How Do Rats Find Food?
Rats are considered the rodent family’s most adaptable and resilient members in terms of food, diet, and habitat. It is unavoidable that they are found globally and survive reliably because they can eat anything they find. They are nuisance creatures, which means they cause problems for humans and can coexist with them in almost every environment. Don’t get worried if a rat has invaded your surroundings. You must be thinking about how rats find food and what they eat. How do they enter your living space and stay alive? To answer all of your concerns, we are presenting our blog. Let’s move forward and understand the ways rats food.
Ways Through Which Rats Find Food
Have you ever wondered how rats survive for so long and manage to find food from the trash to sealed cans? While they have poor eyesight, their fantastic sense of smell helps them navigate the world and find food. They depend on their smelling sense to find a food source. It is estimated that 1% of rats’ DNA has a functioning odor detection. Like how we see colors, these creatures detect smell the same way. Here is how their sniffers help them detect food.
Supernatural Smell
Rats find food because of their remarkable sense of smell. They can identify the scent of food even if it has a much lower concentration. The moment you drop a crumb of bread or pizza, the next moment, they will detect it and reach the place. That is how they find food locations and sources.
Smell Through walls
Protect your edibles from these little creatures by storing them in air-tight containers or jars. Don’t ever suppose that sealed canes or pantry doors will prevent them from reaching out for food. Their sniffers help them to sense smell even through cabinets and walls.
Follow The Food Trails
Because they use their smell to detect food, the odor of forgotten cheese, spilled sugar, or breadcrumbs will act as a food trail for them. They will use this food trail to reach where the food is present or spilled.
Identifying The Source
It is amazing how they use their sniffers and whiskers to identify the exact location and source of food. They detect food from a distance and can reach the precise location. They constantly quiver their noses to reach out to the area and environment, which helps them track the odor.
How They Invade Into Your Home?
It is astonishing how these pets effortlessly enter your living space. Because they are intruders, they enter your living space to get food, water, and shelter. They find all these things in your home, joining and becoming a part of this space. Besides this, the small size of these rats helps them fit even in a quarter-sized crack. They take advantage of open doors, windows, poorly fitted frames, cracks, and holes. When you drop a piece of fruit, vegetable, cheese, or pet food on the ground, they sniff it and try to enter your dwellings. The common areas from which these rodents can enter your home are listed below:
- Cracks
- Holes
- Drainage System
- Door & Window Gaps
- Garage
Keep Rats Away From Your Home
The guide given above about how rats find food must help you keep them away from your living space. Some ways to protect your living space from rats are given below.
- Use air-tight jars and containers to store dry food, such as grains and cereals.
- Clear up the spills you dropped on the ground by accident because it could be a source to attract these little creatures.
- Covering the trash with a lid is advised because rotten items will rapidly attract them.
- Close every entry point, such as holes and cracks, to prevent these little creatures from entering.
Conclusion!
They are little adorable creatures that invade your living space for food, shelter, and water. Rats find food because of the help of their sniffers. They sense the smell even from a distance and reach the precise location of the food source in no time. Keep them away from your home by ensuring the food is not in their reach. Because of their supernatural smell, they follow the food trails and identify the food source. Cutting off the food source will keep your home rats-free.
Matthew Daviss
Explore the insightful world of rodents with our exciting articles written with expertise and passion by our rodent care specialist, Dr. Matthew Daviss.
