If you have seen rats scurrying around your house, you may be tempted to start trying to get rid of them yourself by using homemade deterrents and natural repellents. However, the below so-called natural rat repellents do not work.

Placing Mothballs Around Your House

Since you may remember your grandparents using mothballs to keep rats and other rodents out of their homes, you may believe that this is a tried and true method of natural rat control. The premise about this deterrent is that the odor is so strong that the rats will simply turn up their noses and run away.

However, there are two problems with this method and its premise. First, the chemicals from which mothballs are made are not natural.

Second, rats do not care about the odor they emit. Rats are used to handling strong smells, even to the point of living in sewers, so the little bit of bad odor coming from your mothballs will not phase them. And, even if the rats did not appreciate the smell next to their nest in your home, they would simply move to another area in the walls.

Plugging in Ultrasonic Devices

After ruling out the debunked mothballs as a rat repellent, you may opt to purchase those ultrasonic devices that you plug into your outlets that let off a low, irritating noise that is not detectable to your hears, but apparently, the rats cannot stand. The premise behind this method is that the constant ultrasonic sounds will drive the rats away from your house.

However, this method of repelling rats has been found to not work as the claims suggest. Even the Federal Trade Commission questioned the authenticity of these claims. And, while the devices may scare the rats away for a short period of time, the pests usually returned to their homes and got used to the sound.

Of course, rats are sensitive to louder noises and may be deterred by if the frequencies were louder. However, in order to make an impact on the rodents, the frequencies would have to be loud enough for humans to hear as well, which would damage your hearing as well.

If you have a rat problem in your house, using the above methods will not get rid of the rodents. When you find rats in your home, contact a pest control service, like Xtermco Inc, to have them determine the extent of your infestation and discuss your options for professional rat control instead of taking a chance on so-called natural deterrents. 

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