"I don’t think we’ll ever know all there is to know about gardening, and I’m just as glad there will always be some magic about it!"

Barbara Damrosch

home’s landscaping

Updating your home’s landscaping is a great way to increase the value of your property and create outdoor spaces for relaxing and entertaining. Unique ideas here will make your garden fit for a king

Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practised by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garden design.

Details
Category: Rat

Rat evidence of intrusion is quite numerous. There are several ways to determine if rats have moved onto your property, or worse, into your home. Read through the following techniques to help you recognize if you have rats living in or on your property by learning more about rat evidence of intrusion.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion- Tracks

While traveling, rats will leave tracks like the image of Norway Rat tracks below. Note the long “finger” like toe prints. Look for tracks along the sides of buildings where rats often burrow, in snow or wet soil. Setting out a light layer of flour on suspect rat pathways will help in identifying the problem, too. Don’t forget to look for tail marks dragging behind the foot prints.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion-Scat

Finding rat scat, poop, droppings, etc. is another method to determine evidence of intrusion. Look for scat in and around feeding areas such as next to your pet’s food, recycle bins and garbage cans and near buildings or areas where you believe they might be living.

Rat droppings are about one half (½) to three-quarter (¾) inches in length and one-quarter (¼) inch in diameter. Fresh droppings will look wet. Older droppings become hard and dull, and droppings that are older than three (3) weeks or so will be become gray and crumbly.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion-Gnawing

Rats chew. Look for gnaw marks on doors and window ledges and in corners. Stored building materials may show evidence of gnaw marks, too. Rats will gnaw through walls to gain entry. Look for entry holes that are two (2) inches or larger.

Gnaw marks from rats will resemble two (2) parallel marks that are about 1/8” across.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion-Burrows and Runs

Rats are creatures of habit consequently they will use the same pathways over and over again making them easy to spot. Look for wear marks and burrow mounds next to buildings under bushes or even in your garden.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion-Smudge Marks

Smudge marks are often left behind along areas where rats regularly travel. They are caused by oil and dirt rubbing off their fur. Look for smudge marks along rafters, pipes and walls.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion-Sounds

Rats make various sounds including the sounds made by gnawing and climbing as well as squeaks and fighting sounds. Listen for evidence of rat sounds during the night when the animals are most active.

Rat Evidence of Intrusion-Nests

Everybody needs a home, even a rat. Evidence of rat intrusion is finding a rat’s nest. Look for nests outside under woodpiles, bushes, vines and tall grasses. They may also be found under rocks, in cars, in building insulation and near furnaces in basements. The nests themselves are made of bits of any kind of material they may come across including insulation, string, feathers, etc. formed into a dish similar to a birds nest. Roof rats will nest either in trees or in the higher floors and attics of buildings, whereas Norway rats will nest in the lower areas of buildings.

Rats coexist with human populations and can find can find their way into and onto our property quite easily. They even have the ability to know when we are trying to get rid of them! From the sounds they make as they enter your home to the gnaw marks and scat left behind; there are many different ways to discover rat evidence of intrusion.