A rat infestation in your house can be quite disastrous, whether it is about the costs of repairs or the diseases that they spread. It is simple for homeowners to become a target for rat invaders unknowingly. Prevention is the key to save yourself and your house from a dangerous and expensive rat infestation. Faster you recognize the problem, more effectively and quickly you will be able to solve it. Hence, it will pay you to know some of the vital warning signs of rat infestation for rat control Melbourne.
Live Rats
While many signs can indicate a rat infestation, finding a live rat in the house assures that there is one or even more. Rats are mostly active at night. If you find one during the day time, it means that there are many of them and you have a lot of mess to clean up. Finding a live rat in your house means that it is time to hire a certified and licensed pest control Melbourne expert as quickly as possible.
Rat Droppings
Fresh rat droppings are moist and dark. When the droppings age, they become gray and old. Mostly, droppings can be found in cupboards or drawers, near food packages, in hidden areas, along the rat runways, and under sinks. You will find most dropping near the feeding or nesting areas of rats. So, ensure to inspect the regions around the new droppings to find if an active rat infestation is there.
Odor
Another telltale sign of a rat infestation in a house is a musky, pungent smell throughout the house. When rats invade a house, you can find considerable mess of urine and droppings around the nesting site. Moreover, when a rat is near its death, it hides in corners to die all alone, leaving its corpse smell. Due to these aspects, the houses that have rat infestation have a musky, pungent, and heavy stench.
Gnaw Marks
Other than droppings, new gnaw marks are lighter in their color and turn darker with age. They can be frequently found on the house structure or food packaging. A good method to determine the age is by comparing the gnaw marks you recently noticed with those you found earlier. If the recently found marks look lighter, then it can be a continuous infestation. Large gnaw marks indicate the presence of rats with large teeth.
Scratching Noises
If you hear scratching noises in the night, it can be an indication of rats in your house. You may hear the rats scurrying along under the floors, burrowing behind joists and walls, or scurrying around your kitchen cabinets. They can be heard making squeaking sounds as well.
Nests
Rats use materials like shredded paper, dried plants materials, or fabrics to build their nests. If you find an area with such things along with other signs of their presence, it is possible that you have a rat infestation at present.
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