Rat Exterminators… How costly are they?

Any rodent infestation is damaging for the house, especially if you are dealing with rats and mice.

They carry a lot of diseases which are harmful to you, your family and your pets. At the initial stage, you might not wish to opt for professional help and try to handle the situation all by yourself. Well, it solely depends on the seriousness of the infestation.

This page gives you an idea about the ideal time to call an exterminator, certain features to opt when you choose an exterminator and other important queries about pest exterminators.

Go through the article to know more about rat exterminators cost

Is it Necessary to Call Rat Infestation Control Companies?

When you see rats running around your kitchen and other rooms, it may not be just a single rodent accidentally entered your house. High chances prevail that there is a significant rat infestation in your home. You can approach the problem single handily or take help from a professional pest control company. The decision is yours but we suggest that you look for professional help.

Why Should you Take Professional Help?

Rats and mice prefer hiding rather than roaming around endlessly. When you see one rat scurrying across you, bear in mind that they have already made an infestation in your house and they are increasing in numbers day by day. They have populated so much that the hiding place is not enough from them to fit in and they are looking for newer places and that is why you have come across one of them.

Rats Spread Diseases:

Rats and other rodents carry many bacteria that affect human life. Few of them are:

Hantavirus: White-footed mice, cotton rats, and rice rats carry this virus which develops to a life-threatening disease that till date does not have any cure, vaccine or treatment.

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV): The common house mouse is the carrier of this disease which causes nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle aches and loss of appetite followed by meningitis, encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis.

Plague: A very old disease which has been prevailing from the ‘Middle Ages’ and rats have been carrying it since then. Plagues may be of different kinds, Bubonic, Septicemic, Pneumonic, to name a few which are caused by a common bacteria Yersinia pestis. The diseases affect the immune system, the cardiac system and the respiratory systems of the victims.

Salmonella: Rodents carry this bacterium in their digestive tracks and any physical contact with the rodent digestive waste or consumption of infected food touched by the rodents may lead to this disease, leading to vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.

Rat bite fever: When a rat has an infection and it bites or scratches you, you might have diseases which cause vomiting, skin rash, headache, and muscle pain.

Tularemia: It is threatening infection caused by bacterium Francisella tularenis which causes a high fever. This disease is transferred to humans by common insects like ticks or deer flies.

Rats are a Threat to your Household:

Rats have goofy teeth and with the help of them, they almost chew and nibble anything which comes on their way. Whether Norway rats or roof rats, rats, in general, are a threat to your house as they dig holes to go to the source of food and come back again to the nests.

Rats Reproduce in Large Numbers:

Female rats can give birth to 5 to 7 young ones at one time and these young rats mature in 1 month. Females among them again give birth to more young ones and the population increases in no time. Do you still wish to handle the infestation by yourself or want to look for professional help?

When a Rat Exterminator is Actually Needed?

You are now very well aware that rats are harmful to your house as they damage your house; create mess here and there in your house, carry infectious diseases and are an utter nuisance for your eyes too. They reproduce so frequently that their population, in no time becomes an army of pests ready to attack your household. Now it is high time, you will have to decide what to do and how to tackle this problem?

Can you do it Yourself:

Live traps for the rats and glue boards can help you initially. You can place them in suspected areas where you think they exist. Suspected areas could be inner walls, attics, empty crawl spaces, and the laundry rooms or even around the oven.

But you have to keep in mind that these creepy pests hide and make their own dens away from exposed areas. You must put some traps in front of inner walls and rat holes also. Keep in mind that catching some rats by trapping them and eradicating a whole infestation is totally different.

You know about their continual reproduction also. There may be huge numbers of them hiding and waiting for the right moment to infest. DIY traps don’t work so well as the professional traps do while capturing rats.

When Should you be Really Bothered?

A serious rodent infestation can be really harmful to your house. You should always take precautionary measures before the problem becomes untactful. You will come across certain signs which indicate that you have a rodent infestation in your house.

Rodent droppings:

Don’t overlook the number of rodent droppings. The droppings scatter around the path in which they travel to search for food. 20 to 40 droppings per day per rats are common for a normal rat. These nubble-shaped black or brown droppings are 10 mm in size.

The noise:

Listen carefully to identify the different kinds of noise rodents produce and you will recognize the typicality of the sound as for example, scratching (When rodents are climbing, crawling or digging), gnawing (When the mice and rats are chewing something), scurrying (When rodents move from one place to the other), squeaking (When they communicate with each other). Keep in mind rats also produce ultrasonic-sounds which are incapable of human hearings.

Damages in electrical wiring and upholsteries:

Rats don’t bite on to things just for the cause of biting them. Their incisors continuously grow and they must purposefully carry on chewing or gnawing something to erode their teeth.

It is because; if the constantly increasing size of the incisors fails to wane they, will keep on growing to make the rats impossible to close their mouths. So, rats keep carrying on gnawing. This causes damages in electrical wires and other things in the home, upholsteries being the major ones.

