Rat Control

Rats: Smart, Determined, Relentless

Scratching in the walls. Droppings on the counter. Nest in the BBQ. Chewed plumbing drain. Destroyed dishwasher. Totaled car. Damaged alarm system wires. Soiled garage. Pulled insulation. House fire. Rats are relentless. They wreak havoc in homes across the world. Sneaky, smart, and incredibly adaptive, rats can chew through almost anything and spread diseases wherever they go. Whether they’re scurrying through your walls or gnawing on your electrical wiring in your home or cars, these four-legged invaders can turn your peaceful home into a warzone. If you’ve found signs of their presence, it’s time to confront the possibility that you’ve got a rat problem. And trust us, it’s not one you can ignore.

Signs You Have a Rat Problem

Scratching or Gnawing Noises: If you hear strange noises in your walls, attic, or floors—especially at night—rats may be nesting or gnawing their way through your home.
Droppings and Urine: Rat droppings look like small, dark cylindrical pellets ½” to ¾” long, and you’ll often find them in cupboards, under sinks, or along walls. Rats also leave urine stains that can smell musky or stale.
- 1 rat can dispense 40-50 droppings per day.
- Droppings Disambiguation
  - Norway Rat droppings are wider with blunt ends
  - Roof Rat droppings are narrow with pointy ends
  - Tree squirrel droppings are easy to confuse with Norway rat droppings. Tree squirrels’ droppings tend to be clumped together.
  - Lizard droppings look like Norway rat droppings but with white tips at the end
Mystery Bites: Rodents often bring fleas, mites and ticks with them. If they’ve been nesting within your home somewhere, be it the attic or subarea, those biting pests migrate toward the closest blood meal, you and your family.
Gnawed Wires and Furniture: Rats constantly chew. If you notice gnawed wood, plastic, wires, or food packaging, it’s a sure sign that rats are inside.
Footprints or Rub Marks: Rats tend to travel along the same routes, leaving greasy rub marks or tiny footprints on walls, floors, or dusty surfaces.
Nests: Rats create nests from shredded paper, insulation, or fabric, usually in hidden spaces like attics, crawl spaces, or behind walls.

Rats are stealthy, but they leave clues behind if you know what to look for:

The Dangers Rats Bring to Your Home

Rats don’t just cause physical damage; they pose serious health risks and can turn your home into a breeding ground for disease:

Disease Spreaders: Rats are known carriers of over 35 diseases, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, and salmonella. These diseases can be transmitted through rat droppings, urine, and bites, or even indirectly through fleas and ticks.
Fire Hazards: Rats have a habit of gnawing on electrical wiring, which can lead to short circuits, sparking, and even fires. In fact, rats are responsible for a surprising number of home electrical fires each year.
Food Contamination: Rats will raid pantries and chew through food packaging, contaminating everything they touch with bacteria and pathogens.
Structural Damage: From chewing through walls and insulation to burrowing into foundations, rats can cause costly structural damage to your home.
Leaks. Rats chew into drains all the time. This can cause extensive pooling, structural damage and lead to other pests when left unchecked.
Vehicle Damage. Rats total vehicles all the time simply by chewing on the wrong wires. Newer vehicles come with soy-based coating, a scrumptious treat. Rats also chew on hoses, belts, cabin filters, and even nest under the hood.
Pool Equipment, Storage & Toys. Rats often damage pool equipment and nest in luggage and other stored items. They’ll damage boats, jet skis, ATVs and just about anything under the sun.
Fleas, Mites, Ticks, Oh My. Rats commonly introduce these pests along with Varied Carpet Beetles that feed on their nests. Rat infestations lead to other infestations that carry their own diseases and can only be controlled by addressing the source.

