Rats and mice are small, filthy creatures that can easily invade your home. They require shelter, stagnant water, and spillage foods for their survival.
They are notorious for spreading diseases to you and your family members such as leptospirosis, tularemia, typhus fever, salmonella, rat-bite fever, plague, etc.
Ship rat and black rat (Rattus rattus) are the most common species of rat that people encounter in Australia. Eco-friendly pest control is the best solution to rodent infestation especially if there are kids in the house.
Try these 5 effective home remedies to get rid of rats naturally but first try to identify the signs of infestation.
Common Signs of The Rodent Infestation
- Holes chewed through walls or doors
- Family, staff or customers are getting sick
- Bite marks on food packages
- Burrowed holes in your furniture
- Urine trails and droppings
- Scampering noises
- Damaged electrical cables or timber structures
- Tear or rip in your fabric material
Peppermint Oil
Rats have a hypersensitive sense of smell. We, humans, generally find the fragrance of peppermint oil as pleasant and refreshing while it’s quite offensive for rats and mice. All you need is a few cotton ball dipped in peppermint oil.
Directions:
Add 10-29 drops of peppermint oil to each cotton ball and place it near their hiding spots in the house. Keep replacing it often or add a few drops to the cotton balls when you feel the smell is diminishing off.
The peppermint oil eliminates the rats as soon as they sense it which immediately affects their lungs and eventually kills the rats off. If peppermint essential oil is not easily available near your local grocery store, you can go for peppermint leaves or minty toothpaste.
Ammonia
The super cleaning agent, Ammonia is also an excellent repelling agent for the rodents. Just add 20-30ml of ammonia in 100-200ml of water to prepare the mixture.
Directions:
Mix ammonia and water in a bowl and keep the bowl near the locations where rats and mice are frequently found. Ammonia has a very pungent smell that rats do not like. It also mimics the odour of other animal urine such as cat and fox that are known to keep rats away.
You can choose alternative things if you don’t want to leave a bowl of ammonia.
- Soak cotton balls with the mixture and place them in key areas
- Soak a cloth in ammonia and place it in a can
- Put the mixture in a spray bottle and regularly spray around the rat affected areas
Black Pepper Powder
Pepper produces a very sharp and pungent smell. This smell is very offensive to the rats and mice. As soon as the rats breathe the aroma of black pepper, it affects their lungs, and they are dead. It acts as an excellent repellent against them.
Directions:
Sprinkle a small amount of black pepper nearby the hiding places of rats.
Steel Wool
Steel wool is the most humane way to get rid of rodent Infestation. Try patching the holes and access points in the house with steel wool. This strong material is very difficult to bite for mice and drats. The steel wool acts as a protective barrier and prevents the rats from chewing it.
Directions:
Patch the steel wool on all access points of the rats including any small holes.
The rat’s incisors never stop growing and they must gnaw or chew on things regularly to wear their teeth down. The steel wool is a very strong material and the rat gets irritated by chewing on hard steel wool.
Bayleaf
Bay leaf has a sweet-smelling odour that usually attracts the rats. When they try to feed upon the bay leaves, they end up choking themselves. It also possesses trivial metabolites properties that are toxic for the rat and mice.
Directions:
Put some bay leaves in the tiny holes or squeeze the juice out of them and sprinkle it around the corners of your house.
Conclusion
You can also use onions, owls feather, mothballs, etc to get rid of rats and mice naturally. However, if you don’t want to go through all the hassle yourself hire the professional rat control experts in Sydney to discuss your problem.