You are all smug sprawled in your plush sofas until your guests hear a subdued squeak from behind the wall unit. Rats and mice have the power to embarrass, or give your guests a fright if they were to dash across the room at the most inopportune moment. What’s worse, they come with additional trouble in form of rodent bites, messing up food, plus the fleas, mites and microbes they tend to carry on their fur.
It is tough stopping them getting in, but the good news is that there are countless ways to get them out, and even better, all of the ones provided here are poison-free, meaning you don’t have to worry about dealing with a stench after the poison has worked, or the poison ending up in a child’s mouth. Here are the options:
Pepper
Besides being an indispensable ingredient in your kitchen, pepper can be a very good rat repellent. The very smell of ground pepper is intolerable for rats and they flee the vicinity within minutes. The easiest way to go about it is to sprinkle some ground pepper around the corners and holes where rats come from and maintain a continuous practice of doing so for a few months.
Use traps
This part is easy and the best for the ones with a creative spark. These simple traps will always let the rats in by luring them with food (meat, ground nuts) but they do not let them out. So you can actually carry them out and send them to their death without worrying about a pungent smell in the house.
Toilet cakes
This is a proven remedy for rat problems in the house. You can leave around quite a few toilet cakes in the ceiling, toilets and the porch. The strong smell acts as a natural repellent and it also refreshes the stagnant air inside the house, which is a plus since rats bring with them lots of stink and weird odours.
Cow dung
It might sound yucky, but while doing this keep the greater purpose in sight. Get some cow dung cakes and be sure to spread them liberally outside (in a garden if you have one), and the ceiling. When rats consume cow dung it bloats inside their stomach and causes them to run out for air. Hence the rats die outside your house leaving one less thing to worry about.
Get a cat
This is possibly the most time-tested solution and one of the most widely accepted home remedies for getting rid of unwanted guests. Peasants and kings, everyone has tried this at least once to rid their abode of rodents. Cats are amazing hunters and are born to kill rats and mice. So if everything else fails get your own 100 percent eco-friendly and natural killing machine.