How Rats Sneak Into Your Home

Rats are opportunistic invaders, and they’ll exploit any opening to get into your home. Here’s how they gain entry:

Cracks and Gaps in the Foundation: Rats can squeeze through holes as small as a quarter, making even the tiniest gaps in your foundation, walls, or roofline a perfect entry point.
Open Windows, Vents, and Doors: Unscreened windows, open vents, or doors left ajar invite rats to waltz right into your home, especially during colder months.
Sewer and Drain Pipes: Rats are excellent swimmers and can navigate sewer lines and drainage pipes, finding their way into your home through open plumbing, toilets, basements, and utility areas. Rats often enter from the sewer through the main drain line to an opening in the pipes caused by pipe degradation, chewing, or plumbers leaving an old open pipe still connected to the sewer system. All are common in the San Gabriel Valley.
Utility Lines: Rats use overhanging tree branches, utility lines, streamed lights, and even pipes as “rat highways” to get to the roof and attic.
Climbing: Rats are excellent climbers. They can even climb metal conduits, downspouts, and rough stucco!
Attached Garage. Rats very commonly gain access into the attic via attached garages.

Why Your Home Is a Rat Magnet

Certain conditions make your home a five-star hotel for rats, and once they find what they need, they’re not leaving without a fight:

Available Food Sources: If you leave food out, don’t clean up spills, or have easy access to pantries, rats will take full advantage. Human food, Pet food, Bird feed, unsecured garbage, and open compost bins are also huge attractions.
Cluttered Spaces: Rats love clutter, especially in attics, basements, or garages. Cluttered spaces provide excellent hiding spots for nests and make it difficult to detect them until the problem is severe.
Easy Water Access: Rats need water to survive, and leaks, condensation, pet water bowls, and standing water outside can all give them the hydration they’re looking for.
Warm, Cozy Hiding Spots: As the weather cools, rats seek warmth, and your home provides them with ideal nesting areas—attics, behind walls, and even under floors.
Plumbing Issue: Open pipes allow rodents entry from the sewers. This can be caused by pipe degradation, contractors leaving open pipes still connected to the sewer or rodents chewing the pipes open.

10 Terrifying (But True) Facts About Rats

Rats Can Squeeze Through Tiny Spaces: A rat can squeeze through a hole as small as a quarter, thanks to their flexible bodies and collapsible rib cages.
Their Teeth Are Harder than some Metals: Rats’ teeth have a far more dense enamel than ours, allowing them to chew through plastic, wood, metals, lead, cement and even cinderblock.
Rats Are Super Climbers: These pests can climb vertical walls, travel along wires, and leap impressive distances to reach food and shelter.
Rats Are High Jumpers: They can jump 3 feet high on average.
Rats Are Incredibly Smart: Rats are among the most intelligent rodents, capable of solving complex problems and remembering routes to food sources. Underestimating them is a mistake that can cost you dearly.
Rats Have Intergenerational Memory: If the parents of a rat had a traumatic experience with a particular trap or other item, the child rat will instinctually be averse to that trap or item.
Rats Are Naturally Neophobic: They are much less attracted to traps than mice and very suspicious of anything new in their environment, being careful not to touch it for days or weeks when given the choice. This is why it’s not a good idea to start trapping rats prior to sealing the structure. The rats you don’t catch initially will be even more trap-averse, making them more likely to cause damage while attempting to escape.
Rats Are Highly Determined: Once rats have a taste for your home, they often do not give up getting back once they are excluded. They will patrol around the home seeking alternate ways in. If they can’t find them, they will then attempt to create new ones, be it at the “envelope” of the home or via the plumbing (knock on chewed wood).
Rats Can Swim for Days: Rats are excellent swimmers and can tread water for up to 3 days and hold their breath underwater for several minutes.
Breeding Machines: A single female rat can produce up to 12 litters per year, with each litter containing up to 14 pups. That’s nearly 170 rats from just one female!
Rats Communicate with High-Frequency Sounds: They use ultrasonic vocalizations to communicate, which are too high-pitched for humans to hear.
Rats Spread the Plague: Rats, specifically the fleas they carry, were responsible for spreading the Black Plague, which killed millions of people in the 14th century.
They Are Everywhere: No matter where you live, rats are nearby. In fact, there are estimates that in major cities, there’s about one rat per person!

