Getting Rid Of Rats Without Killing Them

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There is no doubt that the most common pest animal that people will have to deal with as a home owner will be rats, as they are very common in urban and suburban areas, but sadly they are not exactly good neighbors. Rats can cause a range of different health problems for the people who live alongside them, and in many cases they can also cause damage or even steal food too. The most common methods of dealing with rats are generally lethal, with the simple spring loaded snap trap being the most common way of dealing with rats, but some people will want to use a completely humane way of getting rid of rats.



Trapping And Releasing Rats

Although this is not the easiest way to deal with a rat problem, it is technically possible to use cage traps to catch rats so that they can then be relocated to another location where they will be less of a nuisance. It will usually require a fair few of the small cage traps in order to catch and remove the rats, and these will need to be baited with a food such as crispy bacon, marshmallows or peanut butter in order to attract the rats into the trap. You will need to make sure that you are relocating the rats at least ten miles away from your property, and also that you release them well away from any other areas where they can become a problem.

Problems With Non-Lethal Methods Of Getting Rid Of Rats

The main difficulty with this approach is that it does mean you will be putting the rats into a habitat where it will not be familiar, and this will make it very difficult for the rats to survive as they will not be able to scavenge or nest in the same types of places. The process of being trapped and released can also be very traumatic for the creatures, and this can also have an impact on how humane the process of trapping and releasing the rats really is. Some experts suggest that this approach is not really much more humane than lethal trapping, as long as the rat is killed quickly and with minimal pain.

Rat Exclusion Work

Another approach that can allow you to get rid of rats without killing them is to exclude them from the property, although it is fair to say that this approach will also have a fair amount of challenges to overcome. This approach effectively means you will need to find all of the routes that the rat will have in and out of the property, and then seal the majority of them, and place a few exclusion funnels over the remaining holes. As long as you have located all of the holes, this approach will get all of the rats out, but will stop them from getting back in, but as rats can squirm through holes as small as a quarter, this can require some painstaking work.

Will Repellents Solve Your Rat Problem?

Another of the products that you will often find on the shelves of hardware stores and garden centers is rat repellent, and these will usually either be chemical based repellents or audio repellents, and both will claim to help you get rid of the rats in the property. In truth, these repellents will tend to have a minimal effect on the rats around your property, and using a repellent will really only extend the time that the rats have around your home before you start trapping or excluding the animals.
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.