How to Get Rid of Rats in Walls

Are you trying to figure out how to get rid of rats in walls and prevent a rodent infestation? You’ve come to the right place. Find out how to tell if you have a rat problem and ways to get them out of the wall and your home.

Just like mice, rats are a common problem for homeowners and renters. As the rat population increases, so does rat activity. They go indoors where it’s safe, seeking food, water, and nesting areas. Rats are nocturnal critters. You often don’t know you have rats in the walls until it’s too late.

Most rat activity occurs after sunset, and they settle right before sunrise. It’s easy to be unaware of their night-time shenanigans, especially if you’re a heavy sleeper. There are many reasons to avoid sharing your living space with a mouse, rat, and other vermin. Luckily, several pest control measures remove these rodents from the wall and stop them from returning.

Ways to Get Rid of Rats in Walls

Rats are a nuisance, whether you live in the country or the city. Their destructive behavior ruins structures, and their habits spread nasty germs. Discover ways to get rats out of walls with various rat removal methods.

Why Worry About Rats in Walls?

Why is it a problem if a rat only lives in the wall and cannot enter your living space? While it may seem like rats aren’t a problem if you cannot see or have contact with them, rodents in walls are cause for concern.

Rats have a high reproduction rate, mating up to 500 times in six hours. This activity quickly leads to an infestation of up to 2,000 rats annually.

Diseases are the most problematic issue with a rat infestation. Rats carry over 35 types of diseases and spread them whether they are alive or dead. A disease transfers through rat saliva, urine, feces, rat bites, and fleas.

Another reason for concern is the amount of damage rats cause. They chew through structures, furniture, appliances, and electrical wires, which may lead to fires. They nest in wall cavities and travel throughout your home, seeking food sources.

What Are Common Signs of Wall Rats?

Sometimes it’s tricky to know if you have a rodent problem. Mice and rats sneak around in the dark and quickly hide whenever you enter the room. Fortunately, they leave signs of their presence, making it easier to find them.

Check your food packages regularly for chew marks and holes that may indicate a rat problem. Squeaking and scratching inside the walls and running noises in the ceiling are other signs of rodents.

Piles of droppings, shredded paper, fabric, and other soft materials are typical of a rat colony. Look for wall smudges not related to your regular household activity. Rats leave these dirty marks as a form of navigation.

How to Remove Rats From Walls With a Snap Trap

Snap traps are the best tools for getting rats out of walls fast. It’s important to note that a mouse trap differs from a rat trap and is ineffective at eliminating rats. Find out how to use these traps as a form of rodent control.

Snap Trapping Rats

Make sure to use a rat trap rather than a mouse trap since mouse traps are not large or strong enough to kill a rat. Remove the snap rod from the trap, and place peanut butter onto the bait plate.

To set the trap, move the control rod off the rat trap, pull the spring trap to the opposite side, position the rod under the bait plate, and carefully remove your hand from the trap.

Check around the wall where you suspect rats live. Look for wall openings or holes in the baseboard, and set the bait station near these locations. Placing traps where you see rat droppings or nesting materials is also helpful.

Getting Rats Out of Walls With Live Traps

Live traps are ideal if you prefer a humane rat control method. They lure the rodent into the trap, capturing them without harm. Discover how to remove rats from walls with traps and relocate them to another area.

Choose a trap of the proper size. For example, the Norway rat measures seven to ten inches long, with an additional six to eight inches of tail. Place the trap in a spot where rats regularly travel for optimal results. Look for smudges on the wall that indicate the path they use most.

Set the live trap in the appropriate area and put bait in the backside. Rats like peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, bacon, and other tasty morsels. Set the trap according to the manufacturer’s directions at night before bed.

Once you capture a rat, wear protective gloves and take the trap outside. Release the rat away from your area, and set the trap in your home again if you suspect more than one rat.

How to Get Rid of Rats in Walls With Dry Ice

Another way to get rid of rats between walls is with dry ice. Many grocery stores sell dry ice, and it’s relatively inexpensive. Dry ice is solidified carbon dioxide that turns into carbon dioxide gas as it melts, effectively driving rodents outside.

Put on protective gloves before handling dry ice to prevent skin burns. Put the dry ice in a plastic baggie and insert it into the wall cavity. As it melts, it fills the wall with carbon dioxide gas, causing the rats to exit the space or die. This technique works great for outdoor rat burrows as well.

Eliminating Wall Rats With Poison Bait

Poison is an option if you don’t have children and pets and are not squeamish about killing rats in this manner. The rodents eat the poison, thinking it’s a tasty treat, and eventually die. Find out how to remove rats from walls with poisoned bait.

