Professional Rat Control in Gloucester and Cheltenham
(Rattus norvegicus)
Gloucester and Cheltenham Pest Control
About The UK's Most Common Rat Species
Rats are a common pest that will often invade people’s homes and businesses in search of food and a warm place to nest over the colder months of the year. The two main species of rat found in the UK that are a concern are the black rat (Rattus ratus) and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). The black rat is usually confined to ports, whereas the brown rats usually prefer living and burrowing in the ground. Like many rodents, rats have incisor teeth that continuously grow, which means that rats have to continuously gnaw, otherwise their teeth will grow too long, leaving them unable to feed.
Despite being sewer-dwelling, disease-ridden rodents, rats are actually incredibly intelligent and are known to evade traps, instinctively knowing their dangers. Rats also suffer from what is known as neophobia, where they fear new objects. A rat will often scurry along walls and beneath items in order to avoid detection and predation. Rats are also incredibly good swimmers who can tread water for three days and hold their breath for up to three minutes.
People have been known to find rats in their toilets, where the rat has gained access to the sewer system and climbed up through the waste pipe. Fortunately, they are unable to climb out of a toilet, unless it is dry, as their hooked, clawed feet are unable to grip the toilet’s wet and slippery, smooth porcelain surface.
Prevention of Rat Infestations
Rats are extemely able climbers, and can easily scale vertical walls in order to get onto the roofs of properties where they will probe for an ingress point. Rat will exploit any weakness in a building’s structure. If there is a gap big enough, a rat will squeeze through it to gain entry into the property. If the hole is not big enough, the rat will often chew a bigger ingress point.
Rats will often gain access into a building through the drainage system where there is defective pipework. Rats will then often get between the wall cavity, where they will make their way up into the property’s loft space. There they will use the loft’s insulation to build a nest. When a rat infestation has been identified, rat control should be put into place sooner than later. Preventing an infestation will mean thoroughly inspecting your property for holes and gaps that may allow a rodent access.
Rodent-borne Diseases
Rats live in filthy conditions and carry and transmit deadly pathogenic micro-organisms including Salmonella and rodent-borne diseases such as Leptospirosis (Weil’s disease).
Finding Evidence of Rats
Finding evidence of a rat infestation in a property’s loft space is not hard. Rats will leave their droppings around the affected area. A rat’s droppings are similar to a squirrel‘s in size, although pointier at the ends. A rat infestation also has a distinctive, repugnant, unmistakable smell. When dealing with a rat infestation, it is important to call in the professionals who have the knowledge and equipment to safely carry out humane rat control, and will effectively deal with the issue.
A good pest controller will be able to identify where and how the rats are gaining access to a property. It can sometimes take a lot of detective work, with it being a process of elimination. Semi-detached and terraced properties can even have the rats accessing a neighbouring property in order to gain an ingress point into theirs. Some infestations have been known to go on for literally years, where the property owner has not hired a professional who is trained and experienced in this field of investigative work.
Although professional pest control technicians will do everything in their power to find the root cause of how the rats are able to gain access to a property, if the ingress point is suspected of being in the drainage, they may call in a drain inspection specialist who will use a specialised drain inspection camera that has an adjustable camera lens that can move up to 180 degrees, which can help them detect faults that other drain inspection cameras can sometimes miss. But these cameras can cost in excess of £20,000 each, making them financially unviable for pest control technicians to purchase.
Humane Rat Control
Although it can be tempting to simply put rodenticide down, resistance to anticoagulants is on the increase. There is also the risk of the rat dying within the cavity of a wall or beneath the floor. This presents the risk of the foul stench of a rotting carcass and a blow fly infestation. Lethal trapping is the preferred option. But success can depend on what other food sources are available to the rats. If the rats are accessing the property through the drainage system, rats will have an abundance of food. Similarly, if the property is located near a fast food outlet, there will be a food source for the rats to scavenge from.
If you requiring rat of other rodent control, you can find the FAQs here. For more information on rat prevention, you can visit the BPCA’s website.
If you are in need of rat control, contact PestEx Professional Pest Control today.
FAQs About PestEx's Rat Control
PestEx provide humane rat control services in Gloucester, Cheltenham and the surrounding areas. If you would like to know more on what our treatment involves, please visit our ‘Frequently Asked Questions‘ page for more information.