Operation eliminate those rats

With the recent outbreak of Lassa fever in the country it is imperative to find ways to eliminate these rats irrespective of the species.
Ways to get rid of rats in our houses using the following the following steps and tips;

• Finding the entrance; First of all we have to find the holes around the house through which they gain entrance into our homes. They tend to make holes underneath the kitchen sink , around the windows, close to the doors, close to the pipes etc . This is the most important step so that they don't even gain access in the house. Once you find these holes try and close them up. Rats can chew almost any type of material. The materials used to seal up these holes are also important otherwise they can gain entrance after you must have sealed them off. Steel wool( wire sponge or wire wool) is ideal for this purpose. It tends to injure their mouths when they want to chew it so they avoid it. We use them as abrasives for cleaning at home.

Steel wool

          

• Keep your house clean and put all food in tight lid rat proof containers; Rats are attracted to foods. They perceive the smell of food and then feed on them.
• Keep your trash bins closed; Use a trash bin with a lid and try to dispose the content every day. Rats are attracted to left over foods that are in the bins. Lids reduces the smell that oozes out from the trash bins thereby keeping the rats away.
• Fumigate your environment; Routine fumigation can also keep these rats away as well as other pests.
• Mouse traps; Is a mechanical method of getting rid of the rats in the house. place the traps in areas where the rats are.
• Rat poisons; When rats eat these rat poisons they die but we have to be careful where we drop them in the house if we have children in the house. Children tend to put anything they see in their mouth. Keep it out of their reach. These rats tend to disturb more at night, it could keep rat poisons at night and then by morning you take them out to prevent the children from coming in contact with it.
• Black pepper; Black pepper has been shown to eliminate these rats. The black pepper has a very strong pungent smell that repels these rats once they perceive it. Spray them around the areas infested with rats.
• Peppermint oil; The oils are soaked in cotton balls or kitchen sponge and dropped in areas where the rats are mostly seen. They also repel the rats with their strong smell. 
•  Moth balls; They contain active ingredients known as naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene. Are used also to repel the rats.They come in solid forms that slowly gives off very strong smell. Some people could be allergic to the smell so you might want to keep away from them if you react to them.
• Pets; Pets like cats when in the house can keep these rats away.

Most of the materials mentioned here can be seen in the stores. Please always keep them out of sight and reach of children.
Please do share your tips with us. Thanks for visiting .