Rat control in Zaandam: how to recognise rats
Around homes it is nearly always the brown rat. It is much bigger than a mouse, with a blunt snout, small ears and a tail slightly shorter than its body. Rats are wary and mainly active at dusk and during the night, so you are more likely to see what they leave behind than the animals themselves:
- droppings one to two centimetres long, far larger than a mouse's, often in a few regular spots;
- burrows with a smooth, worn edge under paving, sheds or in the bank of a ditch;
- dark, greasy smears along walls and beams they pass repeatedly;
- gnaw damage to wheelie bins, cables, doors or the garden hose;
- scratching or gnawing in the crawl space or behind a wall.
What draws rats to your home
Rats need three things: food, water and a dry place to hide. They find food at bird tables and chicken runs, in open compost bins, in rubbish bags dumped beside the container and in bread left out by the water for ducks and geese. Water is never far away in this town. Shelter comes in the form of decking, a cluttered shed or a woodpile.
Indoors, rats very often arrive via the sewer. A cracked or dislodged drain pipe under the floor, a disused connection or an open gully in the crawl space is a fast lane into your home. On soft ground, pipes can sink slightly, pulling joints apart and creating exactly that kind of opening.
Our approach: source first, then rat control
Effective rat control hinges on one question: where are they coming from? During the inspection we follow runs, burrows and grease marks and check the crawl space, drain connections and garden. If the sewer looks like the source, we recommend having a sewer specialist survey the pipes with a camera and fitting a rat flap (rattenklep), a one-way valve that lets waste water out but keeps rats from coming in.
We then close holes and gaps with material rats cannot chew through. Any rats still present are dealt with in a targeted way, using traps or bait in locked stations. Professional rodenticides may only be used by certified pest controllers; we use them as part of a plan rather than a quick fix. A follow-up visit confirms whether the activity has really stopped.
What you can do about rats yourself
Clear away any food left outdoors, including the cat's bowl and birdseed that falls to the ground. Put rubbish in a closed container and never leave bags beside it. Keep the compost bin shut and do not add cooked leftovers. Long grass, piles of branches and materials stacked against the shed are best removed.
- Never put your hand into a burrow, and wear gloves if you have to move a dead rat: rats can spread diseases such as Weil's disease.
- Do not throw poison into burrows; it works poorly and puts pets and wildlife at risk.
- Simply filling a burrow with soil is pointless, as the rat will dig a new exit.
Rats in the street, green spaces and next door
If you see rats in the street, a park, along a ditch or around communal containers, report it to Zaanstad municipality. When the problem is on your own property or inside your home, we tackle it together with you. If several neighbours are affected, talk to each other: rats ignore garden boundaries, and a joint approach works far better than everyone acting alone.
Not sure whether it is a rat or a mouse? Small droppings and damage inside kitchen cupboards point more towards mice; see mouse control. For wasps, insects and other pests, visit our page on pest control in Zaandam.
