In numerous videos on the Internet, rodents may seem like very cute and funny animals. But if we are talking about rats and mice, then they can make the life of almost every person unbearable. These animals destroy supplies and spread infections. Of course, for the most part they prefer to stay in barns, haystacks, barns and other outbuildings. However, it is not uncommon for rats to appear in a private house or even in a city apartment. In this case, you have to face a lot of problems in getting rid of such “neighbors”.
Of course, in this situation, everyone wants to find the most effective remedy for mice and rats. However, you need to understand that it should not harm other household members either.
Features of rat control
First of all, you need to be prepared for a very long and painful process when it comes to the simplest methods of getting rid of rats. However, even if such “neighbors” manage to survive, then in this case it will be necessary to carry out preventive measures. The house must be kept absolutely clean, and food must always be stored in areas where animals cannot enter. All dishes must be securely covered so that they do not emit odors that attract pests. Food waste and any garbage must be thrown out every day.
The most harmless ways
If we talk about methods of getting rid of rodents, then the simplest and most effective remedy for rats, of course, is to get cats. In this case, there are 2 options for the development of events. Either your four-legged friend will constantly destroy rodents, or they will smell his scent long before that and will stop visiting the house. However, even this method only helps if there are not such a large number of rodents.
Some believe that an effective remedy for rats are special traps with bait placed around the entire perimeter of the house. This method, of course, helps solve the problem, but if there are other animals or small children in the house, then there is a high risk of injury. Rat traps and other traps may also be of interest to a restless child or pet. In such situations, it is better to avoid mechanical methods of destroying or catching rodents.
There is also a chemical method for getting rid of such neighbors. To do this, just buy a rather aggressive poison in the store and scatter it in the corners. This method has both advantages and disadvantages. Let's take a closer look at this method.
Extermination of rats using chemicals
Modern poisons for rodents can be produced in the form of powder, gel, glue, various baits or solutions. However, to choose the best product, you must carefully read the instructions for use. It is also worth first clarifying in which specific room the rats need to be exterminated. Since what works in a garage or cellar is not always allowed to be used in a residential apartment. In addition, it is taken into account how many rodents do not allow you to live in peace. It is important to pay attention to the presence of children and pets in the house. Based on those requirements, we will consider the rating of the most effective rat repellents recommended by users.
Electrical traps
One of the most modern, very effective and very expensive means. For them, everything is relevant as for mechanical traps, and their only important advantage is the ability to “store” the corpses of killed rats in a special chamber, due to which such a trap can kill several individuals without checking.
Other small advantages of electric traps are their ease of installation (there is no need to charge the spring mechanism, which, when charged in this way, can “cut” your fingers) and the absence of misfires - if a rat touches the hook with its teeth on which the bait hangs, it will be killed. Moreover, the death of the rodent will come quickly and it will not suffer.
In our opinion, these advantages are not worth the price difference between an electric trap for 1500 rubles and a die for 120 rubles. Moreover, traps that “load” rats into the compartment cost even more - up to 3000-4000 rubles, and most of them need to be plugged into an outlet, which greatly limits their scope of application. That’s why we literally have several of these traps, and we rarely use them.
Case from practice
A clear example of a case where an electric trap was needed is an elite dovecote in the Krasnogorsk region, in which it was necessary to kill a rat, or several rats. Pigeons were worth their weight in gold, they were regularly transported hundreds of kilometers to release and weed out those that did not return home, and rats killed several chicks in their nests every day and even attacked adult birds, chewing off their toes. Here, in the dovecote itself, it was possible to install only mechanical traps in containers and electric traps. In the utility rooms, the disinfector installed glue traps and laid out granules with poison. However, two rats were caught in an electric trap (apparently, they rarely climbed into the back room, and they already knew the mechanical trap and avoided it).
Glue "Rodentoff"
This product has proven itself very well. The main advantage of the glue is that it is absolutely safe for humans and pets. The drug consists of synthetic rubber, mineral additives and vegetable oil. There are absolutely no toxins in it. At the same time, it is a very powerful and effective remedy for rats in the house.
