How to Get Rid of Attic Rats

Written by Donna Smith
on Jun 18, 2009

To ensure our content is always up-to-date with current information, best practices, and professional advice, articles are routinely reviewed by industry experts with years of hands-on experience.

Reviewed by
H.R. Helm
on Feb 28, 2023

Attic rats are more than just a nuisance in a household, they are also a potential health concern. They carry diseases, contaminate food with urine and feces and they can bite. Rats hunt for food and shelter as efficiently as any small animal, and your home provides both of these necessities, with your attic often serving as a quite and rarely-trafficked hiding place.

Taking these steps will help you rid your house of these rodents and prevent more from entering.

Step 1 - Identify Your Pest

There are two types of rats that will generally invade your attic: the Norway rat and the roof rat.

The Norway rat weighs 10 to 16 ounces and its length is 7 to 9 inches. Its brown fur is shaggy and coarse. It has small ears and eyes, a blunt nose and scaly tail. Norway rats like to use paper, grass, or other soft materials to build their nests.

The roof rat weighs about 5 to 9 ounces and grows to a length of 7 to 10 inches. A pointed nose, large ears, and black smooth fur are indications that you have roof rats in your attic. Roof rats prefer to nest off the ground and are found mostly in urban areas.

A female attic rat can have an average of four to seven litters a year with eight to twelve pups in each litter.

Step 2 - Determine Their Access Points

You must thoroughly search your home from the basement up to find any areas where rats are gaining entrance. Possible entry points for an attic rat are windows, door thresholds, utility lines and inlets, rooftops, and downspouts.

Step 3 - Track Your Rats

Tracking the runways of an attic rat helps you find out how they are getting into your home. Sprinkle unscented baby powder or flour on suspected rat traffic areas to see the rats' runways. Also, look for droppings and smudges left from the rat’s oily fur. Attic rats can gnaw holes in wood and damage electrical wiring.

Step 4 - Seal Off the Attic

Keep in mind that rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter. Use steel mesh to seal any openings, since rats can chew through wood and even concrete.

Step 5 - Set Traps

Snap traps are the most humane and efficient way to get rid of rats in the attic. Rats are naturally distrustful of new things placed in their environment so you have to get them used to the traps before setting them. Leave a few unset traps out with peanut butter to make the rats feel comfortable around them. Then, after a week or so, set the traps to spring. This method allows you to trap a large percentage of the rats before they can reproduce and get scared away from the traps. Dispose of carcasses immediately.

These steps will help you rid your attic of rats and prevent them from coming back.

Donna Smith

Donna is a contributing writer for DoItYourself.com. She has experience researching and creating a wide range of home improvement and garden projects, and especially enjoys learning about renewable energy sources and growing blueberries.

H.R. Helm

H.R. Helm is an accomplished DIY craftsman. He has been DIY since childhood and is now a septuagenarian. He is experienced in wood and metal construction, having designed and built several houses and metal buildings. He built every permanent building on his current homestead and did all the plumbing and electrical work. He has several years experience as a professional cabinet builder, and he is an accomplished auto repairman, having operated an auto repair business for many years. He currently has a home shop where he sharpens and rebuilds saws, repairs lawn mowers, mobility scooters, hydraulic jacks, and anything else that comes along. He also builds custom tools for metal working. Invention prototypes are another of his many accomplishments. He owned and operated a manufacturing business building Compact Utility Vehicles for homeowner use. H.R. enjoys making jams and jellies during fruit season along with cooking meals. He is committed to outdoor cooking in a Bar-B-Q pit he welded together several years ago. He maintains fruit and nut trees along with helping his wife with a vegetable garden. He farmed commercial garden produce for several years. It helps to have over 50 years of farming and ranching experience. Employment/Education Highlights ASE Certified Master Auto Technician Certified Welder Cross country truck driver -- over dimensional freight Design Engineer/Project Manager for injection molded plastic company Bus Driver/Substitute Teacher Inventor with two patents (weight training &ndash; anti-rollback for manual wheelchair) BS in Industrial Technology