If you’re currently hearing the shuffle of small feet and wondering how to catch a rat, we’ve been there. Having rats in your home is uncomfortable because you know how disease-ridden they are! There are tons of DIY solutions to catch a rat, but the most effective ways to catch them are traps, bait, and poison.
Let’s break down everything you need to know about catching a rat. Often times, Dallas homes have been exposed to rats at some point. They are very common in the area, and if your neighborhood has a problem with them, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll deal with them occasionally. There’s nothing worse than getting that first rat in the house, so let’s catch it!
However, if you’ve got rat problems, you try these steps, and you can’t catch them, give us a call. We service the entire Dallas–Fort Worth area and our expert exterminators can solve your rat problem, guaranteed. We can help you at your home or office. Click here to see our pricing.
What does a rat look like?
To make sure you’re first dealing with a rat, let’s discuss what a rat looks like. There can actually be other rodents (like squirrels) in your attic, so it may be hard to see whether or not you’re dealing with a rat. So, what does a rat look like? A rat has these five distinguishable characteristics:
Rats are active at night, so you may find them sleeping in your home during the day.
Heavy fur on their bodies rather than on their ears and tails.
Can stand on their hind legs, but regularly run on all fours.
Vary in color and size, but many are brownish-gray.
Dark, beady eyes and a long, pointed nose.
Can rats climb walls?
Rats can indeed climb walls. Many people believe that rats cannot get into their homes as long as they have all bottom-floor holes patched up. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Rats are exceptionally good climbers. While they often get onto your roof through branches and trees, they can climb virtually anything, which is why it’s important you have no holes in your roof that rats can squeeze through.
Do rats bite?
Many people ask us, do rats bite? Sometimes, they can. While rats are not considered to be aggressive animals, they will bite if they feel cornered or pressured. Most of the time, rats will leave you alone. However, if you do get a rat bite, it’s important to seek out a doctor.
Rat bites are hardly ever serious, but they can cause something called rat-bite fever. Rat-bite fever can cause joint pain, fever, and a rash. This is a condition that will need to be prescribed antibiotics to get rid of.
What diseases do rats carry?
Sometimes, people wonder what diseases rats carry. And the bad news is that they can carry a lot of diseases! These are the animals that started the plague, and they still carry that today. Besides the plague, rats carry:
One of the first signs that you have rats is finding rat droppings around the home. They are shiny, black, and ½ inch to ¾ inch long. It is comparable to mouse droppings but much larger. Finding rat poop around your home is a good sign that there is a rat infestation somewhere around.
What do rats like to eat?
Rats are notoriously not picky eaters. They eat your trash, crumbs, and anything they can get their hands on. Because of this, it’s common for rats to be in homes that aren’t always considered “dirty.” You could have children dropping crumbs, dog food could be left out, or your trash could be improperly sealed. All of these things can lead to rats.
However, one of rats’ favorite foods is peanut butter. While most people think that mice love cheese (and they do), peanut butter is actually the best food to try and trap a rat with, which we’ll explain a bit more about next.
What kills rats instantly?
Snap traps are the only thing that can kill rats instantly. Rat poison will kill rats almost instantly. We recommend using rat poison to kill rats only in enclosed traps that are outside of the home and that other animals and children cannot get to. Rat poison is extremely dangerous to other animals and humans. We don’t want anyone getting hurt by it, which is why we recommend using it outside in enclosed traps.
We also never use rat poison in the home because rat poison doesn’t kill rats on contact. It takes a few hours for the poison to work through their system and rats can die within your walls, which leads to a whole other host of problems.
How to trap a rat?
When you are trying to trap a rat, there are a few things you need. You’ll need traps that are specific to rats (they are much bigger than the snap traps used for mice) and a bait of some sort. There are many different traps to choose from with rats. Some people will use a bucket of water with a “plank” above that rats will climb and slip into the water and drown. Others use humane traps where they catch them alive and rerelease them into the wild, and others use glue traps. We don’t recommend any of these traps. Glue traps can lead to rats chewing off their own limbs, drowning is inhumane and not always effective, and re-releasing them into the wild could cause more trouble for you.
Purchase a trap
We recommend using snap traps and bait for a home DIY approach. However, always make sure that the snap traps are away from little ones and yourself. If you need traps around the home, look for enclosed traps that are not harmful to humans.
Bait
Once you’ve purchased your traps, you need to bait them. We recommend using peanut butter. Peanut butter has a strong smell that rats are drawn to. They love the taste, and it’s easy for them to sniff it out from far away. Apply a dab of peanut butter to each snap trap that you have set up.
