When unwanted guests invade house

Santa landed on our house in September.

We were asleep when I heard reindeer scratching on the roof. It sounded like they were trying to dig through the ceiling. After investigating the attic, I discovered the fecal droppings of something much smaller than reindeer.

Rats.

Squirrels also are notorious for attic-squatting, but in this case, I saw the intruder. The first time you have vermin in the house it's rather shocking, especially when they're nesting 6 feet above your bed. You want them out of the house. Now.

To a rodent, the attic is a penthouse. They are protected from predators. There is soft insulation for nesting, and it's a warm environment in the winter. In attics that have an air handler, the drain pan is a source of water during the summer.

I wasn't surprised by the uninvited guest. This past summer, a rat nested beneath our deck and ate all the tomatoes and peppers from our garden.

A quarter-inch hole may be all that's needed for a rat to get inside. After inspecting our house, I patched two potential openings. One was the bottom of the garage door frame and the other was where the air handler drain pipes exited the attic.

Another consideration to help exclude intruders is to remove conduits to the house such as overhanging branches.

When pests move in, you need to remove them. Baits can be used to poison rats and mice but shouldn't be used where children or pets can reach them. In cases where baits are exposed to children and pets, tamper-resistant bait stations can be used to prevent access to everything except curious vermin.

Poison baits, such as bait pellets or weather-resistant bait blocks, should be located near the nesting habits or the exit from the attic where vermin frequently travel for food and water. Once the poison is consumed, vermin frequently will exit the nesting area in search of water, but not always. And a rat or mouse decomposing in the attic is the great disadvantage of baiting.

A dead mouse can create an awful odor in the room below it for weeks. Of course, the larger the body, the worse the smell and the longer it lasts.

To avoid using hazardous poisons and the resulting odor, rats and mice can be trapped and physically removed.

Snap traps are the old-fashioned spring-loaded traps. Ones designed for rats are strong enough to break fingers, so keep it out of reach of pets and children. Electronic traps are boxes that zap the prey with enough voltage to cause a quick death. Hygienic traps are disposable traps designed to seal the pest inside a chamber to prevent parasites from escaping once it's killed.

Glue traps are sticky surfaces that are safe to use because they don't require baiting or setting. Captured prey can be released into the wild by applying vegetable oil, although it's recommended to release them in wooded areas at least five miles away.

A live trap is a steel cage. The pest is lured to the back of the trap by food and steps on a trigger plate that drops the spring-loaded entry. Pests can be safely relocated if desired.

When dealing with traps baited with food, such as snap traps or live traps, it's best to avoid moving the trap for two to three days since pests are very suspicious. While vermin will eat a variety of food, they are especially attracted to food with a strong aroma, such as fruit, bacon or nuts. Peanut butter, however, seems to be irresistible. As a result, I caught the 12-inch rat -- nose to tail -- in a live trap with peanut butter.

I hope to not hear reindeer until December.

Tony Bertauski is a horticulture instructor at Trident Technical College. To give feedback, e-mail him at tony.bertauski@tridenttech.edu.