The drug is sold in tubes costing up to 200 rubles. The number of required packages must be calculated based on the dimensions of the room, as well as the number of rats. The product must be applied to thick cardboard, the diameter of which is about 25 cm. About 7 cm of glue must be evenly spread on the resulting area. In this case, the fields of the cardboard must be left clean. In the middle of such a mousetrap you need to put bait in the form of cheese or any other delicacy. As soon as a mouse or rat approaches the treasured treat, it sticks to the glue with its paws and fur. After this, all that remains is to destroy the rat. And forget about her existence forever.
Powders for burrow pollination
Another original and very effective remedy is powder, which is blown under pressure from a special sprayer into a hole and settles on all its walls, on the ceiling and on the floor. A rat, running through such a pollinated area, stains its fur with powder, and then, at its leisure, licks all this fur and poisons itself.
Rat holes that can be sealed in minutes
The product works very effectively, and its reliability is higher the more powder is blown into each hole and the deeper it penetrates here. Efficiency is increased even more due to the fact that, having stained the fur in the powder, the animal then wipes the fur on the still clean walls in the deeper parts of the hole, and here other rats, including cubs, will be soiled in this powder brought by it.
Such powders are almost ideal for exterminating rats in open areas of large enterprises - they systematically fill holes, the exits of which are then blocked with foam. At home, they can only be used in the absence of pets who can find and eat a poisoned rat, all stained with poison.
ALT glue
Many call this composition the most effective remedy for rats and mice. The product has a more complex composition that is incomprehensible to the common man. However, despite the scary names (butylene and polyisobutylene), there is nothing to be afraid of. The manufacturer immediately clarifies that these substances, although they are chemical, do not pose absolutely any toxic danger. The glue also costs about 200 rubles. You need to use it in the same way as described earlier.
In their reviews of an effective rat repellent, many people draw attention to the fact that this composition really cannot harm humans. However, if there is a cat or dog at home, then unpleasant situations may arise if glue gets on the fur. Also, many people do not like the fact that after the rat sticks to the base, you need to do something with it further. Of course, no one wants to wait until the unfortunate rodent dies of dehydration on its own. In this case, you will have to take the liberty and destroy it on your own.
How to get rid of rats and mice in a private home
How to defeat a rat infestation in a private home?
The question is incredibly difficult. As experience has shown, not all means are good in this fight. Unfortunately, I had to verify this from my own experience. With the first frosts, it seemed like uninvited guests came to our house. We began to suspect this after something “boomed”, rustled and rang. After just about three weeks, the cautious noises turned into thundering madness.
While we were thinking about the humaneness of the methods and the inadmissibility of using poisons in the house, the rats began to multiply exponentially. And then we began to use all possible methods suggested to us, which we were assured would work 100 percent, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. But more about this...
From neighbor to internet
Where can I get the necessary information? The easiest way is to use smart tips from the World Wide Web. “A mousetrap is the most tested and reliable means of fighting rodents,” as it is written as a carbon copy on the Internet.
Indeed, my neighbors, using this simple device installed under the bathroom sink, caught all the mice. We had to fight a more serious enemy. Experienced fighters for sanitary cleanliness of houses note that it is much easier to defeat mice than their more intelligent relatives, rats.
They don't fall for the same trap twice. Rats are capable of thinking and analyzing: if one individual from a large family dies, an analysis is immediately carried out and the entire family will avoid this source of danger.
Mousetraps also have sizes
It turned out that these traps come in different sizes: miniature ones for catching mice and larger ones for rat “hunting”. You can find this device on the Internet for more than 2 rubles.
This happened only once. Never again, none of the rodents fell for this trap. No matter how much we ventilated and washed the mousetrap, no matter how much we placed it on the most tricky paths, the rodents masterfully avoided the dangerous obstacle and did not succumb to the alluring smell of cheese or other baits.
Crazy pens and glue
Delighted with the first result, we stated: one - zero in our favor! But the rats immediately struck back - they chewed through the cord from the refrigerator, which, moreover, was energized at that time. We immediately understood that this was revenge. There was nowhere to retreat.
Neighbor Maxim came to the rescue:
— Try making a glue trap. Place some seeds on a piece of hard cardboard and spread special glue on it. It is sold in all gardening stores. I put such a trap under the kitchen set: every night, a mouse would come across it.
But, alas, glue bait for our rodents turned out to be an overly naive method of control. Meanwhile, the husband was making another “correct” remedy, according to experienced mouse fighters. I took a 3-liter jar with a screw-on metal lid from my supplies.