Poisoning Rats

There are many types of commercial rat poison baits. Follow the directions for your rat poison brand, and place the bait near cracks in the baseboard, holes in the wall corner, or on rat-traffic areas.

Rat poison may take as long as ten days to kill rats. The poison causes their blood-clotting ability to fail, and they slowly die from internal bleeding.

Drive Rats Out of Walls With Ammonia

Rodents cannot stand the pungent odor of ammonia, and it’s excellent for getting rats out of walls. The rats smell the liquid and leave the wall cavity, searching for a better place to call home.

Pour a half cup of water into a jar and add two cups of ammonia and two teaspoons of liquid soap. Poke large holes in the lid to release the odor and screw the cover on the jar. Set the container in the suspicious area to drive rats out of the wall. It’s useful to place it in the basement, attic, and other locations where a brown rat or roof rat may enter your home.

Get Rid of Wall Rats With Electronic Traps

Electronic traps kill rodents quickly and make it easier to remove the dead rat or dead mice from the space. Find out how to get rid of rats in walls and ceiling with an electronic trapping system.

Electronic Rat Trapping

Electronic rat traps deliver a high-voltage shock to the rat after it enters the trap. They generally operate off batteries, and some models kill up to 50 rats for each set of batteries.

Follow the operation directions for your electronic trap brand and place the unit where you hear rats in the wall. The best time to set the trap is in the evening before you turn in for the night.

Place food bait in the back side of the trap to lure the rodents to their demise. Check the trap each morning for a dead rodent, and wear gloves when you dispose of it in the outside trashcan.

Use Essential Oils to Get Rats Out of Walls

Essential oils are the gentlest way for removing rats from walls and are safe for use around kids and pets. The scent of certain oils drives rodents out of the wall, giving you a chance to seal up the entry point.

Fill a glass spray bottle with a cup of rubbing alcohol and water, and add two teaspoons of essential oil. Rats hate the scent of peppermint, citronella, lemon, or eucalyptus, making these ideal choices.

Shake the container and spray the liquid anywhere you notice traces of rats. Spritz it along baseboards, in cracks and crevices, the attic and basement, and reapply it as needed to keep rodents away.

Capture Wall Rats With Glue Traps

Glue traps are non-toxic and an alternative for catching rats in walls if you want to avoid rat poison. In addition, they are simple to use and available online or at your local hardware store.

Read the instructions for your glue trap. Set a morsel of food on the trap’s center if your brand does not come pre-baited. Place the glue trap near the entryway to the wall and let it sit overnight. Wear heavy gloves to protect your hands from rat bites, and check the glue trap each morning.

How to Get Rid of Rat Smells in the Wall

Rat noises and damage aren’t the only problems rats cause. They also leave a mess of droppings and urine, which causes an unpleasant odor. Find out how to get rid of rat urine smell in walls with everything from bleach to baking soda.

Pour equal amounts of water and bleach into a spray bottle and shake it well. White vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are suitable substitutes if you don’t have any bleach. Wear gloves and a mask, and spray the cleaner over the affected wall.

Scrub the smelly area with a sponge and dry it thoroughly with a paper towel. If the smell remains, shake baking soda over the affected spot and let it sit overnight before sweeping or vacuuming the powder.

Are There Ways to Keep Rats Out of Walls?

The best way to avoid dealing with a rat problem is to stop it in the first place. The good news is that it’s not hard to keep rats out of the walls as long as you secure the area and make your space less inviting to rodents.

Many things in your yard attract rats, from bird feeders and veggie gardens to wood piles and yard debris. Store bird seed and outdoor pet food in sealed containers, remove fallen vegetables and fruit from the ground, and keep a tidy yard to remove rat hiding places.

Take indoor trash outside nightly and ensure the garbage bin has a tight cover. Clean the kitchen regularly, remove food crumbs and spills, and wash dishes daily. Store indoor dog and cat food in bins and your perishable goods in storage containers.

Walk around your home’s perimeter, repair windows and doors, and seal cracks and holes in the foundation with caulk. The same goes for interior walls. Look for any openings in the wall and baseboards, and repair them promptly.

Rodents find your house just as comfortable as you do, with its warm and safe walls. Keeping rats out of your home’s walls is vital to prevent structural and wire damage. It’s also crucial for disease control. Fortunately, rat control methods like dry ice, ammonia, bait, and snap traps, prevent a rat infestation.

We hope that learning how to get rid of rats in walls keeps your living space rat-free, and we’d love it if you’d share our tips for removing rats from walls with your family and friends on Pinterest and Facebook.