New Jersey Rat Control

Rats have plagued homes and businesses for centuries, often bringing illness along with them, such as rabies. Identifying the signs of a rat infestation and finding its source quickly are the only ways to prevent a rat problem from quickly getting worse. To protect your New Jersey home or business from rats, you need to learn about the behavior of this pest, take steps for prevention, and find effective treatment options should an infestation occur.

What Are Rats?

Rats in New Jersey are a relatively large rodent that can grow to over 11 inches in length and survive in a wide variety of environments throughout New Jersey. Rats are very well known for inhabiting cities and rural areas alike, such as all over the state of New Jersey, often bringing disease along with them, such as rabies and Seoul virus, which is a type of hantavirus. Rat pest control in New Jersey is important because these pests can spread over 35 different diseases through direct contact, droppings, and food contamination. Even in cases where rats don’t directly transmit bacteria or viruses to people, they can infect ticks, fleas, and other rodents that can make people sick. The most common types of rats in New Jersey are brown rats and black rats—both types introduced species to the region. One species, the eastern woodrat, is classified as endangered by the state government. The New Jersey pest control experts at Viking Pest explain there are four types of rats that reside in New Jersey:

1. Brown rats, also known as Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)
2. Black rats, also known as roof rats or ship rats (Rattus rattus)
3. Eastern woodrats (Neotoma floridana)
4. Marsh rice rats (Oryzomys palustris)

Anticimex SMART Rodent Control

Viking is New Jersey’s exclusive provider of SMART rodent control, an advanced pest management program that utilizes infrared monitoring and automated messaging to manage mice 24/7. SMART is a non-toxic solution to rodent problems that works at residential, commercial, and municipal levels.

How to Identify Rats in my Home or Business

Rats have fur-covered bodies and long, hairless tails that can extend to almost the same length as their bodies. As their name suggests, common brown and black rats have mostly brown and black fur, respectively, sometimes with lighter fur on their bellies. These large rodents have semi-pointed snouts and small ears that they usually keep pressed close to their heads. You’re more likely to identify a rat infestation by examining any evidence they’ve left behind, such as their droppings. Professional exterminators at Viking Pest explain unlike mice droppings, which are black and the size rice grains, rat droppings are larger and slightly curved. Because of the relatively large size of rats compared to other rodents, you can also expect to find greater concentrations of rat droppings than other rodent droppings.

When Are Rats Most Active in New Jersey?

Rats are most active 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset in New Jersey. However, you may see them scouring for food at any time of day in New Jersey. A common misconception is if you see a rat during the day, there must be a big infestation in the vicinity. In reality, rats only sleep in short bursts and search for food during the rest of their waking hours. Seeing a rat during the day in your house or place of business doesn’t say anything about the seriousness of an infestation.

How to get rid of rats doesn’t come down timing. Rats don’t have a specific breeding season. Female rats can have litters of up to 14 offspring. This is why a rat infestation in your New Jersey home or business can grow so quickly.

How to Control Rats in New Jersey

Rats like to nest in dark and enclosed spaces, so if you are noticing a few rats throughout your New Jersey home or business, this may only be the surface of the problem. Calling exterminators, like Viking Pest Control, is your best option so a pest management professional can perform a detailed inspection of your New Jersey home or business to locate rat entry points, and discover the severity of the rat population that is invading your NJ home or business. Viking Pest uses an Integrated Pest Management system that effectively gets rid of your residents. Our pest experts can also give you recommendations on how to block entry points to prevent future infestations.

Another helpful step for rat control in New Jersey is sealing up your home or business. Any small holes leading from the outside, like open chimneys, exhaust piping, and similar inviting spaces could be a potential entryway for rats. New Jersey pest control experts at Viking Pest recommend blocking off these spaces as best as possible. Be careful about leaving any type of food outside that rats could be attracted to as well. Don’t leave your trash outside in bags, rats can easily bite through. Instead, place garbage bags in closable bins. You should also eliminate standing water as this is a potential water source for the rodents.

How to Prevent Rodents During a Renovation

According to statistics, mice and other rodents invade approximately 21 million homes during the winter in the US. Besides causing extensive damage, mice can also carry a variety of diseases, including salmonella and hantavirus.

If you are renovating a home, this can open even more opportunities for rodents to get in, especially if it is left unoccupied for certain periods without rat and mice control.

To protect your home and renovating projects from mice, our mice exterminators state how to deter and eradicate them.

Clear up the Yard

During renovations, it’s easy for the yard to get cluttered. Piles of building debris and materials can mount up, as well any garbage from the remodeling/renovation process.

Unfortunately, this can create a paradise for mice. Mice love piles of wood, unraked leaves, garbage heaps, etc., explain the rodent control experts at Viking.

This gives mice cover to hide in before they make an entry into your home. To discourage this, our pest control experts recommend clearing any unnecessary heaps of building refuse. Stack materials neatly, rake up dead leaves and dispose of woodpiles.

Get Rid of Garbage and Food

Do you have any full trash cans standing about? Maybe with food containers in them? If so, you want to empty these as soon as possible.

Garbage cans can act as both a food source and a place of shelter for incoming mice.

Seal the House

If you are renovating an older house, chances are there’re some chinks and cracks here and there that mice could get through. Mice and rats and can squeeze through very small holes and crevices and find their way into your home.

To stop this from happening, and prevent mice from invading your home and its renovations, Viking’s pest management professionals recommend making it a priority to seal up your eaves, windows, doors, and vents as soon as you can in the renovation process.

Protecting Your New Jersey Home or Business From Rats With Viking Pest Control

Viking Pest offers expert treatment designed to effectively and efficiently control and prevent rats from invading your home or business in New Jersey. Our use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques focuses on finding the core of the pest concern and controlling rats from the source. Through IPM, pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, pets, and the environment. Call Viking today for your FREE and NO OBLIGATION estimate at 1-800-618-2847 or schedule online today!

Protecting Your Home or Business From Rats in New Jersey With Viking Pest Control

Viking Pest offers expert treatment designed to effectively and efficiently control and prevent pests from invading your home or business in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. Our use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques focuses on finding the core of the pest concern and controlling Rats in New Jersey from the source. Through IPM, pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, pets, and the environment. Call Viking today for your FREE and NO OBLIGATION estimate at 1-800-618-2847 or Schedule Online today!