Rats can carry disease and parasites into your home. Let us know immediately if you see signs of rats. Signs include: Droppings, scratching sounds inside walls or on roofs, holes at foundation base, nests (commonly in lofts, attics, and under eaves), and footprints.
Common Rats in PA
Roof Rat
Norway (Brown) Rat
How Rats Can Get Into Your Home
Food, water, and shelter draw rodents into your home. A rat can fit into a hole about the size of a quarter. Look closely at your walls, ceilings, floors, and around pipes and wires on the inside of the house for holes and other points of entry.
Rat and rodent infestation is more common when temperatures begin to drop.
Why Rats Are a Problem
Home Damage: Rats often chew on drywall, food containers, baseboards, metal, and wiring inside walls.
Bacteria & Diseases: Rats are known carriers of harmful microorganisms and bacteria. They bring bacteria and disease from trash cans, dumpsters, dead animals, and other unsanitary locations.
Parasites: Rats are known to carry parasites including: lice, ticks, and fleas.
How To Keep Rats Out
- Look outside the house, especially around pipes and wires and near the foundation base. Plug any outdoor holes (if possible) with rodent-proof materials, such as copper mesh, hardware cloth, or silicone sealant.
- If possible, seal off/plug outdoor holes with rodent-proof materials (copper mesh, hardware cloth, and silicone sealant).
- Install door sweeps! Rats and mice can enter under doorways if there is enough space.
How We Treat for Rats
Pest control for rats is included in our general pest extermination service, which includes a complete inside and outside treatment, backed by our pest-free guarantee.
Rat FAQs
- How did I get Norway rats?
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Norway rats will gnaw away parts of the home to enlarge a potential entryway and often burrow their way inside by digging. Older buildings with poor construction and maintenance are at a higher risk for rodent problems.
- How serious are Norway rats?
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Norway rats can be carriers of various diseases that can transfer to humans through rat urine and feces.
These rodents often severely damage building interiors by:
- Chewing on wiring or belongings
- Contaminating food
- Damaging foundations with their burrows
- I’ve only seen one rat – do you think there are more?
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Norway rats reach sexual maturity in 2 to 5 months and can breed any month of the year. Females can have 3 to 12 litters per year. Litters can number from 4 to 22. Adults generally live up to 1 year in the wild.
- Where do rats normally nest?
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Norway rats tend to remain in hiding during the day. You probably won’t see them unless they are driven out of their hiding spaces because of limited space or disturbances.
These pests thrive in a variety of human habitats. While it is believed that they originally lived only within temperate forest regions, they are extremely adaptive and now thrive comfortably, even in more populated areas.
These rats live in communities with dominant and subordinate members, though they are not truly social like ants. They make their colony as close to a water source as possible. They typically nest in underground burrows from which they enter buildings in search of food.