They may be cute and funny when they’re carrying large pizza slices to their urban subway homes, but let a Norway rat find its way inside your abode, and it’s screams instead of laughs. To identify and get rid of Norway rats, look for large, brown or gray bodies with beady eyes, small ears, and blunt noses. Prevention is the best solution to keep these critters out of your home, but if they’re already present, expert help is the most effective method of removal.
What Is a Norway Rat?
Sewer rat, street rat, subway rat, brown rat — whatever name you like to call it, its official moniker is the Norway rat (rattus norvegicus). And no, it does not originate from Norway; these rats actually hail from China. However, it is believed these rats made their way to England by hitching rides aboard ships from Norway, thus receiving their name.
Behaviorally, these rats can be more aggressive than their roof rat brethren and are known to get into fights with other rats, although not typically with colony mates and not with humans, either.
Norway rats typically live for two years and prefer to nest in low areas (their climbing skills are lacking). They’re adept at swimming, running, and jumping, hence their affinity for sewers and subways; however, they will also nest on the first floor, crawl spaces, or basements of homes and other buildings if the opportunity arises.
A Norway rat’s diet consists of:
- Dead animals
- Garbage
- Small fish
- Insects
- Fruits/grains/nuts
What Does a Norway Rat Look Like?
Presenting as brown or gray in color, Norway rats have large bodies stretching over a foot long (up to 16 inches from nose to tip of tail). Their scaly, hairless tails run about 8 inches long. They typically weigh a little more than a pound, have beady eyes, blunt noses, and small ears.
How to Get Rid of Norway Rats Indoors
Experts recommend hiring a rodent control pro as the most effective way to eliminate a Norway rat problem already in progress (and help ensure they don’t return). But, there are other control options you can try on your own first:
Traps
Snap Traps
These are the type you’re probably most familiar with — you can attract rats with bait inside the trap, and when the rat comes to retrieve the bait, the trap snaps down on their bodies. (Examples of attractive rat baits include peanut butter, pieces of meat, or chocolate.)
For the best outcome, be sure to set several traps along rat runs (the routes they travel, which you can find via rat poop and pee remnants) with the snap trigger facing the wall. This way, the rat will walk right over it, as they tend to prefer staying close to walls as they move about.
Note: If seeing a rat squirm or seeing a dead rat in the trap sends shivers down your spine, this may not be the best option for you.
Electronic Traps
Electronic traps kill rats using electric shock. Similarly to the snap trap, you add bait to the electronic trap, and when the rat enters, the trap delivers a high voltage to its body killing it quickly. Even better, you won’t have to see the body of the rat; the trap should notify you of a kill, and you can pick up the trap and dump the contents in the garbage outside.
Place these traps the same way you’d place snap traps — a few specific examples include garages, basements, and sheds.
Live Traps
A more humane option is to use live traps, so you can catch and release rats back into the wild. Thing is, it may be a bit difficult to catch Norway rats, since they are so intelligent and wary of new things in their environment. This is especially true if you’ve already tried snap traps or electronic traps, and other rats have seen their brethren “disappeared,” if you will. They’ll associate the bait you used to kill those rats with death and avoid it.
If this is your first go at any type of trap, you may have better luck. Bait your live traps with foods rats love — peanut butter, bits of bacon or hot dogs, bread, or candy — and set them along walls where rats travel. Then, once you’ve caught a rat, you can release it outside (at least 5 miles away from your home) completely unharmed. Switch up the type of baits you use for better success, and be sure to purchase live traps that are difficult to escape.
Note: The CDC recommends against live traps because they can scare rats, which can, in turn, cause them to urinate in your home, resulting in an increased chance of disease exposure. Live traps may also increase exposure to rat bites, which also transmit disease.
Hire a Professional
Don’t worry if none of these options sound appealing to you (because rats, ick!), you can skip all the DIY and go straight to the experts. Hiring a rodent control pro near you is the safest, most effective method of eliminating Norway rats, as these experts know exactly what to do and how to do it; no trial and error necessary.
They’ll perform a thorough inspection and develop an integrated pest management plan to eradicate your current infestation and prevent future ones.
On average, hiring a professional rodent exterminator costs between $245 and $430.
How to Get Rid of Norway Rats Outdoors
While traps work best for catching rats inside, since you won’t have to worry about a poisoned rat dying somewhere inaccessible in your home, baits are the best option for killing rats outside.
Bait Stations
Choose bait stations that have two openings and decide whether you’d like to use blood-thinning baits or non-blood-thinning ones. Both are slow-acting, which prevents rats from associating the bait stations with death, so they can be reused (unless non-refillable). As the rats feed on the toxic baits over a few days, they will bleed internally (blood-thinning baits) or simply poison their systems over time.
You’ll also want to ensure you’re using a Tier 1 bait station, as those are weather-resistant and tamper-resistant, so they can be used outdoors.
Caution: When setting bait stations outdoors, there is always the risk of harming non-target animals. You may avoid bait stations altogether and use other effective control strategies. If you choose to use bait stations, place them in areas where other animals don’t usually frequent and where you suspect high rat activity.
Refillable Bait Stations
Bait stations come ready-to-use, but refillable ones can be used over and over again. After their first successful use, you can open the device and add more bait; reusable stations typically include a few extras. When you run out, though, you can pick up more at your local hardware store.
Place these baits against a wall or along your foundation and set several bait stations for best results. Also, be sure the location of your baits are not easily accessible to kids and pets; while they’re tamper-resistant, there’s still a chance a determined child or pet can break into it.
