Rats can make nests in your home, but it is not easy to destroy a rats nest. You cannot just get rid of them quickly. However, with the right tools, taking preventive steps, and getting help from rat control professionals can eventually become rat-free.
If you have a rat’s nest in your home, it means they have found what they need there. Rats come inside to find food, water, and a place to live. Unfortunately, your home provides all three. But you definitely don’t want that, as it can harm your health and property.
Still, you can’t just rush to remove all rat nests immediately – you require careful steps to make sure you are safe.
Should You Destroy a Rats Nest?
Rats, although unwelcome visitors, have been both close to us and a big problem. While you unintentionally offer them a place to stay, they bring health issues and expensive damage to your property.
Rats are natural critters, causing harm by consuming your food, wrecking your crops, and destroying important papers. They even damage things in your place, like doors, insulation, cables, and boxes, just to get to food.
If you let rats settle in your yard or home, they will make your food and air dirty. They might make you sick or even cause serious diseases like Hantavirus, typhoid fever, Salmonellosis, and food poisoning. That’s why their nests need to be removed. So, how can you get rid of a rat’s nest?
How to Destroy a Rats Nest
Do not start removing a rat’s nest right away. First, you want to make sure you have the correct tools such as hand gloves, nose mask, and disinfectant spray. Then follow these safe steps to destroy a rats nest.
1. Begin with the Basics
Start by understanding the kind of rat problem you have. You might just have a couple causing trouble, but if there is a nest, things could get worse. Rats can have lots of babies each year, so it’s serious. A pest control or wildlife expert can tell you how bad it is.
2. Remove Dead Rodents
You can use a rat trap to catch or scare away rats in your house. There are different types to choose from, like live traps, snap traps, electronic traps, and ultrasonic sound devices.
You just want to deal with the rats before taking out their nest. Put on gloves, pick up the dead rat with a plastic bag, and then dispose of it in the outdoor garbage.
3. Tidy Up the Room
Before you start cleaning, open the windows and let sunlight and fresh air in the room for about 30 minutes. Do not use a vacuum cleaner to avoid spreading dust that might have viruses from rodents.
Follow these steps to tidy up the room:
- Wear gloves on your hands (either vinyl or rubber) and a nose mask.
- Get a bowl or bucket and fill it with the amount of water you need.
- Mix 1½ cups of bleach with 1 gallon of water.
- Dip the mop into the water with bleach and use it to clean areas that might have germs.
- Look at the walls and floor for black streaks or scratches pointing towards the nest. Clean those spots well.
- You can also use vinegar to clean the areas with marks to remove the scents. These scents can attract other rodents from outside the house.
- Pour the bleach mixture over rat droppings and pee spots. Let it sit for about five minutes before cleaning.
- Use paper towels or cloths to pick up rat poop, then put it in a plastic bag.
- Throw the trash bag with the poop into the outdoor garbage can for the waste removal people to take away.
4. Remove Rat’s Nest
Before you touch the rat’s nest, put the bleach solution on it and wait five minutes to kill germs. Remember to wear your rubber or vinyl gloves. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends wearing rubber or plastic gloves.
Now you can destroy a rats nest by putting the nest in a big plastic bag and closing it tight. You might want to put that bag and nest in another bag before tying it shut.
After that, put both the bag with the nest, the rags, and the paper towels into the outdoor trash bin. For safety, it is good to clean the area more than once, even after you’ve thrown the rats away.
Do not forget to throw away the rubber gloves and the mop ends you used to clean, so you do not get germs. Also, take off the clothes you wore to clean and clean them with disinfectant. Once you are all done cleaning and putting away your tools, it’s a good idea to take a shower.
Note that if there is a rat at the time of destroying the nest, it can be aggressive, and will try to bite. I explained the various things that could happen if you go after a rat’s nest.
How to Identify a Rat Nest
Rats are clever and tend to dig around your building’s base to stay hidden. They could also dig tunnels near tall plants, bushes, or weeds close to the building. Rat tunnels do not have to be very wide, just 2 to 4 inches. Rats can squeeze through spaces less than half an inch wide.
A rat nest looks like an interlaced sphere and might be mistaken for a bird nest at first glance. However, unlike birds that primarily use leaves and twigs, rats opt for different building materials. They commonly use soft items they come across, such as torn paper, bits of cardboard, and fabric.
You can also find entrances to rat nests indoors. Just look for small holes, gaps, or spaces around the edges or corners of a building. Rat nests are often inside walls or hollow blocks of a house. Another place to find them is in the attic or ceiling. There are different types of rats you might see: roof rats, field rats, and Norway rats. Roof rats like heights, so they climb walls, wires, pipes, and ceilings. Field rats stick to farmlands, while Norway rats usually get in by digging.
Rats often choose your home as their nest because it lets them come and go without being noticed. This might be because they are looking for food or escaping the cold in winter. To enter your home, rats need both an entry point and an exit route. When you find a rat’s tunnel on your property, you’re better equipped to stop them from taking over.
Contact Your Local Pest Control to Destroy a Rats Nest
Getting rid of a rat’s nest is not just about getting rid of the rats and their home. The best way to keep rats away is to prevent and control them. You need to know how to do this. But for the most effective results, contact experts who know about pests and control.
While destroying the nest yourself and using natural methods can be okay, they might not always work perfectly. When you work with professionals, they can help you figure out why rats came and what to do about it. They will also help you control them in the long run.
Read also:Â How Do You Know if Rats Are Gone?
