How to Keep Rats Out of Warehouses

Rats love to breed, shelter, and nest in places where there are lots of nooks and crannies to hide, as well as sources of food and water. Warehouses, especially large sites, can provide rats with everything they need to thrive, and that’s bad news for your business.

Here’s how to how to keep rats out of warehouses.

The problem with rats

Rats carry and spread some nasty diseases, such as salmonella and TB, particularly through their urine and faeces. This puts your employees and customers at risk, and you could be looking at a very serious public health and legal problem if you store food products in your warehouse.

Another problem they can cause is damage to your property. They can chew through many different materials, so they’ll think nothing of nibbling their way through boxes, and even insulation and wiring, which is a health and safety risk.

So how can you prevent rats from getting into your warehouse?

The main thing to do is to act fast. Rats breed fast. A female rat can give birth to 6 litters per year, and there can be up to 12 babies in each litter. To keep rats out of your warehouse and avoid a serious infestation, you have to get ahead of the problem.

This means:

• Getting rid of any clutter in your warehouse where rats can nest and breed. You also need to make sure that you are keeping on top of your general housekeeping. Keep your warehouse clean, store waste securely away from your premises, and wipe up any spillages immediately.
• Filling in any holes in walls, roofs, and gaps around pipework where rats could get into your premises. It’s also a good idea to seal off any gaps under doors. You’d be surprised at the small gaps that rats that are looking for food and shelter can get through.
• Remove any sources of water. Fix leaks and drips, and eliminate any sources of water as they’ll encourage rats to set up home on your premises.
• Take a walk around your site and look for signs of rats. Can you see signs of damage where they’ve gnawed through things? Unusual greasy marks along walls? Clusters of droppings? These are all signs that there’s a rat problem in your warehouse.

Call in the professionals

While you can take the problem into your own hands and lay traps and poison, constantly checking traps can be very labour intensive, especially if you have a large warehouse.

Bear in mind too that certain types of poison and pest control methods might not be appropriate or allowed on your premises. For example, there are strict rules on pest control in food production and storage businesses.

Then there’s the fact that rats breed fast. You might have caught one in a trap, but you could still have an infestation if you haven’t been able to pinpoint where its family is nesting.

This is professional pest control comes in.

Trained and experienced pest control technicians understand rat behavior and they’ll be able to identify where they might be hiding and how they are getting in.

Once they know this, they can recommend the right pest control methods to eliminate rats from your warehouse and keep them out for good.

How we can help

Contego can survey your premises, recommend a bespoke effective and legally compliant pest control solution, and give you advice on how to prevent rat infestations in your warehouse in the future.

If you have a problem with rats in your warehouse, don’t wait. Get in touch today so we can help you protect your employees, your property, and your business.