Whether you have a morbid fear of rats or not, the possibility of a rat infestation within your home is a concerning and potentially dangerous threat to the health and safety of you and your family within the house. Therefore, you may be asking if you have rats in your home? Or how can you know if there are rats around your living space?

Before you call the rat exterminator you can read our six different ways to determine whether this is an issue you are facing or not. On the one hand, you will gain peace of mind and on the other, you will have identified a serious issue that you can get resolved by hiring a professional.

1)  Droppings

Knowing that rats can produce somewhere in the region of about forty droppings per evening, this should be something that is easily found. Additionally, they go in concentrated areas that they designate as their bathrooms so you will find a lot of them together.

2)  Routes

Rat trails are common because of their extremely bad eyesight. They try to keep to a track or designated route which over time can leave rub marks where their fur has brushed against the surfaces leaving a trail of dirt or grease.

3)  Scratching

One of the most common ways to know that you have rats is by listening out for scratching noises in the walls, attics, or elsewhere. These noises usually appear at night and brown rats specifically have a unique grinding sound that they make with their teeth.

4)  Footprints

Every creature that walks leaves footprints in certain areas. To establish if rats are in the area, you can sprinkle flour or another fine powder over the floor and check for tiny footprints or marks of tail dragging in the morning.

5)  Holes

Many rats like to dig and create large underground burrowing systems. You can check in your garden next to solid structures where they instinctively use the supports to establish opening burrow holes.

6)  Nests

If you find the nest then you have hit the motherload. It won’t appear like a bird’s nest but rather it will be a heap of shredded materials such as cardboard, paper, insulation, and other easy to shred materials. This is something that you are most likely to find in a hidden-away area like the attic or walls where they feel safe.