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A property manager's guide to pest control

How To Get Rid of Rats - The Complete Rat Pest Control Guide

As a property manager that specializes in fraternity house management, I have constant battles with rats due to the poor standards of cleanliness often found amoung fraternity houses. Getting rid of rats is difficult but certainly possible. In this guide I will show you how to get rid of rats in your own home step by step.

The first step is to seal up all possible rodent entry points. Rats can fit through holes you wouldn't expect them to squeeze through. When health inspectors walk around a building they use a pencil to determine if it is possible for mice to get in. Obviously rats wouldn't be able to fit through holes mice are able to fit through but you don't want mice either so the pencil test works great. The test is very simple, if a pencil can fit through a hole then you have a possible rodent entry point.

Where To Check For Rat Entry Points
  • Foundation vents
  • Under exterior doors
  • Attic vents
  • Entrace of a crawl space under your home (if you have one)
  • Anywhere electrical conduit, plumbing, or wires enter your home
Aside from these common problem areas, a general inspection of all exterior walls for holes is also important. To get rid of rats you need to keep them from getting in to prevent future problems when they are gone.

Fixing Rodent Entry Points

The most common entry points are foundation vents, attic vents, and doors. These are also the easiest to fix. Foundation vents and attic vents can be fixed by simply stapling in new vent screen material. If there is a gap at the bottom of a door you can get a door sweep for less than $10 at a local home improvement store to solve the problem. A door sweep can be cut to size with tin snips and simply screwed on to the bottom of the door.

If there are holes around pipes, wires, or just holes in general you will need to patch them up with the correct material. If the holes or gaps are less than 1/4" you can simply use caulking to fill them. Make sure you touch-up the paint if you do use caulking because it will crack and peel in the rain if not painted.

If the holes are in wood you have a couple options. You can either replace the piece of wood that is damaged or patch it. If you do patch wood it is important to use material that is meant for exterior use. The best product to patch wood with is automotive bondo. You can get it at an auto parts store or a home improvement store. It is best applied with a cheap plastic patching knife because you will have to throw the patching tool away when you are done with it. Plastic knives are less than $1. Once the bondo sets up you can sand it smooth. Again, be sure to touch-up the paint after the wood is patched.

Holes in stucco will need to be patched with stucco. This is best left to a professional unless of course you have experience in stucco work and texture matching.

We will address holes on the inside of your home later. This is simply because if we seal up all exterior and interior access holes the rats will die in the walls and start to stink. The goal is to catch them minimizing the stink effect.

Rat Pest Control

Once all entry points are sealed it is time to deal with the rats themselves. There are numerous products for rodent control. For a complete list and explanation of each checkout rat poison, traps, repellent, and bait. One thing you must know when learning how to get rid of rats is that all these products work but none will work 100% of the time so it is common to use more than one method of treatment.

For general home use the regular rat snap traps and glue traps should work fine. Placement of the traps is important. If you know where rats are entering your home concentrate on that area first. Place a few glue traps around any access holes. Also place some snap traps on the edges of affected rooms around your home. Keep in mind that rats will normally run along the walls of a room. Because of this when you setup snap traps or lay out glue traps make sure they are touching the walls and the bait is facing the wall. Glue traps along the walls don't necessarily need to be baited because rats will run over them as they wonder around.

Tip: Rats love peanut butter. You can bait both glue traps and snap traps with peanut butter.

Almost all rats will be caught at night when you are asleep. Rats normally hide out during the day and come out during the night in search of food. When you get up in the morning check all traps and dispose of dead rats. Continue laying out more glue traps and resetting snap traps until the rat problem is under control.

Patching Interior Holes

When you are no longer catching rats it is time to seal up any holes in walls that they may have been using. Here are a few places to look:
  • Under sink cabinets (especially where water lines and drain lines pass through the wall)
  • Where toilet supply lines come out of the wall
  • All kitchen cabinets
  • Along all baseboards and corners of your house


Here is a simple youtube video showing how to patch a small hole in your wall



You can patch holes in painted wood with drywall compound as well. As long as you use it on the inside of your home it will last. If you have holes in stained wood or natural wood such as the inside of cabinets it is best to screw in a piece of wood over the hole for an easy fix.

Once all exterior holes are sealed, the rats are eliminated, and interior holes are sealed your rat problem should be taken care of permanently. This concludes our guide on how to get rid of rats.