Rat control in Almere: the signs to look for
In the Netherlands it is almost always the brown rat. It is a sturdy animal with a blunt snout and a thick tail, much bigger than a mouse. Rats are shy and mostly active at night, so you usually notice what they leave behind first:
- droppings of one to two centimetres, often in small groups along a wall or fence
- burrows with loose soil under paving, a shed or the compost heap
- flattened runs through grass or flowerbeds
- gnaw marks on wooden doors, plastic pipes or cables
- scratching or gnawing in the crawl space, the ceiling or behind panelling
A rat out and about in daylight usually means there are more of them.
Sewer or garden: two routes, two solutions
A rat that comes from the garden often has a burrow in a bank, under paving or beneath a shed. It is drawn by food: an open compost heap, spilt birdseed, chicken feed or rubbish bags next to the wheelie bin. From the garden it gets into the shed or crawl space through gaps, broken vents or an open door.
If rats come from the sewer, the cause is usually underground: a cracked or loose drainpipe beneath the house, an old connection that was never properly capped or a damaged inspection chamber. A drainage specialist can pinpoint the defect with a camera inspection. Once it is repaired, a rat valve (rattenklep) in the drain stops new rats getting through. The route determines the solution.
How our rat control works in practice
During the inspection we look for burrows, runs, droppings and gnaw marks, and we check the crawl space, shed and drains. That information becomes a plan. First we remove whatever attracts rats and block their access with mesh, vent covers or mortar. Then we deal with the rats in a targeted way: with traps or with bait in locked bait boxes, which only a certified pest controller may place.
We come back to check whether bait is still being taken and whether there are fresh signs. Once things stay quiet, we remove everything. Tackling the cause before the animal is how we handle every job in our pest control service across Almere.
What not to do yourself
It is tempting to scatter poison or fill in a burrow, but that rarely solves anything. Loose poison can be found by children, dogs or cats, and birds of prey or herons that eat a poisoned rat take in the poison too. A filled-in burrow is soon dug out again, or the rat picks a new route, sometimes towards your crawl space.
What does help: birdseed on a bird table rather than the ground, chicken feed cleared away every evening and the compost bin placed on paving slabs or mesh. Never handle droppings with bare hands. If the droppings are small, no bigger than a grain of rice, you are probably dealing with mice; see our page on mouse control.
Rats in the street, in parks or on the banks
If you see rats on public land, such as a green space, a ditch bank, a playground or a verge, the owner of that land is responsible. In that case, report the problem to the gemeente Almere (the municipality). If the rats are in your own garden, shed or crawl space, or in shared areas managed by your VvE, you can call us.
The two situations often overlap: rats living in a bank that visit the waterside gardens at night. Then it helps to file a report and, at the same time, make your own property as unattractive to rats as possible.