I dug a hole in the center of the lid and cut about seven rays from it, which I slightly bent inward. It turned out to be a kind of mink. A lot of goodies were placed inside the jar: fried seeds, sunflower oil. They placed the jar on its side on the path in the hope that the rodents would like the house.
As the authors of this can invention guaranteed, the rodent will definitely crawl into the hole to feast on it, but will not be able to get out because the sharp teeth of the metal lid will be directed at it and will prick it. But our rodents had a different logic. Not a single rat ever used the jar trap.
This happened only once. Never again, none of the rodents fell for this trap. No matter how much we ventilated and washed the mousetrap, no matter how much we placed it on the most tricky paths, the rodents masterfully avoided the dangerous obstacle and did not succumb to the alluring smell of cheese or other baits.
Crazy pens and glue
Delighted with the first result, we stated: one - zero in our favor! But the rats immediately struck back - they chewed through the cord from the refrigerator, which, moreover, was energized at that time. We immediately understood that this was revenge. There was nowhere to retreat.
Neighbor Maxim came to the rescue:
— Try making a glue trap. Place some seeds on a piece of hard cardboard and spread special glue on it. It is sold in all gardening stores. I put such a trap under the kitchen set: every night, a mouse would come across it.
But, alas, glue bait for our rodents turned out to be an overly naive method of control. Meanwhile, the husband was making another “correct” remedy, according to experienced mouse fighters. I took a 3-liter jar with a screw-on metal lid from my supplies.
I dug a hole in the center of the lid and cut about seven rays from it, which I slightly bent inward. It turned out to be a kind of mink. A lot of goodies were placed inside the jar: fried seeds, sunflower oil. They placed the jar on its side on the path in the hope that the rodents would like the house.
As the authors of this can invention guaranteed, the rodent will definitely crawl into the hole to feast on it, but will not be able to get out because the sharp teeth of the metal lid will be directed at it and will prick it. But our rodents had a different logic. Not a single rat ever used the jar trap.
Lures
These are the next most popular effective anti-rat treatments. They are treats containing strong poison inside. As soon as the rodent treats itself to what people offer it, it dies. In this case, the bait should be colored quite brightly. This is necessary not to attract a rodent, but to always remember where exactly this product is located.
However, it is immediately worth mentioning several disadvantages of such drugs. First of all, they are made in very bright colors and bizarre shapes. This may arouse the interest of a child, who will think that these are sweet candies. Therefore, if there are children in the house, then you should not use such products.
Poisons that are used in baits, as a rule, are toxic, so if you eat it, very severe poisoning can occur. There are also baits on sale that look like tablets, granules or grains. They need to be scattered along rodent paths, also along walls, under baseboards, and so on. In addition, you need to take into account that baits of this type are prohibited from being used in residential apartments. They are intended exclusively for houses and other larger premises. Let's look at the most popular tools of this type.
Why are mice dangerous?
In general, “neighborhood” with rodents can even result in severe infections for humans - these are sources of rabies, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, parasitic diseases, hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, plague, typhoid, cholera and other infectious diseases that, if not diagnosed in time, can be fatal . In addition, mice can become a source of fleas and infect your pets.
They carry this infection on their paws, while being a reservoir, the mice themselves do not suffer from these infections. Infection is possible through contact - bites, contact with a corpse, inhalation of air and dust in a room where there is a high number of rodents - they contain particles of hair and mouse droppings, which can cause not only infection, but also allergic reactions.
There is also a high risk of contracting an infection when drinking water containing mouse feces. The alimentary route (through the mouth) can also occur when eating food that has been walked on by rodents - this is how they will bring an infection to their paws.
Quiet hour granules
This effective means of fighting rats is designed for all 4 seasons of the year. This is explained by the fact that rodents prefer completely different treats in summer, autumn, winter and spring, so the poison must be chosen depending on the weather. This product contains the poison bromadiolone. It does not immediately kill the pest, but after 4 days or even after 2 weeks.
The product is sold in the form of granules that are of interest to rodents. It must be scattered both on the plot of land and inside the house, where rats most often sneak into. As a rule, for 6 acres, only half a kilogram of the drug is enough. It is best to place such poisoned grains in small containers and place them at a distance of several meters from each other.
This is a very effective rat repellent as it can kill a large population of pests.
What smells repel mice?
