Rodents in the Attic

02.11.2006 - Here I am, on a typical rodent in the attic job. This suburban house had a fairly large rodent infestation in the attic. The rats were climbing the walls of the house and chewing their way into a wooden eave, which had a relatively flimsy screen for a vent. It was easy for the rats to detect the attic space, and to chew their way in. Rodents often seek out attics to live in for many reasons. The primary reason is for a warm, safe, dry, place in which to live. The rats can smell the air of the attic, they can detect the airflow with their whiskers, and they know that there's a cavity in which to live, so they work hard to get in. They use attics as a place to spend their time when not foraging. They also use attics as a safe place in which to create a nest to have and raise their young, as do many different species of animals. The particular rat in this photo, the Roof Rat, loves to live in attics in particular, since this rat likes to live in high places in general. I came to the house and I gave it a full inspection. I saw the chewed-out openings in the soffit, along with several vents that were never screened. It was very easy for rodents to get inside this attic. As with any rodent job, the most important part of the process was in sealing the entire structure so that no more rats could get in or out any more. At the time of sealing, a few rats are stuck inside, and for these I set about 15 rat traps throughout the attic. It's very important to set the traps in the areas the rats are most likely to travel, which is often along the edge of the attic, near the eaves. This is why you see me in the above photo crawling about near the edge of the attic. Any good wildlife removal specialist should have no problems crawling into all the little nooks and crannies where the critters live. I trapped and removed all the rats, and the rodent problem in the attic was permanently solved in less than a week.