Norway Rat Control: How To Get Rid of Norway Rats

This page is a general Norway rat control guide. Using the products and methods suggested, you will get control of Norway rats. Follow this guide and use the recommended products, and we guarantee 100% control of Norway rats.

Nothing can frighten a homeowner or business owner more than seeing a rat scurrying around indoors. One such rodent is the disgusting Norway rat, prevalent across the United States but most concentrated around the coastal areas.  

Norway rats, also known as sewer rats, are large, burrowing rodents larger than another common rat, the Roof Rat. These rats can be a particularly major pest to have in the home as they are insatiable eaters that will gnaw nonstop and cause significant damage to structures.

Norway rats also spread troubling diseases such as plague, jaundice, rat-bite fever, and others. They can also contaminate food and introduce fleas into a home. They can also create a large litter that can get out of control without intervention.

If Norway rats are invading your home, control measures should be a top priority. Our DIY guide below will equip you with all the expert knowledge and product recommendations you need to eliminate these rodents.

Identification 

Before you can carry out a treatment approach, it is important to properly identify the invading rodent as a Norway rat. Misidentification may result in using the wrong treatment methods, which will be ineffective and, as a result, be a waste of your time and money. Here are some traits to recognize to identify the Norway rat correctly.

• Norway rats are generally bulky in size and are covered with shaggy brown or grey-colored fur with gray to grayish-brown underbellies. They have small ears and eyes and long hairless tails.
• Norway rats also weigh between 7 and 18 ounces and reach lengths of about 16 inches—their tails alone may measure more than 8 inches.
• Norway rats are incredibly damaging to structures. They can chew their way into walls and bite into water pipes and electrical wiring (which might even create house fires). They can also bring fleas and ticks that can be transferred onto pets and are also serious health hazards to humans. 

Use the description and image above to help you properly identify Norway rats. If you are not totally sure, contact us, and we will try to assist you in identifying your rodent problem.

Inspection

Once you have properly identified the rodent invasion as Norway rats, you can proceed with an inspection to determine their harborage areas, where they are active, and the severity of the infestation. 

Where To Inspect

Start your inspection indoors. Search inside kitchens, garages, attics, and basements. In the kitchen, search behind and around appliances, floor-level cabinets, pantries, and where food goods are stored. Although Norway rats will mainly stay and be found close to the ground at floor level, inspect attics and basements, search behind clutter and storage items, and look around baseboards.

To find rats in garages, move clutter and storage items around, search at floor level in baseboards and possible entry points into the home.

Outdoors, search your front lawn and backyard for yard debris, leaf litter, woodpiles, logs, rocks, and other debris all around your property.

What To Look For

You're looking for signs of Norway rat activity. This means looking for feces (which will be 3/4 of an inch long and have blunt ends), smear marks, chewed openings, foul odors (like urine), fur, and the rodents themselves. In the kitchen, look for food packaging that has been chewed or tampered with.

Look along baseboards. Are there any greasy marks on the baseboards that might also have fur? These are smear marks. At ground level and inside cabinets, shelves, and pantries, look for chewed openings or small openings where Norway rats are used to travel. Listen carefully for chewing or general sounds around your home at night. And finally, look for droppings in all of these areas, if you find droppings this is a clear indication that you have Norway Rats.

Outdoors, look for holes or burrows close to the foundation of the structure. Look for these burrows under yard debris, like leaf litter, woodpiles, logs, rocks, and general clutter. If you have tall grass, look for runways where the grass, vegetation, and mulch have been compacted down. These are runways that the rats are using to move into your property.

If you have found any of these signs of activity inside and outside your property, take note of where you found them, as this is where you will focus your bait and trap treatment.

Treatment

Once you have confirmed Norway rat activity, it is time to begin treatment. Remember to read all product labels, follow the application instructions on these labels, and wear personal protective equipment (PPE) to stay safe.

Norway rats enter the structure from the outside, and might even be living outdoors and simply venturing inside your home, so start treatment outdoors using the Solutions Rodent Bait Stations and Warfare Rodent Bait. We recommend setting snap traps and glue boards to capture and kill invading Norway rats.

Step 1: Outdoor Treatment with Warfare

Warfare Rodent Bait Blocks are rodenticide blocks that mimic food but are poisonous. They have a unique bait matrix that will entice them to feed on the bait repeatedly until it kills them. These blocks should be placed in Solutions Rodent Bait Stations. The Solutions Rodent Bait Stations are tamper-proof bait stations that protect the Warfare Bait Blocks from the weather and non-targeted wildlife, pets, and children.

