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Rats prefer buildings to trees. |
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Customer Rat Email: I live in Vail, which is a suburb of Tucson, Arizona. My house is a ground level manufactured home with a 3 ft crawlspace underneath. Inside the insulation, pack rats have burrowed and made nests, and you can smell when they die from eating poison, and their urine and feces. Our landlords only put poison and traps out, but that hasn't solved the problem. They refuse to have the rats removed and we can't afford to pay for the removal ourselves. Is there a government agency to contact and complain in order to get the landlords to comply with making our home pest free and habitable? Please Help. Thanks, Jennifer
My Answer: There is no government agency that you can contact to solve a rat problem. Mobile homes or manufactured homes off the ground can be very challenging places to fix, because the hole(s) are likely under the home. You've got to
crawl on your back while looking up with a headlamp, and find the openings and seal them with steel, and you can't miss a single spot. It's hard work. And no government service is going to do it for free. You may have to do it yourself.
If you need rodent control services in your hometown, click for the National Directory of
Rat Trappers that I've carefully compiled in every USA city.
There are three kinds of rodents commonly found inside buildings (in the attics, walls, and even inside the living space). They are the Roof Rat (Rattus rattus), which is also called the Black Rat, then there's the
Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the Brown Rat, and the House Mouse (Mus musculus). Roof Rats are more common in the south, such as Florida, where I work. The above photo is of a Roof Rat. They are very
common inside attics. The Norway Rat is more common in the northern section of the United States. The Norways are more commonly found underground, in subways and sewers and such. The House Mouse is found everywhere, but
seems more common in the north. All of these rodents thrive in urban areas and love to live in human buildings and houses. They use human garbage (and pantries) as sources of food. All of these rodents are carriers of
several diseases that can infect humans and pets. They contaminate homes and attics. The only way to permanently solve a rat problem is to find out how the rodents are gaining access to the inside of the building, and
fix those openings. Then the remaining rats inside have to be trapped and removed. If you want to learn more, please read my How To Get Rid of Rats page.
AAAnimal Control is a privately owned wildlife removal and pest control business, located in Orlando Florida. I deal strictly with wild animals such as rats. I am not an extermination company, but a critter removal
and control specialist. The above photos are some of the many that I've taken in the field over my years of work. Please email me if
you have any questions about the above photographs, or any questions about
wildlife problems or rat control issues.
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