(Updated January 2024)
You Are Always 6 Feet Away From A Rat
It is said that you are always 6 feet away from a rat. The reason for this is that rats are often found in drains. They use the drain system as a super highway but are always looking at ways to break out of the system. Rats can survive in a drain system as they can eat natural waste, and there is water for them to drink.
Unfortunately, having rats in your drains is bad for your home, as it offers them an access point and can damage your vital drainage system. Also, rat droppings and other debris can contaminate your drains and home. Rat droppings and urine carry diseases, so it’s imperative that you keep them out of your drains.
Thankfully, Pest-Tech has extensive experience removing rats from drains throughout Maidstone and Kent. This blog will cover our process, including:
- Rat Surveys
- Drain Surveys
- Drain Gates
- Rat Treatment
Rat Survey
When we are called out for a rat issue in a house, we will always look in the drain system, if possible. We are looking for signs of rats, such as rat droppings, rat smears on gravel and dirt in the drain. If we find signs of rats in the drain and there are rats in the house, then 90% of the time, the two are linked. We then have to identify how the rats are leaving the drain system and entering the building.
Drain Survey
One way to confirm how rats are leaving the drain system is by having a drain survey. A drain survey will identify faults and breaks in the drain system. If a building has had changes to rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms and utility rooms, then the drains may have been altered. This may mean you have a redundant drain which is a drain that is no longer used. If a redundant drain hasn’t been blocked off correctly, then it is an easy route to get in under the floorboards. Pest-Tech can carry out basic drain surveys and cap off redundant drains. For more technical drain surveys, we can recommend a trusted company.
Drain Gate
Once you have had a drain survey, this will hopefully identify what is happening. If the survey identifies large works that will incur a high cost, then a quick, cheaper solution is a drain gate. A drain gate is a one-way valve to stop rats in the drains getting into areas of the drain system. The drain gate allows waste out and stops rats from getting in. There are a few considerations and recommendations to follow with a fitted drain gate, which will be covered in a future blog.
Rat Treatment
Because we know that rats are common in drain systems, when we are dealing with a rat issue inside a property, we always try to view the drains to assess if this is the ingress point. There are high levels of rat activity in the drains, and it is very common to find they have broken out of the system. If we are responsible for dealing with your rat problem and carrying out a rat treatment, we will need to lift your drain covers. We can then look for rat droppings and other signs of rat activity, and recommend the best course of rat control treatment.
If you would like to find out more about our services and how we can keep rats and other pests out of your property, then Contact Us to discuss your problem.