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Like any other mammal that nests in the attic of a
building, the rat will have offspring there. The
similarities between the reproductive behavior of
this nuisance rodent and other pest species that
nest or roost in our attics kind of end at that.
Like no other mammal that invades our structures,
the rat will reproduce at a disturbing rate, one
single female rat being able to produce up to 10
litters of babies per year. One single litter can
consist of up to 14 baby rats, but litters of 7 to
8 individuals are more common.
Rats are extremely cautious, and mother rats will
not only be mindful of their surroundings, but
also about the safety of their babies. The nest
will probably be set in the insulation of the
house, and it will be round, very small, and
coated with plant debris. In other words, the nest
of baby rats will be very difficult to find.
Learn what wildlife rehabilitators do with rodents.
When talking about other mammals that give birth
and nurse their young in attics, I always place a
big accent on finding the nest, and safely
removing the babies. When it comes to baby rats,
however, I’ve learned that going through the
trouble of finding the babies is not only an
impossible mission most of the time, but it’s also
wasted time and energy even if you are able to
locate them. I use lethal snap traps to eliminate
adult rats from an attic, and babies have no
chance of surviving without their mothers even if
I manage to save them. And I don’t mean to come
across as insensitive, I do appreciate rats as I
appreciate all our biodiversity – but not really,
though. They’re still rats even if they are
intelligent and capable of feelings, so at the
risk of sounding insensitive, I do value the life
of a baby squirrel or a baby bat more than I value
the lives of a hundred baby rats. In addition,
unlike baby raccoons, for example, that are bigger
and will produce a dreadful strong smell if their
bodies start to rot, baby rats are tiny and thin,
and won’t produce such a sickening odor. Also,
assuming rat removal has been done correctly and
professionally, decontaminating the attic will
also take care of the litter issue.
In conclusion, I don’t deliberately look for a
nest of babies when I perform rat removal, and I
don’t recommend that you do either. As explained
above, there’s no much sense in doing so. For more
information, you may want to click on one of these
guides that I wrote:
How much
does rat removal cost? - get the lowdown on
prices.
How
to get rid of rats - my main rat removal
info guide.
Example
rat trapping photographs - get
do-it-yourself ideas.
Rat
job blog - learn from great examples of rat
jobs I've done.