Rats can become a problem in late summer and early fall, when food sources are everywhere and they start to think about looking for a warm house to shack up in for the winter.
The Province’s Nick Eagland got these tips about rat-proofing your home from Brett Johnston of the Structural Pest Management Association of B.C.:
1. If you have a garden, pick your fruit and vegetables. Don’t let them ripen on the vine — raccoons, skunks, squirrels and rats all like that stuff.
2. If you’re going to feed the birds, make sure you don’t have bird seed spilling around the area.
3. Keep your garbage cans sealed and in good repair.
4. Keep your compost bins in good repair. You can get rodent-proof bins.
5. Keep your house in good repair — a rat needs just a half-inch hole to get in. “If there’s food around, rats are tenacious.”
A few more rat facts provided by the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies:
— Rats are omnivores, feeding on seeds, cereals, nuts, fruits and vegetables, insects, fish and all manner of garbage.
— In the wild, breeding is seasonal, but when food is abundant, rats will reproduce year-round, especially during spring and fall.
— Rats can squeeze through openings no larger than 13 mm in diameter, climb up the inside and outside of pipes, jump up to a metre vertically, drop 15 cm without serious injury and can burrow down to a depth of 1.2 m.
— They can also gnaw through lead sheeting, cinder block and aluminum sheeting, as well as wood and other softer materials.
— Rats’ teeth will grow up to 12.5 cm per year, but, as with all rodents, regular gnawing keeps their teeth trim.
