Why You Don’t Want Rats in Your Crawlspace

There’s a lot of open hearted people out there that want to provide shelter and help for animals when they can. Young rats and mice can sure be cute when you see them out in the yard and most furry mammals make nice pets. It is always wonderful to try to be kind to animals yet there are always consequences for any action.

If you have experience with backyard bird feeders you can understand how rats can be attracted to your yard. A while ago we had some issues with both the compost and bird feeder attracting too many small furry animals. If it gets to the point where you spot a full size rat out in daylight you know things have gotten way out of hand in terms of population.

Mice seem to be a bit more tolerable but I would prevent them from living in your house too for similar reasons, however, I’m a bit biased because of my experience with rats. If mice have access, the rats may try to crew holes larger and get in too and you certainly don’t want that.

The main thing we did to fix the issue was to put a net under the bird feeder to catch the seeds and to use a sealed tumbler style compost maker that they can’t get into, for the fresh compost. Cutting the food supply did wonders.

Crawlspace Access

The builder left an earth floor right next to crawlspace entry area and the rats easily tunneled their way under the corrugated metal piece and up into the crawlspace. At first I didn’t think it was that much of an issue since they weren’t in the main part of the house. Boy was I wrong.

Things very quickly got out of hand. There’s a gradually increasing odor that gets more and more objectionable. Once you’ve smelled it you don’t soon forget it.

Looking inside the crawlspace is a grand adventure. I tried to make Dog go first and chase all the rats out since he is a rat terrier but that plan didn’t work well at all. He just looked up at me shaking and quivering and asked, “Human, why you pick me up and toss me down here?” ;)

There’s poop everywhere on the floor and inside of the shredded up insulation material which has been partially pulled down for nesting. Bumping into the insulation on the roof causes a cascade of crap to rain down on my hair. Some of the rats don’t make it so there’s some bodies to clean up too. Urine is staining everywhere – you get the picture.

It took a long time to clean this up with lots of shop vac work crawling around on my hands and knees and effort to clean and put all the insulation back in place and remove the stuff that was too badly stained. I sprayed a lot of X-O oder neutralizer and that helped a bunch with the smell.

I fixed the access tunnels by putting in some concrete on the earth floor by the crawlspace entry and I found another tunnel over six feet under the ground in a hole through the house foundation. The builder had put in a drain pipe but left the hole around it big enough for the rats to dig through. Some ready mix on the foundation there fixed that too.

If you let these things go for too long I’m sure the expense to clean up the mess would get very high. This could really damage the value of the building if not repaired.

Health Issues

More than just the smell there is also some health issues associated with the dust from the excrement of rats and mice. There is also the small possibility of bubonic plague from the flees that such animals may carry and other health risks. This is probably a pretty minor issue in this day and age but never the less worth considering.

I think in the wild these issues are not as much of a problem because the population density is not as bad. Houses and crawlspaces are safe, warm and have plenty of nesting material. With ample food supplies populations can get very high.

In the wild, my guess is that such nests are more likely to be cleaned out by the constant rain water around here and competition and predators would keep the population more under control. I have seen hawks carry rats away from the yard but I’m sure that a giant protected crawlspace is hawk proof.

Animals this small are usually pretty quiet but I’m not sure I would like sharing my bedroom with them. I’m enough of an insomniac to get somewhat disturbed by late night scurrying and little critters creeping across the bedsheets. It is bad enough hearing odd noises from the heating vents in the crawlspace.

Rats have been known to attack kids and babies while they are sleeping; it is best keep them out of the house.

Conclusion

From personal experience I would say that living together under one roof with large groups of small furry animals is not that good of an idea. Of course your results may vary and if you have some way of creating some separation and cleaning nesting areas, things might work out better.

I believe that in a more natural setting, smaller groups of these animals cause less issues and my guess is that they live a better quality of life than those living in an overcrowded, messed up crawlspace (I certainly do with a nice fresh smelling house).

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Thanks for reading! I’m thankful for your support.