How to Keep Rats Out of Your Home

Getting rid of rats takes a combination of prevention and eradication. Here’s how to keep these relentless rodents from turning your home into their nest:

Seal Entry Points: Have your home professionally inspected and sealed by rodent experts. We don’t recommend attempting this yourself if you want lasting protection. Traps should be strategically placed (and checked) whenever exclusion is performed.
Keep Food Sealed: Store food in airtight containers, clean up spills immediately, and make sure your trash is sealed tightly. Don’t leave pet food out overnight. Keep other pests such as roaches and snails in check as they are a food source. Don’t feed wildlife.
Trash: Keep your refuse sealed in tied plastic bags, those bags secured in trash receptables without holes. Rinse your recycling prior to discarding to exterior trash. Clean receptacles occasionally and/or treat with enzyme product.
Declutter and Clean: Eliminate clutter in storage areas like attics and basements. Regularly clean under appliances, in cabinets, and around trash bins to eliminate potential hiding spots and food sources.
Eliminate Water Sources: Fix any leaky pipes, dripping faucets, or standing water. Rats need water, so eliminating access to it makes your home less attractive.
Trim Vegetation: Keep trees and shrubs trimmed back from your home, as rats can use branches to access your roof and attic.
Eliminate Property Attractants. Remove ivy and other ground cover. Consider fruit trees and other food sources. Don’t over-water. Clear the clutter and check storage for signs.

How to Keep Rats out of Your Drains (and thereby Your Home)

Rats have a very keen sense of smell. From the main sewer, they can detect food in your drains and garbage disposal and will follow their noses until they’ve reached the prize. Rats have a great memory (think rat in a maze) and won’t soon forget the food and shelter your plumbing clean-outs and home provide. They will also be drawn to American or Turkestan Roaches (they eat them) who themselves are drawn to the food in your garbage disposal and home. Don’t set yourself up for years of hardship. Follow these tips to keep rats out of your drains:

Regularly clean your sink and keep it clear of dirty dishes
Avoid pouring grease or oils down the drain
Avoid putting food in the garbage disposal / sink drain
Use garbage disposal minimally
Do a light wash of dishes before placing them in the dishwasher
Clean your sink drain / garbage disposal monthly

Level 1 Cleaning

1 cup baking soda
1 cup distilled white vinegar
Rinse with boiling water

Level 2 Cleaning

Boiling water
Enzyme Application
Foaming Sanitizer (to get all the nooks of the garbage disposal)

Clean your kitchen and keep it clean
Keep your toilet seat covers down
Stress to your plumber performing any work that they are not to leave ANY open pipe. Any cancelled pipe left connected is to be cemented shut with no gaps allowing air to pass through.

Why Only Rodent Exclusion Experts Should Handle Rats

Many people think dealing with rats is simply a matter of setting traps or filling holes with foam. This couldn’t be further from the truth. To keep rats out, all entry points must be addressed–effectively. When it comes to rats, missing one opening is like missing them all. And it’s not just a matter of sealing entry points with steel wool or expanding foam. To keep rats out, you need to use weather-resistant rodent-rated materials that last, sealing not only active entry points, but potential ones as well. In our experience, you must also reinforce areas that aren’t open but rodents are likely to attempt to chew through. This often takes expert knowledge and seasoned experience. DIYing it or Handy-Man-ing it may offer temporary relief, but until you treat the problem with the professional attention it’s due, you will continue to have problems.

Many so-called professionals and companies in this industry simply aren’t competent when it comes to rodent control. They approach rodents far too casually, lazily and/or ignorantly, performing cursory inspections, sealing the ground level as their customers would, with an expanding foam can and a roll of steel wool, ignoring anything off the ground. They’re focus is not on what needs to be done but rather on signing you up for the recurring revenue, a trapping or poison-station service before your home has been sealed, leaving you increasingly exposed for continued infestation, trap-averse rats, and even poisoned rats in the walls. These companies are often the less costly option, but in the long run, when their methods fail, you will begin to understand why you should have made the investment in the first place.

