RAP SHEET

Norway Rat

Rattus norvegicus

extreme CASE #MWP-0004

Chewed through a gas line just to see what would happen.

How We Take Them Down

  1. Professional-grade rodenticide bait stations secured to walls and burrow openings
  2. Snap trap deployment along known travel routes near walls
  3. Burrow fumigation or treatment for active outdoor colonies
  4. Exclusion repairs: heavy-gauge hardware cloth, concrete patching, and metal kick plates
  5. Sanitation assessment and removal of harborage conditions

Prevention Tips

  • Eliminate outdoor food sources — secure garbage in metal cans with locking lids
  • Remove brush piles, wood stacks, and debris that provide harborage near the building
  • Repair any gaps in the foundation, around pipes, and at ground level larger than a half-inch
  • Keep compost bins elevated or enclosed in a rodent-proof container
  • Inspect for fresh burrow openings around the perimeter regularly, especially in fall

Fun Facts

Norway rats can tread water for three days and have been known to swim through sewer pipes and emerge through toilet bowls. Sweet dreams.

Their front teeth grow 4–5 inches per year and are harder than iron, which is why they can gnaw through lead pipes and cinder block.

Despite being called "Norway rats," they likely originated in China. Norway is, once again, blameless.

Rats are highly intelligent and can be trained to run mazes, detect landmines, and even diagnose tuberculosis. This does not make them welcome in your basement.

Field Notes

The Norway rat is not a subtle pest. Where a mouse sneaks, a rat bulldozes — burrowing under your foundation, chewing through pipes and conduit, and leaving behind destruction that can run into thousands of dollars in repair costs. This is the rat behind most urban and suburban rodent problems in North America, and it brings genuine public health risks with it: Leptospirosis, Rat-Bite Fever, and the historical co-starring role in the bubonic plague (via its fleas) are not exactly minor charges. If you’re seeing rats during daylight hours, that’s a sign of a large, established population — nocturnal by nature, they only come out when crowding forces them into the open. Do not wait on this one.