Non-Refillable Bait Stations
These bait stations are one and done, as they cannot be opened — if you have kids and pets, though, you may actually prefer these non-refillable bait stations, since they can’t be opened and may be a safer choice. Follow the same application guidelines as the refillable ones.
Habitat Modification
If rats are infesting your yard or garden, modifying their habitat may help drive them out. By making the space undesirable, they may seek food and water elsewhere. Here are some simple ways you can modify their habitat:
Eliminate Access to Food and Water
By securing garbage can lids, storing pet food food in airtight containers, keeping outdoor kitchens/grill areas clean and sanitized, and fixing any water leaks, Norway rats will perceive food and water to be scarce near your home and will likely move on.
Tidy Up Yard Debris
The first place a Norway rat is going to attempt to nest is outdoors, so maintaining a yard free of excess leaves, wood stacks, and overgrowth will limit access to materials Norway rats use to build their nests. Trim trees and bushes, keep grass mowed short, and prevent them from burrowing under your foundation by adding a layer of wire mesh or gravel alongside it. You can even build a cement patio.
Flooding the Burrow
If you notice rat burrows already in existence near your home, before sealing the holes with soil, you’ll need to check if the burrows you’re seeing are active or not. One way to do this is to flood the burrow, which is exactly as it sounds — you’ll use a hose to fill it with water. This will send any rats that may be inside running out their escape holes; once you’re sure the burrow is empty, refill the holes with soil.
Keep in mind that rats may return after flooding the burrow. Flooding is a short-term solution for a more serious pest problem.
Fogging the Burrow
Smoking the rats out of their burrows is another option. Send rodent smoke bombs into the burrow’s entrance (leave an additional escape hole open). If no escape holes are left open, the rats will suffocate.
Before choosing this method, make sure it’s legal to do so in your area. Also, understand that rats may return later and build a new burrow; fogging hasn’t been proven to be a long-lasting rat control measure.
Rat Control Measures to Avoid
- Mothballs (not effective and illegal to use for rodent control)
- Dryer sheets (may temporarily repel rats, but not a long-term solution)
- Ultrasonic Repellents (not effective; rats get used to the sounds)
- Peppermint oil (not effective as a stand-alone control measure)
- Bleach (not guaranteed/can also pose risk to people and pets)
- Cats and dogs (not reliable; can also increase disease exposure risk)
- Glue traps (excessively cruel and not recommended by the CDC)
- Lose rodenticides (the EPA bans mouse and rat poisons in pellet form. Rodenticide baits must be sold in block or paste form, packaged with an EPA-approved bait station)
Are Norway Rats Dangerous?
Indirectly, yes. While they tend to avoid people, preferring to move about under the cover of darkness, they can put people and pets at risk of contracting diseases through contaminated surfaces, foods, and rat droppings. A few diseases these rodents can spread include:
- Hantaviruses/Seoul virus
- Leptospirosis
- Rat-bite fever
- The bubonic plague
- Tularemia
- Salmonellosis
Norway rats can also pose a danger to the structure of your home. Their rat holes can disrupt your foundation, and, since like mice, their front teeth grow continuously, they’re always gnawing on things — including your wiring (potentially causing fires and/or outages), walls, books, papers, and furniture.
FAQ About Identifying and Eliminating Norway Rats
What do Norway rat droppings look like?
They’re about three-fourths of an inch long with blunt ends, resembling pill capsules in shape. Unlike mice and other rodents that drop their poop on the go, Norway rats do their business in designated spots, so you’ll find piles of poop, as they can leave up to 50 droppings each day.
What’s the difference between Norway rats, roof rats, and wood rats?
Norway rats (aka brown rats or street rats) have smaller ears and coarser fur than most rats, blunt noses, and scaly tails that are shorter than their body length, which is typically around 16 inches. They prefer nesting in low-lying areas and are known for their rat holes that lead to underground burrows.
Roof rats (aka black rats or ship rats) have larger ears, pointier noses, thinner bodies, and longer tails than Norway rats. They’re smaller in overall size, too, coming in at 8 to 10 inches long. Also unlike Norway rats, roof rats prefer to nest up high — in attics, trees, and, you know, roofs.
Wood rats (aka pack rats or trade rats) may be similar in size to Norway rats, but they have larger ears and hairy tails, rather than scaly ones. (Some experts compare their tails to squirrels; albeit, they’re a bit thinner.) In terms of nesting, wood rats like to collect various items (including, pretty, shiny things) to build nests, be it in vegetation or inside homes. In their nests, they also build designated “bathrooms.”
What do Norway rat nests look like?
Found in low-lying areas, from basements to underneath foundations to sewers, Norway rat nests are made up of shredded materials like paper, fabric, and yard debris and are found inside their burrows.
The burrows themselves have entry holes that are 2 to 4 inches across and can run about 1 inch and a half deep. Inside are various escape routes connected to the main channel, as well as different “rooms.”
Hire a Pro to Identify and Get Rid of Norway Rats
Norway rats have heightened senses, including their sense of smell, which helps them detect poison in baits at times, rendering some of them ineffective. To make sure you get rid of Norway rats once and for all, hire a rodent control pro near you.
Firstly, they’ll be able to identify whether the pest you have is indeed a Norway rat or other type of rodent. Then, they’ll perform a thorough inspection of your home, locate and eliminate nests, seal entryways, and customize a plan for your home that utilizes the latest technology and equipment to return your home to its pest-free days.
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