These signs are enough to look for professional help by calling a pest control company.

Are Rat Exterminators Costly?

Rodent removal services depend on several factors like the boundary of the home, seriousness of the infiltration and the volume of destruction already done to your property. Considering these issues an average rat extermination service ranges from $100 to $500. The price may rise if the property infested by rodents is wide extended, the time frame of the infestation and the level of damage done to the property.

Ranging between $100 to $300:

Infestation in these cases is more on the simpler side. A maximum visit an exterminator would do is 2 times. During the 1st visit, he or she will inspect the infestation and set traps accordingly. At the 2nd visit, which may occur after a few days he or she will get rid of the traps having rodents inside them.

Ranging between $400 to $500:

This range caters to properties where the infestation is more serious having a relatively smaller plot or having a larger plot with an infestation at an early stage. The rat exterminator will visit your property for 3 to 4 times.

For smaller plots, he or she will set serious traps and visit again and again to see the result. For larger plots, it will take 2 to 3 days to place traps at various locations of the property and finally, he or she will come to clear the rats and lock the points from where the infestation initially occurred.

$1000 and more:

This price range is for serious rodent infestation. Properties with large attics and basements which are seriously damaged by rats for a long time include in this category. A complex rodent control methodology is needed for these properties and an expert exterminator is recommended.

It will take some time to recce the property by the expert and then apply traps and rodenticides according to the seriousness of the infestation. The process may be repeated over for some time. The expert exterminator’s job does not end until he or she conducts multiple clearing techniques and prescribes sustainable maintenance and preventive guide.

What Should you Explain to the Rat Exterminator?

When you realize that you have a rat infestation at your house you should call an exterminator. But before calling him or her you should do a little bit of homework for yourself. Note down the locations, the timeline, and the clues from where you came to a conclusion of infestation and other necessary factors before calling an exterminator.

The expert who is coming to your house is not aware of the above-mentioned points about your house. He or she will have to search his or her own findings and discover the problem.

If you can supply the necessary details to the exterminator, his or her work reduces and the exterminating process gets started easily, saving time. These are the following things you should determine beforehand and give the particulars to the exterminator:

Locating the places of infestation:

Before the exterminator comes to your house you can do a DIY inspection to find out the locations where rats might exist. They like dark, shady areas and do not wander around aimlessly. They go out of their nests to find food and come back.

The probable infested areas in your home may include inner walls, the attic, the basement and the kitchen (where they get ample food supply). Rats infest in the garage, garden, small tool sheds in the garden outside your house too. The DIY inspection helps the exterminator to work more efficiently. Laying traps at the probable areas makes his or her work simpler.

Timeline of the infestation:

If you have carefully noted from what date and time the various signs of infestation you have witnessed, it could be advantageous for the exterminator. We know that rodents reproduce very fast and in no time their population increases. The earlier you notice the signs of infestation and call the exterminator, the problem gets solved easily.

Carefully spot if you observe:

• Natural tunnels digging inside the soil of your garden.
• Holes in your ceiling and walls.
• Biting marks on electrical wire cords.
• Unusual excessive rodent droppings inside and outside the house.

If you have a rodent infestation at the house, they can hide in places where you just can’t even imagine.

Check this video to learn more:

Sniffing them out:

Rats are dirty and obnoxious animals. They carry various disease germs with them and leave a pungent smell after visiting any area. They live in dark, moist and marshy places and that is why they have this musty and moldy smell on them. Rat urine smells like any animal urine as it is composed of urea and water.

Urea is composed of nitrogen and ammonia which after breaking down produce strong pungent smells. Some rat urine could be very harmful if the rat is carrying any particular disease. Rat feces also produce nasty smells. If you sense these unpleasant odors at different parts of your house, your house is rat-infested.

The different mischievous sounds:

Rats like the dark and that is why they prefer the night time more than the day time. If you hear scratching and squeaking sounds from the walls of your room, they are there, up to something and are communicating with each other. Little footsteps at the attic are the commonest sounds you hear if your attic has rats.

The gnawing sound you hear is because they are either eating something or cutting the electrical wires inside the house. You will notice that these sounds you tend to hear mainly at night time. If the amplitude of the sound increase, that means the level of infestation is increasing and we know about how fast the rats reproduce.

Their favorite place is your kitchen:

Rats eat anything and everything. They jump on leftover foods, freshly packed foods, fruits and likewise. Their sharp incisors help them to tear any packaging over any food substance.

In the morning time if you see your kitchen is messed up, food particles scattered all over, well the rodents had a great feast the night before. They destroy food even when they are not hungry as a need to trim their incisors. Otherwise, the retched teeth will keep on growing inside their mouths.