At Pasadena Pest Control, we specialize and take pride in thorough, professional rodent inspection, reporting and exclusion that goes beyond surface-level fixes. We’ll inspect your home for potential entry points, set traps strategically, and eliminate both rats and their nests. We take a comprehensive approach to elimination that will leave you educated, protected, and your mind at ease long after your exclusion. Our expert team is extensively trained and ensures long-term protection, so rats won’t just be gone—they’ll stay gone.

In addition to excluding, we also reduce ongoing rodent pressure on your property by managing the local population with your choice of no-risk fertility control, poison stations, or a combination of the two along with continuous monitoring of rodent activity on your property, scanning for potential and actual entry points as well as conducive conditions.

THE INVESTMENT

Rats are more than a nuisance. They are a very serious threat to your health and wallet. They are highly intelligent and adaptive. Effective rat control requires a team that is equally determined, adaptive and well trained. The sooner you come to accept that rats are worth seriously investing in, the less you will pay overall in damages to your property and your family’s health. Do your research to find the right company and make the investment. It’s worth it.

OUR PROCESS

DETAILED ENTRY POINT AND ACTIVITY INSPECTION

Customer interview of history
Detailed examination of
- Exterior Perimeter
- Roof
- Attic
- Basement when present
- Living space (when applicable)
- Garage (when attached or requested)
- Property to assess for conducive conditions

PHOTO REPORTING WITH COMPLETE EXPLANATIONS

Know what pests you have
Know what those pests are doing
Know how they can get in
Know what’s attracting them
Know your part: how to prepare, how to modify behavior
Know how we’ll address the issues

EXCLUSION PLAN

Premium Exclusion
- Hard-Seal openings wherever needed (ext. perimeter, roof, attic, crawlspace)
- Preventative Hard-Sealing
Professional Trapping (attic, sub-space, living space if applicable
Trap check visits and rodent removal
Local Disinfection

ONGOING PROTECTION

Exterior Baiting Techniques
- Strategic and Adaptive Placement of:
  - Fertility Control Stations (Tier 1)
  - Single Feed Poison Stations (Tier 1)
  - Combo Stations (Tier 1)
- Extend Guarantee to Lifetime while maintaining exterior baiting protection
Vehicle Protection
Property Monitoring

WHEN RATS PERSIST OR RETURN INSIDE

Re-Inspection
- Make double sure that nothing was missed, and no new openings were created by rodents, wildlife or–the most common–contractors!
Subarea Crawl
- If the subarea is accessible, we’ll do a thorough check for open pipes, leaks and other issues. If they have chewed through standard clean-out caps, we will replace and reinforce the cap with galvanized steel screen. We’ll report to you all other instances of plumbing damage.
Smoke Test
- When all else fails, we can conduct a smoke test to identify hidden openings in the pipes allowing rodent entry.
Preventative Plumbing Reinforcement
- - Once openings in the plumbing have been identified, we advise you to allow us to collaborate with your plumbing company so that we may reinforce the replaced plumbing sections with galvanized steel screen. Once rodents have chewed through a particular portion of plumbing, they are likely to try again in the same areas.

You will invest in rats one way or another. Invest intelligently with Pasadena Pest Control.

FAQs

How do rats enter homes?

Rats are adept at finding entry points, squeezing through gaps as small as a quarter-inch wide. They exploit cracks, vents, and open spaces around doors or windows.

What are the signs of a rat infestation?

Common signs include droppings, gnaw marks on food packaging and furniture, greasy trails along walls, and the sound of scurrying at night.

How can I get rid of rats?

Seal entry points, set traps, and use bait stations. For significant infestations, professional pest control is recommended.

Safety First

“Is it Safe?”

At Pasadena Pest Control, we keep the safety of your family and pets at the forefront of our minds as we plan and work, doing so with minimal disruption to your daily life. We apply traps and baits according California’s requirements, which are among the strictest and safest in the nation, and your unique situation. We take into account your pets and plants, your family and the features specific to your property. At Pasadena Pest Control, we are well-trained on safety procedures, eco-consciousness and educating our customers. And yes, we are licensed, bonded and insured.

When you work with us, you will always know what to expect, how to be prepared, when we are coming, when we’ve started and when we’re done. In short, we provide The Service We’d Want in Your Shoes.