Humane ways to stop rodents getting inside your French home this autumn

With autumn arriving and temperatures cooling down, rats are attempting to enter homes as they look for a place to keep warm and find food.

However, there are ways to discourage them from getting into the house without necessarily harming them.

Robert Moon, a British pest controller working in France and owner of Applicateur3D, said the best method is prevention.

“Rats are neophobic, meaning they don’t like any change,” Mr Moon told The Connexion.

Rearrange objects in your garden

As a first step in prevention, Mr Moon recommends moving objects around in the garden. 

This works because rats are creatures of habit and are easily stressed by changes in the environment. 

“They're myopic, with very poor eyesight and their skin is very sensitive,” he said.

“They get by using the scent from the rodent that was in front of them and by touch, which is why they're known as rat runs because they always use the same passage. So the best way to prevent them from coming inside your house is to move things on a regular basis.”

The point is to make their usual routes less predictable and less inviting. “If you have a plant pot by the wall and then you move it, replace it with a wheelbarrow, they'll get confused and confusion adds to stress,” he said.

Keep a clear strip around your home

Rats also tend to avoid open spaces, preferring sheltered areas where they can move around while remaining hidden.

This is why Mr Moon recommended keeping a clear strip of around 40 to 50cm around the outside of your home.

This means removing dense bushes, piles of logs and clutter close to the walls, as well as climbing plants, as these can also serve as routes for rats to get into the house.

Vines might be pretty, but they can also be “a free motorway for rodents to get in”, Mr Moon said.

Seal even the smallest gaps

“A rat can get through a hole the size of your thumb, and a mouse can get through a hole the size of your little finger,” Mr Moon said.

Although it can be difficult to locate every small opening, it is useful to inspect the outside of your home to find gaps around pipes, doors, vents and other openings.

Materials such as metal mesh or chicken wire can be used to block access. However, Mr Moon advised against using expanding foam, as rodents will simply chew their way through it.

Remove food sources and keep supplies covered

Rodents have a very keen sense of smell. “They are able to smell water from 50m away,” Mr Moon said.

This means they can easily be attracted to food, whether it is inside the house, or in a shed outside. This is why it is important to keep food covered and stored in secure containers, boxes or tins. Even pet food and food scraps should not be left lying around overnight.

The same applies to food-waste composting, which is highly encouraged in France but can also attract rodents. For this, Mr Moon recommended using chicken wire. “Your composter can still breathe, but it can be rodent-free,” he said.

People should also check that the base and sides are secure, with no gaps that allow rodents to enter, and that the lid fits properly. If you spot droppings or other signs of rodent activity, the first thing to do is clean the affected area, move any exposed food and look for possible entry points.

While rats’ keen sense of smell can create problems for homeowners, it also makes them very useful in an urban setting, he said. Rats are “brilliant at recycling all our rubbish, all our discarded food”, Mr Moon said.

For this reason, he says, rats spotted in the urban environment should be left alone.

Ultrasonic devices and home remedies

Ultrasonic devices are often marketed as a way to repel rodents. However, Mr Moon said that this measure only works if done intermittently. 

 “An ultrasound will work if it is used for about two days every three weeks; otherwise, they'll get used to the noise,” he said.

As an alternative, Mr Moon said a radio could be tuned between stations to produce white noise. The changing pitch may discourage rodents.

Think twice before using a live-capture trap

Once rodents are already in the house and need to be controlled, some people who want to avoid making them suffer turn to live-capture traps.

However, Mr Moon pointed out that capturing a rat and then releasing it somewhere else is even more inhumane than dispatching it there and then.

“A rat or a mouse is a social animal,” he said. “It will die within 24 hours if you release it into the woods because it's not with its family. It will cause too much stress.”

Glue traps must also be avoided as they cause prolonged suffering.

Be cautious with rodenticides

Poison baits can pose risks not only to rats but also to pets, wildlife and the wider environment.

Anyone using a rodenticide should follow the label exactly, use only products permitted for their situation and take precautions to keep children, pets and non-target animals away.

Calling a professional is usually the best option, as they can use rodenticides (which are not available to the public) that avoid secondary poisoning, for example, if a bird or a cat eats a poisoned rat.

Ask your mairie whether help is available

Finally, some French communes organise occasional rodent-control campaigns and may provide rodenticide products free of charge or at a reduced price to residents facing this issue.

You can contact your mairie to ask whether any assistance is available in your commune.

Image caption: A rat can get through a hole the size of your thumb, and a mouse can get through a hole the size of your little finger