The first step to mice and rat control is making your home or business unattractive to the critters. One of the easiest things you can do is clearing the path to the doors of your home of tall grass, weeds, wild berries, shrubs and other plant life. Such overgrowth can give shelter to mice and rats and give them easier access to your home through normal entryways.

Anything edible lying about, inside or outside your building, is like putting out an invitation for a mouse or rat infestation. Effective mouse and rat removal and control is about addressing those issues.Trash can be quite the inviting buffet for a mouse or rat, so use trashcans with tight-fitting lids and take it out daily. In your kitchen, use impenetrable containers for your grains, sugar and other pantry items. Coffee cans and jars with screw lids or hard plastic containers with lids work best.

Rats have well-established annual cycles of activity closely linked to their particular environments. They move into buildings for food and warmth in the winter; exploit specific changes in activity, food supply and shelter throughout the year; and continually migrate to re-occupy territories left vacant by previous control programmes.

The main task to achieve in any rat control programme is to identify the source of the problem and if that cannot be identified, then you have to eliminate the food supply, other than the rat poison you are going to employ to achieve riddance. Your priority is to try to find how they entered the property, as without doing this, you may not be able to totally solve the problem. Even if you clear the current rat infestation , rats may return in a month, a year or even 5 years down the line.

Harbourage reduction can also result in rapid control of rats, if they have nowhere to hide, they will soon depart, providing the food source is not too easily accessible.Rats need water too, ensure there is no easily available water ie: dripping tap. Unlike mice, rats cannot survive without regular water supply.

What you need to do is find out where the rats are entering your home. Typically, they squeeze through gaps in the foundation or around pipes entering your home. But more common with rats is to find window screens with holes chewed in them.

A mouse or rat can enter a home or business through not  screened doors, windows, ventilators, floor drains, cracks and breaks in foundations, holes around electrical conduits and pipes where they enter foundations or go through floors and walls. Plus, both a mouse and rat can gnaw throw many materials. Only materials with consistencies like sheet metal and cement are truly mouse and rat proof.

Finally check the roof to see if there is any evidence of rat activity up there. Look for damaged items (gnawed) and perhaps droppings, however, droppings will normally be in just one area as rats like to have a toilet area, unlike mice who defecate anywhere!Please also be aware that, if you live in a semi-detached or terraced property, there is a possibility rats may be entering your property from the adjacent home.

Prior to doing all this inside the house, it may be a good idea to leave the house entry doors open, should you disturb the rat in opening up kick boards and moving out cookers etc. you may be lucky and the rat will escape out of the door.

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