What Is the Best Way to Get Rid of Rats in a Home?

Secure trash and compost, store pet food and birdseed in sealed metal or hard-plastic containers, clean up spilled food promptly, and clear clutter and woodpiles that provide cover near the foundation. This won't evict rats already inside on its own, but it caps how large a population your home can support and makes trapping more effective, since hungry rats take bait faster.

Snap traps set along walls and known travel routes, pre-baited (left unset) for several days, are the extension-recommended workhorse — rats are neophobic and avoid new objects until they've grown used to them. Skip indoor rodenticides where possible: extension guidance discourages them because a poisoned rat commonly dies inside a wall or void, decaying for weeks and producing odor, secondary pests, and even a secondary-poisoning risk to pets that find a carcass.

The University of Nebraska Extension is explicit that rodents reinvade through openings left unsealed after any control effort. Rats need only about a ½-inch gap to enter, so seal foundation cracks, utility penetrations, vents, and door gaps with hardware cloth, steel wool, and metal flashing — not caulk or foam alone, which rats chew through. This is the step that turns 'we trapped the rats' into 'the rats are actually gone.'

A light, early infestation — a few rats, no wall or attic nesting, accessible entry points — is a reasonable DIY project using the three steps above. Established colonies, burrows under structures, nesting in walls or attics, or infestations that keep recurring despite honest effort usually mean hidden entry points or a larger population than trapping alone can keep up with. That's the point where professional inspection, pre-baiting strategy, and warrantied exclusion earn their cost.