Getting Rid of Rats and Rat Infestations:

The most important advice is to take action immediately as they are fast breeders, which means their population can grow rapidly. If you do find rats living in your home or workplace follow the steps to eradicate them and follow up with prevention strategies:

1. Find and identify the rat feeding areas. Remove and isolate and food sources that the rats might be accessing
2. Find and identify the rat nesting areas and remove access to these areas
3. Setup rat baits stations or traditional snapping rattraps in rat infested areas and check regularly.

Prevention Rats and Rat Infestations:

1. Keep all trash sealed and take it out anytime you throw food away.
2. Seal up all the food in your house and keep everything in closed containers.
3. Remove any ability for rats to enter your home by closing up all holes in your walls, doors and screens.
4. Regularly clean pet food bowls and pet eating areas of old and uneaten food.

Professional Rats Control and Removal.

If you see signs of Rats around your home you might have a Rat infestation. To successfully get rid of Rats contact Knockout Pest Control by Rentokil for a Rodent inspection.

You can call our service team on 1300 858 140. or you can send us an email by using the Contact Form by clicking here >

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. “True rats” are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also referred to as rats, and share many characteristics with true rats.

Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid rodent, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is smaller, the name includes the term mouse. The muroid family is broad and complex, and the common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific.

Rat Facts:

• The brown and the house rat are the most common rats in the world because they have taken boats to every country over the past few centuries.
• Their tails give them a great sense of balance, which makes them amazing climbers.
• Rats are omnivores, but many prefer meat when they can get it. House and brown rats usually use humans for their primary food source.

For the First signs of Rats and Rodents click here >

The are two main types of Rats in Australia, the Black Rat and the Brown Rat ( Norway Rat). Both of these rats were introduced to Australia. They have a well known history of carrying pests and diseases.

Black Rat

The black rat (Rattus rattus) is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus (rats) in the subfamily Murinae (murine rodents). The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.

Black rats are generalist omnivores. They are serious pests in nature as they eat birds and insects, and to farmers as they eat a wide range of agricultural crops. They are vectors of many diseases including the bacterium Yersinia pestis, an agent of bubonic plague.

Brown Rat

The brown rat, also referred to as common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat (Rattus norvegicus) is one of the best known and most common rats.

One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a body up to 25 cm (10 in) long, and a similar tail length; the male weighs on average 350 g (12 oz) and the female 250 g (9 oz). Thought to have originated in northern China, this rodent has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, and is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America—making it by at least this particular definition the most successful mammal on the planet after humans. With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas.

Australian Native Rats

Australia also has two native rats know as the Bush Rats and Water Rats. Both Bush Rats and Water Rats are protected species and it is illegal to harm them.

Bush Rats

The bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes) is a small Australian nocturnal[1] animal. It is an omnivore. It is one of the most common species of rats and is found in many heathland areas of Victoria and NSW. While there are not many characteristics that distinguish the bush rat from other Rattus species, it is characterized by having a small tympanic bullae and a straight incisive foramina.

Bush and Water Rats

Water Rats live around permanent bodies of fresh water, such as rivers, lakes and swamps. They are large and can be up to 30cm long ! Water Rats have webbed hind legs, waterproof fur, a flattened head, a long blunt nose, many whiskers and small ears and eyes. They are black to brown in colour with an orange to white belly, and dark tail with a white tip. They have a flat head, small ears and lots of whiskers and their colour can vary from grey, brown and black.