What attracts rats to your house?

Question: What attracts rats to your house?

Answer: Rats are attracted to your home because of:

• Availability of a more hospitable environment than what they might experience outside when the weather turns cold and uncomfortable.

• Availability of food. Rats will eat almost anything that provides them the energy needed for survival and reproduction - meats, vegetables, sweets, pet foods, birdseed or pet or trash debris, to name just a few.

• Moisture. Rats will drink from almost any source of water - puddles, leaking plumbing, or most places where water is allowed to accumulate.

• An easy way to get inside. If a hole, crack or gap is about the size of a quarter, a rat can squeeze through or gnaw to enlarge the entrance.