Facts:
- 1 female can produce a litter of 8-12 multiple times per year or max. 84 pups per year
- A typical healthy NYC rat lives 1 year. (They can live up to 3 years in a lab environment)
- Norway Rats weight 1 lb. fully grown. They are not as big as cats. They puff when stressed and look bigger than they are
- Rat teeth grow 2mm per day.
- Their teeth can gnaw through anything softer than steel – concrete, aluminum and lead are not impermeable to rats.
- 2% of the lives are spent gnawing
- Dense vegetation attracts them where burrowing and activity can be hidden
- Younger, less dominant rats often forage by day, Older dominant rats by night.
- 8.4 lbs. of food waste are enough to feed 19 rats per week.
What Rats Want: The New Yorker’s Dream
- Food & Water – proximity to source, high calorie, carbs, fat, and animal feces preferred; attracted by food odors
- Housing– 1 three-hole burrow (front and back door and escape hatch) can house 12 rats
- Shelter for family – secure burrow, may be 18 inches below ground surface in a yard, in a tunnel
- Short Commute – they like all services and needs met nearby; they have poor sight, prefer moving around in a familiar area, navigating with scent trails
What Can Be Done
- Clear all fence-line and wall areas of low growing vegetation
- Use tight fitting sealed garbage cans.
- Keep food waste away
- Harass burrows repeatedly – break them up with a hoe and compact them again and again.
- Seal holes and cracks in the pavement
- Clean any areas with food, grease residue with 10 to 1 water to bleach or ammonia solution including sidewalks where garbage may leak and rodent scent trails (sebum and feces) could use disruption
- Keep storage at least one foot off the ground.
- Use a professional, licensed extermination service*, working with neighboring buildings if possible and monitor them. Once the problem is under control you should be able to go down to baiting traps once per month. Make sure traps are baited. Do not leave out empty unbaited traps as the rats will use them for housing.
*Keep on top of them and watch their work to be sure it is executed properly
Things Not to Do and Things That Will Not Work
- Foam does not work. The rodents can gnaw through it.
- Do not use loose bait unless placed by a professional; needs to be funneled into the burrow.
- Never use tracking powder until an EPA licensed applicator deploys it.
- Ultrasonic devices do not seem to work and are hard to maintain since the human ear cannot hear them.
- Dry-ice application should be done by a professional and will take repeated applications.
- Do not use rocks or bricks to block a hole, it just encourages digging. It will just be brushed with the rodent’s guard hairs on its head and encourage more burrowing.
- Mint bags and mint do not seem to work.
- No deterring scent has been proven to work yet
- DON’T REPORT RODENT PROBLEM MORE THAN ONCE IN 30 DAYS. MULTIPLE REQUESTS WILL JUST BE TREATED AS DUPLICATES. IT WILL NOT SPEED RESPONSE
SUPPLIES TO LOOK INTO:
Xcluder 162743 Rodent Control Fill Fabric – Rolls of Steel Wool Blend to Protect Home from Rats and Mice
Steel wool rolls as filler for holes. Must be applied with heavy gloves and glasses.