Toronto, Ontario – 2024
This article will analyze and recount a case of severe rat infestation in a house in Toronto, Ontario, the infestation was so sever that for a period monthly treatments where used instead of a residential warranty to keep the exterior population down. However, through extensive exclusion the interior rat activity was put to rest.
The technicians, before the work is done, must first inspect and confer with the customer or customers on the issue and then must inspect for the source of the activity which was a long term interior rat infestation in the home. The customers had already tried every form of domestic treatment to quell the swarm of rats entering the home and finally called a company that could stop it. This took extensive treatment and exclusion of the property to end the interior and exterior infestation of rats that had plagued the home for years.
Exterior Inspection
When the technician arrived on site they performed an exterior inspection of the property and found activity on the exterior in the form of burrowing and high levels of activity. The first step in resolving this exterior activity as well as detracting the rats from entering the house is the placement of two large, weighted tamperproof bait stations on the exterior of the property in areas of high activity. The bait stations contain a potent form of commercial grade rodenticide that attracts the rats through scent. The rats will consume it repeatedly and then feel sick. They will return to their their borrows under ground, fall asleep and die from the poison. This is a safe and effective way of dealing with rats on the exterior.
Interior Inspection
While inspecting the interior there was a lot of activity found especially in the crawlspace where the rats where entering most frequently. Rodent faces and signs of entry where extensive as well as activity in the upper levels of the house. There was a serious issue with the smell that has come from the rat infestation with would require disinfection and deodorization of the area as well as extensive exclusion to keep the rats from getting into the house.
Initial Measures
The first step was to set up commercial grade baited snap traps on the interior to prevent rats from dying inside the walls of the house. Rats are large rodents with a high water content in their bodies and a terrible diet. When they die in the walls of the house they created a pungent smell that is difficult to access without ripping down drywall. This process helps prevent this situation from occurring. Though in many cases there are already dead rats in the walls when the technician first arrives on site, often times the already existing smell is why the customer calls us in the first place.
Proposed exclusion
The technician sealed off the crawlspace as well as the basement using 388 feet of galvanized steel mesh. This was one of the most extensive crawlspace encapsulations the company has ever done and was essential to preventing rats from entering the house. This included the removal of a large amount of wood and general detritus from the crawlspace in order to be able to perform the work in the first place. The exclusion also included the sealing of an old plumbing vent as well as a utility line that would allow for rodent ingress into the house. In the process of exclusion and treating the rats a raccoon and a squirrel were also removed from the attic using two one way doors as well and raccoon faces removal and disinfection from the attic.
Conclusion
The technician excluded the basement and crawlspace of the house, removed two wild animals from the attic as well as the faces of one of them, treated and excluded the rats from entering the house and saved the customer from what could have been the total destruction of their home from multiple vectors. The customer were very satisfied with the work that was done and are not safe in the knowledge that rats can never enter their home again.
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Case Study: Rat infestation and Deck Exclusions in Toronto Neighborhood
