Let’s face it; every home is a potential place for rat infestation. There is always a possibility that your house may be at risk for mice or rodents infestation.
This then leads to the question, what causes rats to come into your house? The failure to tackle these initial causes might lead you to look for ways to get rid of rats in your home when it goes out of hands.
The causes
One of the causes of rats to come into your house is as a result of poor sanitation. One thing you should note is that these rodents are always in search of food, which means that leaving packs of food will cause them to come to your home – which is also a good shelter for them, by the way.
Now, the reason you should take this post seriously is that once you see one rat in your house, just understand you are in for a big ride if not appropriately handled. Also, your family’s health will be at risk because there are chances of getting sick from mouse droppings.
Now that we are clear on the need for not having rats around in your home, you should also know what attracts rats to your house. Carry on reading to find out more.
7 Things that Attracts Rats to your House
So here are the top ten things that are responsible for sending rats into your house. Fortunately, they can easily be remedied, and rats will leave your home immediately.
Littered food packs/droplets around your kitchen
Rats aren’t selective when it comes to the choice of food. Meat, biscuit droplets, milk, veggies, and crayfish dust – they all love eating just anything. Once you have all these littered around your kitchen or maybe in your dustbin, which you didn’t cover adequately, rats will eventually visit you.
Let’s say you have unsecured food lying around your house like a bag of birdseed, grass seed, or food meant for your pets – rats around the neighborhood will eventually sniff it out.
If you live around a place with a weak drainage system
If you have a leaking pipe of dirty water around the neighborhood, then be ready to accommodate a few rats in your house. The reason being that rats need a daily source of water and a moist place to hide.
Now your house becomes the next destination when it is time to search for food. Nothing personal, but the rat needs to eat in other to survive. Where else would be an excellent food reservoir than a house with food packs lying unsecured.
Weak/leaking indoor piping system
On their own, they can’t figure out a way inside the house except you’ve created a channel for them through the pipe that connects to your home. Inside drainage or pipes is one of the best places rats hide in homes.
As they say, a busy rat is a thirsty rat, and they need a daily supply of water, and if they can’t find enough water outside, they will visit sources inside.
Rats will see watering pipes and stay around for natural hydration. These are some of the things that cause rats to come into your house.
Shelter – No personal feeling
One of the critical things that attract rats to your house is shelter. During the cold winter season, they need a warm place that can act as a potential nest for their young. Your home attracts mice because it is warm as compared to the outdoors. The warmth makes it a perfect place for the survival of their young.
Mice can fit into tiny spaces; any space in your ceiling, plumbing lines, sewer lines, pr even gas lines will leave your home vulnerable to rodents invasion alongside the diseases associated with rats.
Rats are also capable of chewing past weak barriers that aren’t concrete walls, so the best way would prevent them from entering via various techniques. Since they are capable of breaking through the wood, old houses with wooden interiors may be a perfect den for our rodent friends.
Giving them Easy Access
Rats are considered unwanted guests because they don’t ring a bell before entering your apartment. As long as you stay around areas with rats and you have cracks around your home larger than half-inch, a rat can easily find its way into your house.
Since they can climb walls with ease, they can find their way to your attic then finally to your kitchen. Vents, roof soffits are other natural ways for rats to visit you – just when you least expected them.
Your dustbin filled with compost or pet waste
If you have a dustbin outside your home, then that should be a hallelujah attraction site for rodents of all types. Now the reason is simple; rats are attracted to all kinds of food alongside digested food also.
So if your dustbin is filled with a pile of compost or your yard/apartment is littered with pet waste, then you are directly sending the right invitation to rats. This is one of the major things that causes rats to come into your house.
Poor Sanitation
Generally, rats love scattered places or let’s places filled with dirt. If your environment is scattered, there is an enormous chance of rat infestation. Typically, these rodents are attracted by the smell of food or water, and having all these around your environment would possibly attract them.
Once they are around your environment, they can easily find their way into your apartment. In the case inside of your home is dirty, the house then becomes a breeding ground for mice.
How to Stop Attracting Rats in your House
Now we’ve known what causes rats to come in your house, let’s then consider what you need to do to stop attracting rats into your home.
Clean up your environment
Once your environment is clean, rats won’t have any business coming around. Remember that rats need two things to remain active in any environment – food and shelter. You can also use bleach as a repelling agent, till you figure out what next to do.
Arrange your kitchen
If you have food dumps littering around your kitchen, then you should sort it out immediately. Rats need food and shelter, and if your house provides accommodation and doesn’t provide food, they will naturally leave your home even without you killing them.
Repair your drainage pipes
So if you have leaking drainage pipes laying around your yard or neighborhood, then it would be wise to call professionals to fix it.
Water attracts rat to your home, so fixing or blocking a leaking water pipe would help you in eradicating rodents around your house.
Conclusion
To conclude this post, I will say that sanitation is a significant factor when it comes to what attracts rat to every home. Once the inside of your home is clean and odor-free, rats won’t find it a good breeding ground. They will leave naturally, even without external force.