Smells are one of the folk methods of fighting mice, which is also the most natural - plants can be used both fresh and dried. A few sprigs of mint or bay leaf are enough and the rodents will leave the home. A good preventative measure is plantings and mint bushes, which become a hedge for rodents.
They also dislike the odors that come from vinegar essence and ammonia - they are applied to cotton balls and placed in the suspected habitats of pests.
Briquettes “Quiet hour”
In this case, we are talking about baits that are made on a paraffin basis, so these products will not be afraid of moisture. They can be used in winter or during heavy rains. The granules do not lose their shape for a long time.
Each package contains 7 briquettes. At the same time, they differ in their taste depending on the preferences of the rats in terms of food. One package (65 grams) of an effective rat repellent is enough to kill 3 large rats. Accordingly, depending on the size of the population, it is necessary to purchase the required number of briquettes.
Lure "Ratobor"
When talking about what effective rat repellent should be used, many people mention this particular brand in their reviews. “Ratobor” is another briquettes with poison in the form of diphenacin. This poison is considered one of the most aggressive. Up to 8 briquettes of 10 grams each are placed on one substrate. Such products work well in humid conditions, so they can be used in basements and even sewers. This poison can only be used for country houses.
According to user reviews, the product helps get rid of mice and rats almost instantly. Many people note that the pests seem to evaporate and do not come to visit for a long time. However, when using such drugs, you must also be careful and monitor your pets.
Signs of rodents
It is easier to drive away rodents in the early stages, when a whole flock has not yet settled in the house.
You can tell that there are pests in your home based on the following signs:
- The appearance of strange sounds. Rodents make rustling and squeaking sounds, scratch the floor and walls with their claws, and make noise when they damage things. Rats can jump up to 0.5 m in height, which is why you may hear rumbling noises at night. At night, animals are more active.
- Presence of excrement. The droppings are round and raisin-like. It is larger than a mouse.
- Damage to property. Most often, rats gnaw grocery bags, cereal packages and bags of flour. This is how they get their food. However, rodents can also ruin cosmetics, children's toys, clothes, etc. They chew holes in baseboards, walls, doors and pipes.
- Unpleasant smell. Rats often mark territory. They can leave excrement in their homes and hard-to-reach crevices.
- The appearance of nests. Animals construct them from polyethylene, papers, torn rags and other similar materials.
Smoke bombs
Such products are effective and inexpensive. In addition, with the help of smoke bombs you can get rid of not only annoying rodents, but also fungus, mold, various insects that poison life and even ticks. However, such products should also never be used in city apartments.
The active component of these drugs is sulfur. To use a checker, you must first study the instructions for a specific product in detail. After this, you need to remove flowers, food, and animals from the premises being treated. Once ignited, the bomb begins to emit very acrid smoke. It penetrates into all the cracks and corners of the room. Thus, pests are practically smoked out of the house. During the burning of the checker, you need to carefully monitor that a pet does not enter the house or a child runs into it. After treatment, you can forget about many pests for quite a long time. But many note the difficulty of using this method, which is why smoke bombs are at the end of the list in the rating.
Source
Homemade rat traps
The simplest and most humane option is the classic rat trap made from a can and a coin. The jar is placed upside down and the bait is placed at a low height. A large coin is placed on the opposite side so that the container is raised and does not collapse on its own. When the rat tries to get the bait, it will move the jar and become trapped. It is recommended to place a lid or any hard flat surface under the neck in advance. This will help you lift the trap without releasing the rat.
Homemade trap made from a bucket and a jar.
Is this method effective?
Thanks to this method, you can catch 1-2 pests, but such rat traps are useless against large flocks. Rats are social and intelligent animals. They warn their relatives of danger by squeaking and do not fall into the same trap twice.
Why is it better to choose Hawk devices?
When purchasing Hawk repellers, you will not have to build any additional traps using step-by-step instructions. It is enough to connect the device to the network and leave it indoors. The repeller acts more humanely because it does not kill rodents, like some homemade rat traps. You don't have to take the animal outside or think about what to do with it.
Another advantage of the devices is their effectiveness against single individuals and large flocks.
Mousetraps are able to cope with a few rodents, but later the pests are no longer caught in the traps. In the case of repellers, rats cannot avoid the effects of ultrasound, so even large flocks have to leave their habitable place.