Before handling these products, wear gloves, safety glasses, and a face mask. This will prevent the rats from smelling your scent on them, which will create bait shyness, and they might avoid it if they smell your scent.

Start by opening the bait station with the key that comes with the product. Next, four Warfare Rodent Bait Blocks were placed on the metal rods inside the stations, and then the bait stations were closed. Place the bait station next to a burrow or where you found rat activity.

Use 2 bait stations and 6 bait blocks in each station. Separate each bait station by at least 15 to 30 feet. If you're dealing with a severe infestation, we recommend using more bait stations and more bait blocks.    

Check the stations often and replace any tampered with bait blocks. If any bait block is chewed or partly eaten, you will need to replace it with new bait blocks. Keep replacing bait blocks until there is no longer feeding activity inside the bait stations.

Step 2: Indoor Treatment with Snap Traps and Rat Glue Boards

Once you have laid out bait outdoors, you can move indoors and place traps. It is better to trap indoors and bait outdoors to lessen the risk of an indoor rat consuming lethal bait and then dying somewhere indoors that is hard to reach to retrieve the dead rat. This is why we suggest using either a glue or snap trap like the Solutions Easy Set Rat Traps.

Before using these glue trays and rat traps, wear gloves, safety glasses, and a face mask. This is necessary to prevent leaving your scent on the traps, which might discourage rats from interacting with the traps.

Step 3: Place Traps Strategically in Attics, Basements and Garages

The snap traps and glue trays must be placed thoughtfully to effectively capture the invading Norway rats. Placing the traps out in an open space will prevent Norway rats from approaching them.

Place the glue tray near entry points in garages, basements, or attics next to baseboards and against walls, as rodents commonly travel alongside walls. For snap traps, make sure the trigger (or the part that will activate the trap) is closest to the wall. Place a pea-sized drop of peanut butter in the middle of the trigger to force the rats to make contact with the trap.  

• Trap Placement In Attics: If you performed a thorough inspection, you would have observed where rats have left damage, such as chewed wires, gnawed wood, damaged insulation, and droppings. Place the traps in these active areas, along any observed runways, near the water heater drip pan, 
• Trap Placement In Basements: Similar to attics, trap placement in the basement will depend on observing active areas where the Norway rats have left evidence, such as smudges, gnaw marks, droppings, and hair. Key areas will be along walls, crawl spaces, narrow spaces between furniture or boxes, etc.
• Trap Placement in Garages: For rats found in garages, you will want to reduce clutter as much as possible before placing down traps along walls, points of entry, behind storage items, dark, secluded corners, and other such places where you have observed activity or the rat has left evidence via droppings or damage.

Prevention

Once the Norway rat threat has been eradicated, you must ensure you don't get a repeat infestation. Start by sealing and closing off any potential entry points into your home. Go around the foundation of your structure, and use Stuf-Fit copper mesh or caulk and seal and close off these entry points and holes, slits, or openings where Rats might get access to your home.

Maintain a regular cleaning schedule, take out the garbage daily, pick up food crumbs and spills, and do not leave water bowls or pet food out at night (inside and outside your home). If possible, store all your food goods inside plastic containers where Norway Rats will have a more challenging time getting to them.

In the yard, get rid of bird feeders, which will spill and, over time, provide Norway Rats with a steady supply of food. Clean your yard and get rid of yard debris like leaf litter, woodpiles, logs, rocks, stones, and clutter, which might create harborage areas for rats. Get rid of branches that touch the roof of your property; many times, rats will use these branches to get access to the roof of your structure.

Key Takeaways

What are Norway Rats?

• Norway rats are large rats known for infesting homes and buildings and creating a health risk with their gnawing and unsanitary habits.
• When left uncontrolled, rats can inflict much damage and may grow their population quickly, so swift action must be taken to address an infestation.

How To Get Rid of Norway Rats

• Our top recommendations for treating Norway rats include using Warfare Bait outdoors inside tamper-proof bait stations and then laying out glue traps or snap traps (or a combination of the two) indoors in strategic areas in your attic, basement, or garage.
• The key areas to place traps are where you have observed Norway rat activity, which can be indicated by their urine and droppings, as well as any gnaw marks and scratching damage they have inflicted in an area.

Preventing Norway Rat Reinfestation

• Prevent future Norway rat infestations by sealing off entry points and maintaining cleanliness in and around the home.