Rats make their homes close to where their food is. So don t make it easy for them store foods at least a foot off the floor, in closed or sealed containers. Little puddles of water give rats plenty to drink, so all leaks must be fixed. They can chew through wood, wallboard, plaster, even some concrete to get to food. They can squeeze into your home through a space around a pipe or under the door, through a hole in a screen or the floor, or through a gap between a window and a window frame.
Rats have lots of babies.
So poisoning a few rats in a few neighborhoods will never do more than reduce their numbers for a little while. To defeat them, we have to starve them, make them homeless, and cut off their water supply. You can stop rats from getting in, but you must block all the little spaces and holes so well that even sharp-toothed rats can't get in. Rats often get in through the hole in the wall behind the stove where the gas line comes in, and through the holes under sinks and inside cabinets where water pipes come in. You can quickly and cheaply fill any small holes in your apartment.