If you need help solving a rat problem in your town, click my
2013 list of rat killers.
POISON: Bad bad bad idea. Not all the rats will eat it. Not all the rats that eat it will die. Some have become resistant. Some will become resistant. It won't solve the problem. But worst of all, the rats, which live in your attic or walls, will die in your attic or walls, and the smell will be absolutely horrible. Some of the people who use poison tell this lie: "The poison makes the rats thirsty and they go outside to drink, and then swell up and die there". This is not even close to the truth, has absolutely no basis in reality, and you'll never see such a claim in print on any form of rat poison. They'll die wherever they happen to be when they hemorrhage from internal bleeding after they've suffered for a while. And that means that they'll likely die where they live, in your attic. I do dead rat removals almost every day, because of lazy homeowners and pest control companies that set out poison, and then can't or won't find and remove the stinking dead rats. Sometimes new rats will come into the house to eat the dead rats, but most of the time, they just rot and stink to high heavens. Don't use poison.
SNAP TRAPS: This is the best way to do it. Once you've sealed up the house, set many snap traps on the runways the rats use in the attic. They can't get out of the house, they're desperate for food, and they're easy to trap. Then you can remove the dead rats with the traps, and they're gone for good. There's also glue traps, but I do not recommend them. They don't work terribly well (I've seen so many cases in which they escape the glue traps set by ignorant pest control companies) and when they do work, they are very inhumane. At least a snap trap kills the rat instantly, as opposed to poison or glue traps. And what about live cage traps? I've done that many times, and it works, but it's harder to catch them with cage traps, and oftentimes there's many rats, and it's not always feasible to set dozens of cage traps in an attic. Plus, if they're dead, less chance that they work hard to chew their way back in. And really, who wants to relocate a disease-spreading rat that's acclimated toward living in a house?
Okay, this endeth the lesson. Don't use poison to kill rats, use snap traps.
I operate a professional rodent control company, specializing in the extermination and complete control of
rats in the house and especially, the most common problem that we deal with, rats in the attic. If you hear noises coming from the attic, or hear
rats in the ceiling, it's important to address the matter right away. The problem will only get worse if you leave it untreated with time. You may want to know merely how to kill rats, but it's important to know that it's not just about
rats extermination, but rather rat prevention. Yes, the rats must be removed via rat trapping, but they must be sealed out of the building entirely for the job to be complete with full success rate. We deal with all rodents, including mice. If you have a mouse problem, such as
mice in the attic, and need to
get rid of mice, we can provide that service as well. We are experts at
Orlando mouse control, where the same
rat trapping and exclusion principles apply.
For more rat control and trapping information, go back to the
Florida rat control page.
We also provide rat extermination services in these areas:
Boca Raton Exterminator and
Fort Lauderdale Exterminator and
Palm Beach Exterminator for expert rodent control in southeast Florida.
