Clayton Mallet is a Skedaddle technician recently called to get rid of rats infesting a property in Castor Centre, a rural community in Guelph. The landlord of the property attempted some renovations following the departure of a tenant. However, the landlord soon discovered signs of rat infestation, including droppings, staining, and chewing. Further investigation revealed that the rats had done extensive damage to the baseboards, drywall, and electrical wires.

The landlord called Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control in Guelph. Upon responding to the call, Mallet discovered signs of infestation on the top floor, the main floor, and inside the basements. The Skedaddle team placed exclusion products on the home to prevent rats from getting inside and performed weekly check-ups to ensure that the rat removal was succeeding. It took a month to remove all the rats from the interior of the home. Rats were also present around the home’s exterior, and their numbers had reduced significantly after four months of intervention and monitoring by Skedaddle technicians.

A number of factors contributed to the rodent infestation.

Location

Guelph includes a number of smaller communities, both urban and suburban. Castor Centre is a more rural community where the properties are built in fairly close proximity to farmland. Rats and other rodents frequently live in farmers’ fields where food is plentiful. Proximity to farmland makes it more likely that rats will eventually make their way into nearby homes. This is especially true in the winter; rats don’t hibernate, so they need to seek shelter from the cold. Human houses not only provide warmth and protection from the weather but often provide easy access to food as well. This is also important for rats in the wintertime as food becomes more scarce.

That isn’t to say that rats are only a problem in rural and suburban communities. Rats are very adaptable and can thrive in some of Guelph’s more densely populated areas. More people means more shelter, more access to food, and often more hiding places to avoid detection.

Neglect

While the location of the property increased the probability of a rat infestation, neglect of the property made it more attractive to rats. For example, the home was surrounded by grass that had been uncut for some time. The tall grass provided cover to the rats, allowing them to enter the property undetected. Cutting the grass exposed the pathways that the rats were using to get in and out of the home, allowing the technicians to see them running inside. Mallet then explained to the homeowner that keeping the grass cut and removing other attractants from the property could prevent future infestations.

Time

A rat infestation is always a serious problem, but the longer it is allowed to continue unchecked, the worse it gets. In this case, Clayton Mallet said, “By the time we had arrived, the landlord had been left with a severe rat problem. The damage was extreme and was made worse by the amount of time the infestation was left unchecked.”

Rats reproduce very quickly. A single female rat can give birth to six litters consisting of up to 12 pups per year. Furthermore, young rats are ready to reproduce at the age of approximately one to 1-1/2 months. Given the amount of time that this infestation was left unchecked, it is probable that many of the rodents present on the property were born inside the building.

Rats aren’t picky about their bathroom habits and may eliminate anywhere and everywhere. Not only is this disgusting, but it can also be potentially dangerous as rats can spread diseases to humans through their excrement. An unchecked rat infestation can mean widespread droppings for which professional cleanup is necessary. Attempting to clean up rat droppings yourself without taking the necessary precautions could expose you to illness.

There is one unique characteristic that all rodents have in common: Front teeth that continue growing throughout their entire lifetime. Rodents need to constantly gnaw on things to keep their teeth filed down to a manageable length. Rats often end up chewing on wiring, which can cause malfunctions in the electrical system at best and house fires at worst. The more rats in your house, the more damage they can do.

For these reasons, it is so important to call for professional wildlife control in Guelph as soon as possible after identifying signs of intrusion by rats or any other wildlife. Learn more about all the services Skedaddle offers in your area.