Seal any holes you find to stop rodents from entering. Fill small holes with steel wool. Put caulk around the steel wool to keep it in place or use spray foam. Use lath screen or lath metal, cement, hardware cloth, or metal sheeting to fix larger holes.
When there are no animals in the nest, fill it with concrete or sand. If possible, locate the main entry hole and all of the exit holes and pack them full. You can pack steel wool or hardware mesh that rats can not chew through into the hole as well. Be sure all the rats are out of the burrow.
Sealing all possible entry points will reduce the chance a rat infestation will take place within your home. In the event of an existing rat population, plugging holes caused by these rodents may be one step in an effective extermination plan. Holes should be sealed with concrete or metal.
Even rodents will give up chewing when faced with concrete, so setting wiring in cement is an effective way to stop rodents damaging them.
That said, you might be curious to know, "Can mice chew through concrete?" The answer is yes, but only if the concrete is not cured properly. There is one material that mice tend to shy away from – steel wool.
Seal any holes you find to stop rodents from entering. Fill small holes with steel wool. Put caulk around the steel wool to keep it in place or use spray foam. Use lath screen or lath metal, cement, hardware cloth, or metal sheeting to fix larger holes.
Sometimes you might want to flush out the burrow first to force out any rats inside. You can do that by using a hose to fill the burrow with water. This stops the rats inside from digging new holes after you've close them. Don't attempt to fill the burrow with dry ice, poison, or bleach to kill the rats inside.
Rats cannot tolerate smells such as ammonia, mothballs, peppermint oil, crushed cayenne pepper, and pepper spray due to their intensified sense of smell. Clean and uncluttered homes and yards scare rats due to the lack of food and places to hide, as well.
This makes peppermint oil, chili powder, citronella, and eucalyptus the most common natural rodent repellents. Chemical smells, such as ammonia, bleach, and mothballs also work as mice deterrents.
Use a long handled spoon or other device to put loose pellets or meal bait at least six inches into the burrow. Do not cave in burrow openings. Rats often relocate when stressed in this way. At the very least they will kick out the bait as they work to re-open the entry and bolt holes.
You can use common materials found at a hardware store to seal the holes and block mice and rats from coming back. For small holes, you can stuff steel wool into the hole and keep it in place with caulking. For larger holes, the CDC recommends do-it-yourselfers using lath screen, cement, or metal sheeting.
While rats might leave a nest temporarily if disturbed, they will likely only nest somewhere else close by, no doubt creating multiple nests that exacerbate the issue. On top of that, there's also a risk that they will return to the same space if you haven't properly dealt with the nest.
Usually, rats burrow down 45 cm to 60 cm, but they are capable of digging even deeper. The length of the burrow may reach no further than a meter. However, bear in mind that they are capable of digging their way down underneath the foundations of a house to gain access inside.
RATS AND MICE ARE AGILE MAMMALS. A mouse can get through a small, 6-7 mm hole (about the diameter of a normal-sized pen) and a rat can get through a 20 mm hole.
Rats can easily chew through softer materials like cardboard and plastic. They can even chew through harder things like wood and PVC pipes. But rats cannot chew through steel. They can't chew through anything stronger than iron.
All you need to do is mix 2 – 2 and a half cups of ammonia, 100 – 200 mL of water and a 2-3 spoonful of detergent in a bowl. Then, put it to places where rats are usually seen. The smell of ammonia is very pungent that it instantly kills rats.
Peppermint Oil
On a cotton ball use no more than 5 drops of 100% peppermint essential oil. Spread the oil on areas that you want rats to avoid, in your case, around the garden.
Some people have found that they can deter rats from coming onto their property by using certain smells and aromas. The most effective smells are essential oils, specifically; peppermint, castor, and citronella. These are good choices because while their smell is powerful, many people also find the aromas pleasant.
Rats cannot survive with more than 70 to 75 grams (0.16 lbs) of salt in their bodies. Any additional amount of salt can cause severe neurological problems such as muscle paralysis, deafness, blindness, and overall weakness. This is in addition to ailments like gastroenteritis and general inflammation of the system.
As you uncover rat holes, do not hesitate to block them without trapping the rat first. Blocking the holes may cause them to chew their way out but if they do not find a way out and die in your home, they decompose and emit a very terrible smell.
Steel wool is a great way to block the small holes pests use to enter your home. First off, steel wool is tough but flexible; it can be pushed into all shapes and sizes of cracks and crevices. Pests like rats and mice hate chewing through steel wool, since the sharp edges hurt them the more they try to chew.
Spray foam insulation is completely rodent proof due to the air tight barrier it creates, but also because it does not act as a breeding ground or source of food. This makes spray foam insulation the number one choice for mice or rat proofing your home.