Features to Opt When you Choose an Exterminator

While getting rid of the rodent infestation at your house it is quite a normal fact that at first, you will try many DIY techniques. If the infestation is minimal and at a primary stage DIY techniques can work efficiently. But if the problem increases you must look for professional pest exterminators. But before doing so you must consider certain facts, which are:

The credentials of the professional pest exterminator:

The professional pest exterminator should have proper documents to back up his or her capabilities to do the job efficiently. Accurate authorizations, certificates, work experience, and license are suitable documents.

If you approach a pest control company who refers pest exterminators to solve your problems, ask the company to send accurate license and certificates with the exterminators for your concern. Remember to check everything with BBB (Better Business Bureau) which finds and recommends different businesses to users.

Check this video to know more:

Testimonials and references:

Most of the pest control companies will provide you with a list of clients which they served and who have given positive feedback to the service provided. They might have audio-visual testimonials on their websites too. Give a call to the customers and politely ask for their reviews. You will get a clear idea about the competence of the company.

If you are unable to do so, ask friends, neighbors, and relatives for some suggestions. But if a self-proclaimed reputed pest Control Company is unable to produce remarks and testimonials of their customers, well this could be a significant factor for not choosing it for your problem.

Proficient experience:

Whether the exterminator is skillful enough can only be judged by his or her proficient experience in the field. If he or she belongs to a pest control company, the company’s familiarity with a similar infestation will also help you choose the right person or the right company. His or her experience will assure you that the exterminator is capable enough to handle your problem as he or she has done it for many years.

Using Chemicals:

Rodent exterminators use rodenticides as the major pesticides to eliminate rodent infestations. Apart from killing rats and mice, they are capable of killing woodchucks, porcupines, beavers, nutria, squirrels, and chipmunks too.

Rodenticides are more commonly known as rat-poisons and are also used in bait stations. The pesticides contain chemicals like warfarin, sodium fluoroacetate, diphacinone, chlorophacinone or bromethalin. The chemicals used as rat-poisons affect the rats in different ways.

Mostly, the chemicals prevent blood clotting, cause internal hemorrhage. Harmful chemical components like calcium cyanide, phosphorus paste, zinc phosphide, thallium sulfate, strychnine sulfate, white arsenic, a barium carbonate salt, and strychnine are mixed in the bait which rodents eat and die of nervous system failure.

A rat exterminator should provide you with all the information about rat poisons he or she is going to apply. Along with that he or she should make you aware of the product details, its expiry date, registration number, and other important information.

Guaranty and warranty:

For overall assurance, the companies provide you with a guaranty and a warranty for the product and the services catering to you. The warranty suggests a timeframe in which, if you face similar problems, the company will provide you support without any further expense. To keep it simple and short, more the guarantee period, more is the time you get to see the exterminators removing rodents from your home.

The number of times an exterminator visits your house:

It totally depends on the extended area your property has and also the charges of the exterminator. If the infestation extends through an enormous area, the number of visits will definitely increase.

It is not possible to concentrate on the whole property in one day. This actually is a mutual decision taken between the exterminator and you during the primary point of inspection. After the inspection is done, then only an exterminator can suggest to you his or her frequency of visits.

How to Take Care of your Pets During the Rat Control Procedure?

You should inform the exterminators about the presence of pets in your house. Then they will take precautionary measures to use rodenticides which do not affect your pets. There are a lot of pet-friendly techniques to get rid of rats from your house.

Rodent infestation apparatus now days come with bait resistant attributes which are locked and made from tough plastic materials or metals which are accurately designed for rodents to get into them where they eat the poisoned bait.

Home pets are curious creatures, no doubt but fortunately, are incapable to get close to the poisonous bait. The bait stations work as a machine-driven trap for rodents only and are safe for pets. But still, you will have to watch your pets prudently, so that they don’t consider the bait stations as their playmates and draggle them.

Things Need to be Done After the Exterminators Leave

Keep a strict surveillance on the property. Concentrate more on the places where the infestation started. An exterminating service comes with multiple visits by the exterminator. If you have a warranty period, you are also aware of the fact that the exterminator will come back as he or she is promised to do so.

Even the warranty or the guaranty period expires, if you contact the exterminator personally, he or she will be happy to revisit you to solve your problem, if you offer a professional fee.

Alarming your Neighbors

Whenever you treat a rat infestation, the creepy creatures tend to flee from your household and look for an immediate nesting place. Your neighboring houses are the perfect places for them to nest.

It is always wiser to inform your neighbors that you are going through a rat exterminating procedure in your house and so that they can take precautionary measures so that these rodents don’t enter their house for shelter. Compact cooperation from neighbors can lead to the total elimination of rodent invasion in the area.

Finally

Rats are pests who occupy your house if you are too indifferent about your property. They carry detrimental diseases which could be life-threatening. Do not ignore if you come across rats and mice scribbling in your house, especially in the kitchen as it is an ardent source of food for them. Don’t wait for situations to get worse.

Even if you try DIY solutions, be prepared to call an expert exterminator. Rodent infestation can ruin your household if kept unattended. This guide page has hopefully given you all the information and measures you should take for rodent infestation. Stay rodent-free, stay infection-free.