Sit and wait
After baiting, sit and wait. You want to check your traps once a day. Hopefully, if you have a rat infestation, you’ll start to see activity on the traps within 24 hours. Once your trap has caught the rat(s), do some prevention work.
Prevent
Make sure once that rats are taken care of that you seal up all the holes so that they cannot get in again. Rats can get through a hole just as small as a pencil, so you want to patch them up well. We offer a rodent exclusion service to prevent rats or mice from getting into your home or business in the first place.
Conclusion: How to catch a rat
When you need to know how to catch a rat, remember the rat trifecta: poison (outside and away from people and animals), bait, and trap. This DIY approach is effective and can get rid you of the infestation that you have.
However, if you’re not up to the task of doing it yourself and are in the Dallas or Fort Worth areas, give Vinx Pest Control a call. We serve the entire DFW area including Plano, Garland, and Bedford. In Texas, we also serve the Sulphur Springs area. We’re happy to come out and help you with your rat problem, and we guarantee our service. If you’re still dealing with rats after we come out, we’ll come back and take care of them for free. We also serve the Charleston and Greenville, SC areas. Give us a call at 972-855-8469 or fill out the form to get a free quote today.
If you’re wondering how to get rid of crane flies, you’re in the right place. When I first saw a crane fly, I thought it was a giant mosquito looking at me like I was its next dinner. There’s no doubt that these insects can look scary, and it wasn’t unrealistic to think that they were mosquitos. Thankfully, I was told that crane flies are mostly harmless but very annoying. So, even though I was glad that they weren’t going to eat me, I knew I had to get rid of them.
But before I teach you how to get rid of them, here’s my shameless plug. We’ll do it for you. If you don’t have the time or you just want to make sure the job is done and done right and you live in the Dallas – Fort Worth, Charleston, or Greenville, SC areas, then give us a try. Click here to see our crane fly pricing.
After a lot of studying, I came up with five simple steps to take to get rid of these frustrating bugs. The good news is that it is possible to get rid of crane flies, but you have to be diligent and attack the problem head-on. It may take some time and work on your part if you don’t call a pest control company, but the reward of fewer crane flies is worth it. To get rid of pesky crane flies, you need to follow these five steps:
Identify the crane flies
Inspect your yard for their nesting sites
Encourage natural predators to cut down on their population
Apply insecticide to kill the leatherjacket larvae
Prevent them from coming back next season
If you’re not sure whether or not you’re dealing with crane flies, keep reading to learn more about them and how to get rid of them for good.
Crane fly vs mosquito
We often get asked how to identify crane flies when they look so much like mosquitos. It can be difficult! Crane flies look a lot like mosquitos, but they couldn’t be further from the blood-sucking insects if they tried. However, if you’re trying to identify whether you’re dealing with a crane fly or a mosquito, there are a few things to look for. Their sizes are different, their bodies are different, and if you look even closer, their mouths are different.
Size
The first difference between crane flies and mosquitos is their size. Mosquitos are relatively small. They are easy to spot, but there’s also a good chance that they will sneak up on you and you won’t see them. Crane flies, on the other hand, you’d have to have pretty bad eyesight to not see!
Imagine that mosquitos are like dimes, and crane flies are like silver dollars. Quite the size difference! Mosquitos will grow to be about ¼ of an inch. Crane flies can be anywhere from 3/8 inch to over 2 ½ inches big! So, when you think that there’s a giant mosquito headed your way, then chances are, it’s just a crane fly.
Bodies
Though at first glance crane flies and mosquitos look to be nearly identical, there are many differences. Mosquitos have thicker and shorter bodies. Their legs are closer together and bend more. Their wings are about the size of their body and tend to be right above their abdomen. Crane flies have a long, skinny body with wings that shoot out to the side. Their legs are long and don’t bend nearly as much as mosquitos.
They are also different colors. Mosquitos tend to be more of a brownish color once they’ve fed on blood. Crane flies are harmless and a light brown or gray color. Crane flies also have a pointed end at the bottom of their abdomens. Many people think that this is some sort of stinger, but it’s not. They cannot suck your blood through this point, nor is that how mosquitos get their blood.
Mouths
One of the most important differences between mosquitos and crane flies is their mouths. Or, perhaps we could say, their lack of. Mosquitos suck up your blood through something called a proboscis. It’s a bit like a sharp straw that pierces your skin and allows them to slurp it up. Gross, right?
