Rats have been sharing living spaces with humans for centuries. Equipped with skills and abilities given to them by Mother Nature, they have mastered the art of survival. One of those abilities is the way they use their teeth. Undeniably, rat teeth have been causing problems for homeowners around the world. In Milwaukee, these problems often lead to a need for expert animal control services.

Rats are masters of the chewing skill whose gnawing power exceeds that of others in the animal kingdom. They have teeth designed to gnaw into pretty much any material. Of course softer material will give way sooner than more durable ones. Over time, those teeth can get them inside your building.

How Rats Use Their Teeth to Damage Your Building

While rats aren’t exactly wrecking balls, they can cause significant damage to your home. If a rat chews at the same location persistently, over time, the material will give way and a hole will begin to form. Things will move even faster if multiple rats work on the same spot. Before long you can have an army of rats living inside your walls.  When this happens, you’ll hear them scurrying around inside the walls, especially at night.

The Power of Rat Teeth

In addition to seeking entry to the building rats will chew on your walls for teeth maintenance. Where teeth maintenance is concerned, the rats try to keep their perpetually growing in check. Failure to do this could result in the teeth growing so long (since they grow up to 1.4 mm daily) that the rat is unable to chew, resulting in starvation. So they use whatever solid surface or material they can find to grind the teeth back down to size.

Their jaws are pretty powerful too, especially when you consider their small size. The force of their bite in relation to size outweighs that of sharks and alligators. Can you imagine how powerful their bite would be if they had the size of those larger animals? Scary to consider isn’t it?

So can rats chew through your walls? If your walls are made of wood, definitely. They will also make short work of, sheetrock, plaster, plastic, and drywall.  If your walls are made of concrete, rats will be challenged but it is not impossible for them to chew through, especially if the wall is already weakened.

What You Can Do to Prevent Rat-made Breaches in Your Home

Since rats can create their own access points by chewing through walls, Milwaukee homeowners must be vigilant against rodent intrusion. This means frequent detailed inspections that will allow you to detect the first signs of attempted entry.  If you spot any signs that make you think that rats may be gnawing on parts of your building, it’s time to get expert help. Surfaces that are being gnawed by rats will start to show small chewed spots. Try not to overlook this as those tiny nibble marks quickly grow into holes large enough to admit a little rodent.

Expert Help for Rat Issues

Expert wildlife technicians like those at Skedaddle are able to detect the first signs of rats chewing into walls. Catching the situation early means that you can restore the wall’s strength and implement some deterrent strategies to persuade the rats to go elsewhere. If rats have already made their way inside, Skedaddle stands ready to help remove them. Our expert wildlife technicians will also remove the contaminated material within the infested area, thereby reducing the likelihood of transmission of rat related illnesses. With Skedaddle’s Milwaukee animal control services, your rat concerns will be effectively and efficiently resolved.