth Won’t Save You
Brisbane pest control is like any other. It’s humid, hot and close to water. It’s got all the dumpster treats of an urban environment and all the space to thrive of our big backyards. It’s the perfect place for a rodent to raise a family, or 12.
- Brisbane’s warm weather helps rats and mice to breed prolifically
- Brisbane’s winters are short and sharp. Not harsh enough to reduce a rat population, but just cold enough to drive them indoors.
- When it rains, it pours. Brisbane’s recent wet winters have compounded the problem.
- Their natural food sources (and favourite crops like fruits, vegetables and sugar cane) are scarce in winter – so they come looking for your food sources.
- North Brisbane’s urban sprawl is forcing rats and mice out of their current habitat, and driving them straight into yours.
- Your neighbours may be taking measures to avoid rat infestations, which means they’re setting their beady little eyes on your home.
- Brisbane’s urban shopping centres bring a buffet of dumpsters treats – if you live near a shops, schools, bars, restaurants or even factories, they’d better use a premium commercial pest control service or you might find you’re taking in their strays!
Don’t be Part of a Brisbane Rat Infestation!
- Start with a home inspection – possible points of entry include slight holes or gaps around the foundation, cracks in the garage, and loose roof tiles. Rats can squeeze into tight spaces, so it’s better to be safe than sorry when taking preventative action. MASTERS. OF. INFESTATION. So, deal with gaps and cracks around piping, sheds, and the foundation. Ensuring drains have covers can also help to prevent access.
- Prevent rat infestation in your roof cavity. It only takes a tiny gap in your roofing to invite in a rat infestation. If you hear scratching in your roof, you may need to call out a roofer or an experienced Brisbane pest controller.
- Do some garden care and landscaping. Overgrown plant life, debris, wood, and compost piles are ideal nesting spots. Make sure you keep your garden areas clear. Replace broken bins, ensure lids are in good condition and secure, and clean them regularly.
- Do that dump run. You know how comfy that old pillowtop innerspring mattress once was? The one you’ve been meaning to take to the dump? Well, rats love a nice soft mattress too. They love boxes of old stuff (they’re not too picky about what to eat or sleep in), and they simply adore all those old kids’ items you keep meaning to donate. Nobody likes doing a dump run, but you know what’s worse? Doing a dump run and encountering rats in the load!
- Get some plastic storage containers. All those insta pantry makeovers you’ve been scrolling, it’s your time to shine! You should always store food in secure containers and sweep away food debris at the end of each night. Avoid storing any type of food item on the floor. Rats may only eat 50 grams of food a day each (so a few cooking scraps on the floor is a buffet for them), but a fifty-gram rat bite is enough to put you off the whole lot!
- Deploy preventative baits. These inobtrusive little boxes are pet, kid and wildlife safe – but irresistible to rats. Once the furry little blighter has had a munch on the bait, they can take it back to the nest to share with their friends and family. The best thing about preventative rat baits is, that they make the rat take himself off for a drink. So you don’t have them dying in their nests, in your roof, where they’ll stink. Preventative rat baits are incredibly effective and… cost-effective.
- Destroy the whole rat infestation. The problem is, if your neighbour is providing a wonderful, junk-ridden habitat for rats, you may see re-infestations. Don’t stress, we’ll sort it, but banding together, getting the whole street on board, to go scorched earth on the little blighters will seriously reduce the impact of repeat rat infestation. Talk to us about a “neighbourhood deal”. Come spring, you want your neighbourhood to be a lonely town for a rat looking for a new home.
Deploy Pest Control Experts
Preventing a rat infestation is the cheapest and easiest (and least gross) way to deal with the problem. If it’s too late, if you’re already hearing the little scratches through the walls, already seeing some suspiciously rat-like poop about, and you can smell a rat like a Tarantino character, you must act fast. Do. Not. Ignore. One. Rat. One rat becomes 84 in no time. Get on top of rodent infestations at the very first signs this winter.
Not sure? Here are all the signs you need some rat pest control stat.
There are plenty of ways to avoid a typical Brisbane rat infestation, but once they’re in, getting rid of them can be a tricky process. As tempting as it may be to DIY it, the truth of the matter is rats multiply quickly, and the quicker you get a handle on the problem, the better off you’ll be. And they’re crafty little buggers. So crafty. Rats are happy to gnaw on whatever they can, which is bad news for your home as they can create heavy damage, and with so many of them, destruction occurs quickly. Damage. Disease. Ickiness. A rat infestation has it all. And it takes a pro to put it down fast and stop it from happening again.