Tips for taking action with the Bay Area’s rat problem

So, you’ve got a rat problem, do you? I promised on Monday to help you with that — and I am.

First, take action by cleaning up your space. Get rid of any rubbish or junk you have lying around. Dense ground covering, such as ivy, makes a perfect home for rats. If you can’t pull all of it out, at least remove it from around structures.

Rats don’t like traveling very far in open spaces, so clear away as much cover as you can. If they can’t cross your yard without having to expose themselves, they likely won’t visit or move in.

Eliminate food sources. Keep garbage cans tightly closed. Use rat-proof mesh and fencing around your fruits and vegetables and keep fallen fruit picked up. Store any bulk foods, birdseed and dry pet food in metal cans with tight lids. Don’t leave pet food out. Rake up spilled birdseed, use trays under feeders to catch spillage, use seed infused with hot peppers or consider bringing bird feeders in for a while.

The next step is to protect your home. Rats can squeeze through openings the size of a quarter. Seal off any potential entrances using concrete, metal or steel or copper wool — things that are difficult for rats to chew through. Install weather stripping or other devices under the doors to block rats from coming in. Prune vegetation as far away from structures as possible.

Check your roof for potential entrances to the attic area. Roof rats prefer attics, while Norway rats are more partial to garages, but they both will take what they can get.

Look to nature for help. A family of five barn owls — two adults and three babies — can eat up to 3,000 rodents during the breeding season. Having an owl hunting in the neighborhood will benefit everyone, except the rats, of course. However, before putting up an owl box, make sure none of the neighbors are using rat poisons, even the ones that some companies claim are “harmless.”

For more information on installing owl boxes, go to hungryowls.org.

If you have rats coming into the house, use catchand-release traps. You’ll then have to let the rats go outside in your own yard, so for this to work, you’ll have to make sure they can’t get back in.

If you’ve done everything you can and still want to use lethal methods, do not use rat poisons or sticky traps. These kill cruelly and often kill other animals, too. In the case of rat poisons, any animal that eats a dead or dying rat also will be poisoned.

Glue traps often snare birds, lizards, snakes and even pets. Any animal that becomes trapped in the glue will struggle mightily to free themselves, tearing off their hides and breaking bones. The battle to get released often fails and the animal dies a lingering, painful death from their wounds or through starvation.

Rat traps and “zappers” kill quickly, but traps can misfire and injure the rat. If you set traps, check them frequently to make sure the rat isn’t suffering. Rat zappers kill instantly with a jolt of electricity, but can’t be used outdoors.

Rat traps can be dangerous to other animals, so they must be used inside locked, protective boxes usually sold alongside the traps.