Thankfully, crane flies don’t have a proboscis. In fact, adult crane flies don’t even eat. They only live for a few days, and they never have to eat in that form. Only the larvae eat. So, if you look at a crane fly, you will see a space between its two front legs. On a mosquito, between the front legs, there is a long proboscis which can look a little like a third leg.
Do crane flies eat mosquitos?
Many people believe that crane flies eat mosquitos. They are called mosquito hawks because they are supposed to go after them like hawks and eat them. While that certainly would be beneficial (and we’d all start having crane fly farms), it’s not true.
Crane flies do not eat mosquitos because adult crane flies don’t eat anything. So, where’d that name come from? Well, it turns out that the myth may not be totally false. Crane fly larvae do eat, and sometimes, they’ll eat mosquito larvae. However, they don’t actively search for the larvae because they mostly eat plants and crops.
What do crane flies eat?
Adult crane flies don’t eat anything. They only live for a few days once they become adults. In fact, they die so quickly that they never need to refuel! So, while these bugs are certainly annoying, they won’t be in your hair for too long.
That being said, crane flies aren’t totally innocent. In fact, they can destroy your yard if you let them run rampant. Because of that, it’s important to get rid of them. Crane fly larvae are super hungry insects. They have to eat a lot to grow so big, and the only way to do that is to feed where they hatched.
Since crane flies lay their eggs in soil, that’s where the larvae eat. These larvae eat off of crops, grasses, and seedling field crops. What that means is that though you may not see them, they are eating at your grass in your yard. You may think that your green grass is here to stay, and then, you’ll find large dead spots in the yard. That’s due to larvae eating the seeds, leaving you without grass. After the long hours mowing, seeding, and taking care of your green yard, you could lose it all!
Crane fly larvae
The real offenders when it comes to crane flies are their larvae. When female crane flies are ready to lay eggs, they find a moist spot in soil or water. They carry the eggs in their abdomen and then put them down to hatch. Once these eggs hatch, the larvae come out looking like little worms. Unlike worms, if you press on their bodies, small tentacle-like appendages will come out. It’s like an insect straight from a horror movie!
Crane fly larvae are incredibly resilient. They have extremely tough skin and some people call them leatherjackets because of this. However, this is not a good thing. Their tough skin makes them hard to kill and get rid of, especially because you often don’t see them at all. Larvae are small worm-like creatures that can be white, green, brown, or translucent.
When these larvae hatch, they are hungry. Still, that doesn’t mean you will see them. Many crane fly species will emerge at night, making them even harder to kill! When they emerge on warm nights, they feed on your grass, killing it at the root. This makes the grass unable to recover and grow back. While there are some crane flies that are active during the day, most larvae will hide underground until it’s dark enough for them to sneak out.
Do crane flies bite?
We’ve already established that adult crane flies do not bite. They lack a proboscis, like mosquitos, so they are unable to bite, sting, or suck up your blood. But, what about the larvae? Thankfully, even though the larvae are as creepy as can be, they are not able to bite you or anyone in your family—including Fido.
What do crane flies do?
Most of the time, adult crane flies just wander. They are often found bumping into walls, people, structures, and windows. Truth be told, the adults are sort of useless. However, the adults allow the life cycle to continue by laying eggs.
The larvae like to eat. And while eating isn’t normally a bad thing, it is when it comes to crane flies! They eat a lot, and they eat your yard. We know the hours and commitment to your yard you’ve shown, so to see it all go to waste is heartbreaking. Don’t worry, we’ll totally mourn over your yard with you. Larvae eat your grassroots, so say goodbye to green and hello to brown.
How to kill crane flies
In this world, it’s kill crane flies or watch your yard die. The problem is that by the time you get someone out to kill the crane flies, it could be too late. It starts with the larvae, and by the time you see the adults, you can pretty much guarantee there are larvae everywhere. So, how do you kill these larvae?
Well, you need an insecticide treatment. You can try to do this yourself, but if you need to know how to get rid of crane flies quickly and effectively, you should call out a pest control company, like Vinx, to take care of them.
How to get rid of crane flies
Unfortunately, you can kill all the crane flies you want and that may not make a difference. Though killing them will get rid of the adults or larvae for the time being, it may not be enough to stop them from coming back year after year. To do that, you need to get rid of crane flies for good. Thankfully, that can be done in five simple steps.
If you follow these steps, you’re on your way to finally ridding your home of the crane flies. That means you’ll get your yard back, and you’ll no longer struggle with brown splotches or dead grass again. Here are the five steps you need to take to get rid of crane flies:
Identify
The first thing you need to do is identify what you’re dealing with. In this article, we detailed how you can tell whether you’re dealing with crane flies or mosquitos. Since it’s important to distinguish which one you’re dealing with, check to see if the bugs look like crane flies.
