Commercial Rat Control - How to Permanently Get Rid of Rats

A rat infestation can be a huge problem for any business.  From causing structural damage to devastating reputational damage, rats can become a huge nuisance for business owners. Even if one customer spots a rat, your business's reputation will be tarnished within a minute. Also, in the era of social media, bad news travels faster than the plague.

However, the rat problem doesn't stop there. Such news will, of course, find its way to local authorities, and health inspection authorities will take strict action against your business. First, they will give you a warning with instructions to immediately consult with a professional rat removal company.

Failure to do this will lead to a complete shutdown of your business along with a hefty fine. So, do you want to lose the chance of achieving your business goals because of these nasty creatures invading your property? Of course not. Business owners can protect themselves against rats and the problems they cause by taking strict commercial rat control measures.

In this way, business owners can rest assured that they never have to face the destructive consequences that rats carry with them wherever they go.

Types of Businesses That Can be Affected Significantly by a Rat Infestation

Some industries where rats can cause severe problems are:

Food Serving Companies & Facilities

Rats can transmit many harmful diseases through their fur, droppings, and saliva.  Therefore, if rats gain access to restaurants, hotels, or care homes, they can expose people to many harmful diseases such as plague, rat-bite fever, leptospirosis, and many others.

Also, rats can chew through packaging and contaminate the food inside. These nasty creatures can also carry infected ticks, fleas, and mites in their fur. So, imagine how many unsanitary conditions it could cause in your food serving business. They will not only make your customers sick, they will also put your and your employees' health at tremendous risk.

Furthermore, care homes must be extra careful when it comes to dealing with a rat infestation. The residents of these homes are often weak or in poor health. Therefore, they are more vulnerable to diseases that rats can spread.

If you suspect an active rat infestation in your restaurant, hotel, cafe, or care home, you should take quick action for rat removal before it gets too late, because as rat removal experts, we can assure you that rats reproduce themself very, very quickly. Remember, no one wants to eat in a restaurant, stay at a hotel, or live in a care facility that is severely infested by rats. One rat sighting will be enough to tarnish your hard-earned reputation.

Factories and Warehouses

In our experience providing commercial rat removal services, we have found that rodents are pretty fond of warm, dark, and cluttered places. Therefore, properties such as factories and warehouses can be perfect hiding and nesting spots for rats as they offer warmth and a steady supply of water and food.

Rats are not picky eaters at all. They can feed on anything for their survival. Dark and cluttered corners of warehouses and factories can make an ideal spot for rats to hide and build their homes.

As with the food serving industry, a rat infestation can also cause huge damage to factories and warehouses by destroying food packaging and contaminating the food. Whether you own a clothing factory or a furniture warehouse, a rat infestation can become a huge nuisance for you.

Not only will it damage your products and their packaging, but they can cause huge structural damage to your property. Many factories and warehouses have caught fire because of chewed electric wires and cables. Furthermore, rats can also chew wires and cables of crucial machinery that will require thousands of dollars to repair or replace.

Also, it is worth mentioning that a rat infestation can lead to loss of revenue and loss of employees through the spread of many harmful diseases.  So, if a rat gains access to your factory or warehouse, you will be much closer to substantial structural and reputational damage if you do not employ a commercial rat removal company to help you eradicate your rat problem.

Agriculture and Forestry

Rats can also cause serious problems for agriculture and forestry-related businesses. Rats can not only spread many harmful diseases to the farmers, but they can also cause severe damage to the plants and crops while foraging for food.

Furthermore, plants and trees that were recently planted are more vulnerable since their softwood is easy for rats to chew through. A rat infestation will result in loss of crops and potentially cause huge damage to farmers and the overall population.

Tips on How to Get Rid of Rats Permanently From Your Business Property

As we have provided commercial rat removal services hundreds of times in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we know some tricks to get rid of these rodents, some of these effective rat removal methods are:

Natural Repellents

When it comes to getting rid of rats, a few simple and natural ingredients can also work. You can try these natural options to eliminate rats from your business property or even house:

• Blend of essential oils: Rats are usually allergic to strong fragrances, so a blend of peppermint oil and geranium oil can be used to deter the rats away from your property. All you need to do is spray a fine mist of peppermint and geranium oil in the areas that rats frequently access.
• Crushed pepper: Another natural rat deterrent is crushed pepper. Sprinkle crushed pepper near rat holes and nesting places. It will irritate the rats' noses and discourage them from entering your property again.
• Predator urine: Like all prey, rats are hesitant to live in areas where they believe predators may be lurking. For this reason, fox, coyote, and other predators’ urine can act as an effective, all-natural rat repellent.

While they may last a couple weeks, you will have to reapply these natural ingredients after a heavy storm or rainfall.

Trapping

In various countries, governments have banned the usage of harsh poisons and rodenticides in commercial and residential properties. However, the option of trapping is still available to kill rats fast and effectively.

Trapping is a poison-free method for controlling rat populations. If you want to get rid of rats from your commercial building or industrial property, you should place them in their high-activity areas. You can use peanut butter, walnuts, and other attractants as bait.

The only catch is that you will have to check the traps frequently and clean up dead rodents' mess.

Ultrasonic Rat Repellents

Nowadays, many ultrasonic rat repellents have emerged in the market. These devices emit sound waves that irritate rats. However, these devices rarely provide a permanent solution.

Rats are quite suspicious of unfamiliar and new activities in their environment. While the change may keep the rodents away initially, they will eventually get used to it and ignore it. So, ultrasonic repellents may help for a short time, but they will not provide a permanent commercial rodent control solution.

What to Do If Rats Have Severely Infested Your Business Property?

Business owners do not have the luxury of free time on hand to try various methods for eliminating rats from their property since their reputation is at stake. They need an effective solution to get rid of their rat infestation as soon as possible. Otherwise, they may have to shut down their business temporarily or, in the worst-case scenario - permanently.

Therefore, business owners are wise to enlist help from a professional rat removal company to deal with the rat infestation in their property.  Here are the common steps a professional rat removal service company will take:

Inspect

Rat removal professionals will inspect your property thoroughly to determine the severity of the infestation and what techniques will be required to eliminate it. The rat removal experts will also try to find their nests to put traps and baits there.

Exclude

Killing rats is of no use if more can invade. Therefore, rat removal professionals will cut off all their entry points and make the environment quite unfavorable for them. From sealing all the holes and cracks to removing all their attractants, commercial rat control experts will do their best to prevent more rats from entering your property.

Eliminate

After the exclusion step, rat removal professionals can address the rats directly. If all entry points were properly sealed on the first go-around, any rodents still trapped inside will have to go to the baited traps, as it will be their only food source. Rats are smart and they often know they should avoid the traps, evidenced by their avoidance when exclusion work is not done. However, hunger forces them to try.

On some occasions, rats will cannibalize themselves before choosing to try the traps. At Critter Stop, we have seen severe rat infestations drag on months and only catch one, very large rat, after which all attic noises subsided.

Conclusion

Critter Stop is a reliable commercial rat control company in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. While based in Southlake, with many customers in the Colleyville, Grapevine, Trophy Club, and Flower Mound, our services extent through the Metroplex. Call us at (214) 234-2616 to solve your rat problems! We provide free estimates and will help you identify the entry points for rats and mice and eradicate the problem without causing any damage to your property.