Tell-tale sign of a rat invasion in your home is easy to spot in your garden
Rats are pretty much always unwelcome visitors to your garden or home and sometimes even the most seemingly harmless practices can attract them, like composting or feeding the birds.
Thankfully, there are signs you can look out for that will indicate these pests have arrived and allow you to take the next steps to remove them from your property before they start doing real damage. From damaging insulation to destroying electrical wiring, rats can have a costly impact on your home, so knowing the signs they're building a nest nearby is of the utmost importance. One indication in particular might not be what you expect, but shows they are living closeby: empty snail shells.
This is because they eat invertebrates like snails but can't eat the shell, so if you come across a "pile of snail shells" is likely the rodents have taken up residence in your home according to the Royal Horticultural society. The RHS also say that other signifiers of the presence of rats can be openings to their tunnels - usually about 3-4cm wide - and two parallel grooves where they have bitten into something to eat. Equally, droppings are something to look out for: the brown pellets will be about 5mm wide and 15mm long.
Rats are actually really clever, which is in part why they can do so much damage - they nest and will chew anything that could be handy for them during the building process, according to the experts at Pest Control Berkshire. They will shed loft installation, cardboard and paper and can cause "significant damage to your interior furniture, and the structure of your home."
Equally, rats need to gnaw, they do it "incessantly" according to Garden Health, which means that they'll even chew their way through walls or floorboards, to keep their incisors short - which can grow up to a whopping five inches annually. But of course, rats aren't just a problem because of the damage they can do to your property - they also carry harmful diseases that can infect humans through cuts or grazes, or through ingestion. "Rats often carry a bacteria that can infect people," says the Royal Horticultural Society, "causing a form of jaundice known as leptospirosis or Weil's (pronounced 'Viles') disease. The bacterium is spread in rats' urine and can persist in wet places."
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To miminise the possibility of the rodents making a nest in your home there are some steps you can take, like immediately removing your bird feeder, as it's a convenient source of food for rats - and they definitely don't differentiate for them that it isn't meant for their enjoyment.
Equally if you have a food compost bin make sure it is properly sealed and minimise clutter so there are less hiding places for the rats. Finally, Huffington Post reports that the RSPCA recommends using “plant repellents, such as wood hyacinth, allium, and daffodils, [which] are known to help keep rodents at bay" and keeping your lawns and bushes cut back until the rat problem is sorted out. If none of these work, get in touch with your local council for pest control services.
Have you ever had rats in your home? Let us know in the comments below.
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