What Do Rats Eat? Find Out What Attracts Them in Your Home
Rats live in the ground and feed on plants, but rats can also choose trees or buildings as their living spaces.
They will eat what is available to them like fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and plant roots such as potatoes or carrots. Rats consume what they find wherever they happen to live because food is scarce for them in their natural environment.
What Do Rats Eat in Your Home and in the Wild?
Rats are omnivores, which means they eat both meat and plant material. Rats typically live in the wild where their diet consists of any food source available to them at any given time- seeds from a bird feeder or whatever they can find below the ground such as nuts and other vegetables.
What Attracts Rats?
The more rats eat what they find available to them in their natural habitat, the more likely it is for them to come back where food sources are plentiful- your home.
If you have pets both indoors and outdoors, leftover pet food will attract both rats and mice. Unkept trash bins and human food containers with leftover food can also attract these pests in your home.
If you have a bird feeder outside of your window and do not clean up regularly, chances are nearby rodents will target these seeds or nuts left behind as their food and even attract other rats to your home.
Rats living in trees will typically eat whatever is available to them at the time, but also what they can find on or near their tree.
What Do They Eat as They Grow?
Rats grow quickly and what they eat will depend on what is available around them. As a baby rat grows, it will consume what its mother is consuming- usually milk from nursing or what she brings back for her young in the nest such as meat, insects, or fallen fruit.
As you can see, there are varied reasons why rats are infesting your home. But the main reason why they are in your home is that rats find food sources. As they continuously get food from your home, they will eventually build their nest inside your home and start an infestation in no time.
How to Prevent Rats from Coming into Your Home?
If food sources are the ones attracting rats in your home, then you have to keep those food sources inaccessible.
The following are things that you should do:
Allowing for no food or water left behind overnight.
Cleaning up after yourself when it comes to pet food dishes and bird feeders outside of windows.
Storing all produce in plastic bins with lids on top.
Keeping tree limbs away from your roof is a good way to prevent any rat species like Norway rats, roof rats, and any wild rats from getting in your home.
Always remember that rats are not picky eaters and would try out new foods and just about anything that are near their living areas.
What Should You Do If Rats Are Already in Your Home?
If these rodents have invaded your home, do not panic. There are things that can do about it so long as the situation is not too dire.
Blocking Off Entry Points
The first thing you should do is blocking off entry points. Rats need a way into your home and if they cannot get in then these pests will eventually be nonexistent at all.
You can use whatever materials are available to seal any holes with steel wool, mortar, or cement for example. Seal any openings bigger than a quarter of an inch as this is what rats need to gain easy access your home.
Clean and Clear Your Countertops
Once you have sealed the entry points, the next thing you need to do is clean up and remove anything on countertops or anything that could attract rodents.
However, rat poisoning is not highly recommended and can be extremely dangerous for children, pets, or any other living creatures in your home. So, it is best not to use poisons of any kind when dealing with rats.
Trapping and Removal
The last thing you can do is trapping and removing. If you start noticing rats in your home, then chances are that is all there will be- one or two at the most. But if you see them in dozens, this means they have successfully bred which can create a much bigger rat problem.
There are safer trapping products that will help you manage the infestation in your home. You can also choose to use homemade traps, with using peanut butter as the bait. To make homemade traps more effective, place them strategically where you see these pests sneaking.
When to Call for Pest Control Professionals
If the rat infestation or invasion has already occurred and no longer controllable, you can call for the services of pest control professionals to trap and get rid of rats.
Rat-Proof Your Home Now!
If you notice that rats have invaded your home, it is time to take action before the infestation becomes an even bigger one. You must act immediately as soon as you suspect the presence of rats in your home or property. We recommend that you use the products below in trapping rats effectively: