Rats Leave Their Droppings (Feces) In the Attic

Rats have high metabolisms. They eat a lot, and thus they poop a lot. They eat around 15-25 grams of food per day, and leave between 25-50 droppings per day, or so I've read. When I catch a live rat in a cage trap, it appears to leave about that amount. Thus, when you've got rats in the attic, they can leave a lot of droppings up there. They also urinate. This not only creates a bad odor, it attracts new rats to the area. Once you've had rats in your home, they won't just go away - new rats will always detect the smell and enter the attic. I'm not an expert on zoonotic diseases, but I've read that the droppings can transmit several possible diseases to humans, such as salmonellosis or bacterial food poisoning, leptospirosis, trichinosis, melioidosid, brucellosis, and a whole lot of other diseases that I don't know much about. I do know that I always wear protective gloves and a hepa filter mask when dealing with rat droppings.

The above photo is typical for an attic that has a rat infestation. Most of the attic was like this - thousands upon thousands of droppings. After I trap and remove all of the rats and seal shut all of the possible entry points leading into the attic, thus ensuring that the problem is permanently taken care of, I clean the rat waste. I vacuum up all the droppings that I can, and use a special enzyme-based biohazard cleaner to disintegrate and decontaminate the rat poop and urine. If the contamination is really bad, the situation may call for complete insulation removal and replacement.