Rats in April
In Pests
Rats in April: Rat population in April start to increase as the temperature rises, the days get longer, the vegetation starts to grow and the natural food becomes more abundant. The increase in the rat population in April actually leads to less rat complaints with people phoning pest control companies for help. Due to the easier conditions rats are less likely to come into contact with humans. That is not to say that rat jobs disappear. In fact rat jobs are still a major percentage of pest control work in April.

Rats and Mice in cold wether feeding in a kitchen in Hounslow
There can be many reasons why people have problems with rats but most of the time there are one of two reasons why people have rats.
The most common reason by far is bird feeding. Bird feeders provide a small amount of high protein food in the same place at regular intervals. Rats feeding in these circumstances are not often seen as they prefer to feed during the safer night hours. Rats are naturally nocturnal. If you see rats during the daytime then this means that the area has a high population density and this forces the less dominant, sick, old and young rats to feed during the more dangerous daylight times. Rats are very territorial and dominant rats will bully less dominant rats. Part of any treatment involves excluding the food source. Feeding birds must cease during treatment.
The second most common reason is sewer breaches. This is more common with old housing stock or badly built extensions. It does vary but the cheapest way to solve a sewer breach is a poison treatment and the fitting of a sewer valve. See our PEST UK web page on sewer valves.

Valve to prevent rats entering a building from the sewer system.