How Do You Get Rid of Rats From a Kenton Property?

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Step 1: Cut the Food Supply

Rats are where the food is. In a Kenton house that is usually the garden, and it is free to fix.

• Take the bird feeder down. The most common cause we find, by a distance
• Stop putting food waste in the compost — no cooked food, no meat, no dairy
• Bring pet food indoors and store it in sealed containers, not the original bag
• Do not leave a dog bowl out overnight
• Sweep up windfall fruit from an apple or pear tree
• Secure the bins — lids closed, bags not left beside them
• Chicken feed — the single richest food source a garden can offer a rat

Step 2: Find the Way In

A rat needs a gap of about 25mm — roughly the size of a fifty-pence piece.

• Airbricks — damaged, or missing entirely
• Where a kitchen extension meets the original house, especially at ground level
• Around the soil pipe and waste pipe penetrations
• Gaps under an external door or a poorly fitted threshold
• The gulley and inspection chamber — a defective drain is a classic route
• Under decking, and the point where decking meets the house wall
• Cable and meter box entries
• The loft, if activity is overhead — via a cavity or an eaves gap

Step 3: Treatment

Professional treatment covers the property properly, is placed where the activity actually is, and continues across follow-up visits until it stops. Tell us about pets and children — it changes placement, not price.

Step 4: Proofing

Small-hole proofing in suitable materials, up to an hour. This is the step that stops it recurring, and we keep it separately priced so you can see it rather than having it bundled invisibly into a treatment fee.

Read nextRat Control or Rat Proofing in Kenton – Which Do You Need? →

What Does Not Work

• Shop-bought poison in a house with pets. Placed loosely it is a genuine risk to a dog or cat, and secondary poisoning is real
• Ultrasonic repellers. No credible evidence. Rats habituate to almost anything
• Peppermint oil. Popular online, ineffective against an established problem
• Snap traps alone in a garden with a food supply — you remove some and the supply replaces them
• Treating inside while the garden feeds them. The expensive version of doing nothing
• Blocking one hole and assuming that was the only one

A Word About Glue Traps

Glue traps are restricted in England and their use by the general public is prohibited. Beyond the law, they are indiscriminate and inhumane — they catch pets, birds and hedgehogs, and an animal caught on one is not killed by it.

We do not use them, and we would advise strongly against anyone else doing so.

If You Have Pets

• Tell us at the enquiry. It changes the plan, not the price
• Stations are tamper-resistant; void and loft placement is used wherever possible
• Where the risk cannot be managed, trapping is used instead
• Keep pets out of a treated area until we say otherwise
• If a pet does reach something, ring your vet and tell us — we will tell them exactly what was used
• Cats catching a poisoned rat is the risk people underestimate. It is part of why placement matters

Health and Hygiene

• Rats contaminate surfaces and stored food
• Leptospirosis is a genuine, if uncommon, risk — wear gloves and wash hands after any contact
• Discard any food that may have been reached
• Clean affected surfaces with a household disinfectant
• Do not sweep or vacuum dry droppings — dampen first to avoid raising dust
• Keep children away from an affected area until it is cleaned

Related Questions

How do I know if it is rats or mice?

Droppings settle it. Rat droppings are 12–18mm and tapered; mouse droppings are 3–6mm, about the size of a grain of rice.

Will they leave on their own?

Not while there is food and shelter.

How long does it take?

Typically two to three weeks, longer if there is a drainage or garden source.