If you’re dealing with crane flies, the bugs should be over an inch long, long and skinny bodies, wings that are clear and stick out to the side, and long legs that don’t bend. There should also be no proboscis or mouth on the bugs. If the bugs you’re dealing with match this description, they’re crane flies.
But, what if you’re dealing with larvae? The larvae can be about an inch long, green, brown, or white, and have tentacle-like appendages coming from its body. You will find these bugs amongst the grass, wet soil, or leaves.
Inspect
Once you’ve identified what bugs you’re dealing with, inspect your yard and try to find where the bugs are coming from. If you can find a spot where they are concentrated, this will give you an idea of why they might be there. Crane flies often seek out wet spots in the yard, meaning that your yard doesn’t have healthy draining capabilities. It’s important to identify where you’ve gone wrong and where you can fix things.
It’s also important to know where you should do the next two steps: encourage natural predators and apply insecticide. While you can try to increase and apply all over the yard, it’s better when you have a concentrated area to work with.
Encourage
The next step in getting rid of crane flies is encouraging natural predators. There are a few animals that will eat crane flies, but perhaps one of the best is birds. Birds will eat both the larvae of crane flies and the adult crane flies, which will help you to cut down on the amount that you see. When you allow more birds into your yard, there’s a good chance that you will see a cut in the number of bugs in the yard.
To encourage birds to come into your yard, try putting out some bird feeders. This can help them stay nearby, but it will also let them know that there is always food in your yard should they need it. This may seem counterintuitive to feed them when you want them to hunt for crane flies, but it will bring them into the yard and they’ll continue searching for bugs.
Another way to get more natural predators into your yard is by having a safe place for them to reside. If you have a birdhouse where they can live or nest, birds will keep coming back to your yard. While they are there, they will look for nutrient-rich larvae for themselves and their babies. In addition to that, birds can prevent other bugs from laying their eggs. They don’t just get rid of crane flies, but other pests as well. It’s a win-win situation!
Apply
Now, it’s important to remember that insecticide is needed to kill these crane flies and prevent the larvae from becoming adults and laying more eggs. However, this is possibly the most difficult step of all. Crane flies have extremely tough skin and often don’t come out during the day. They like to stay hidden, and by doing so, they can be hard to kill.
Many of the insecticides that you can purchase from the store will not be potent enough to kill the leatherjackets. While it may help to cut down on other pests, when crane fly larvae are burrowing underground and away from the insecticide, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to kill them. You need an insecticide that is incredibly strong to kill leatherjackets, and sometimes, only pest control companies can buy the product needed.
Try applying an insecticide all over the yard. Make sure to pay special attention to the spots that are wet or moist as that’s where most of the larvae and eggs will be. If you aren’t seeing a decrease in the number of crane flies, call a reputable pest control company. The products they use are more effective than the ones you can purchase at the store. Also, many pest control companies have guarantees, which mean they will keep coming back out and retreating until the bugs are gone.
Prevent
The last step to get rid of crane flies is to prevent them from coming back. Whether you’re a DIYer or you call a pest control company, prevention is truly the most important step. There are a few things that you can do to make sure that your yard is set up so that crane flies don’t come back. You need to make your yard healthy so that crane flies don’t want to lay eggs there. So, how do you do this?
The first thing you need to do is check how well your yard drains. Moist areas are heaven for crane flies, so if there are any spots that don’t properly drain, you need to get those fixed. You should also aerate your soil so that it is healthy and not too wet in one area and not the other.
Another thing you need to do is keep your lawn mowed. Mowing your lawn to a healthy height can prevent leatherjackets. This is because when the lawn is healthy, you won’t have to water it as much, which stops the moist soil that crane flies love so much. You’ll also want to keep out extra piles of leaves or wood around. This can attract the environment that crane flies love so much.
Key Takeaways
Crane flies are much larger than mosquitos, and they are also harmless to humans
Crane fly larvae feed on grass and kill your lawn
Encouraging natural predators can keep crane fly population to a minimum
Applying a quarterly pest control treatment can kill the larvae and adults
Keep a healthy lawn and ensure everything drains properly around your home to prevent crane flies
Conclusion: How to get rid of crane flies
Though crane flies may be harmless to you, they aren’t harmless to your yard. They will kill your grass and continue to nest in moist areas. Due to this, you need to keep a healthy lawn and apply a quarterly pest treatment. Since insecticide from the store is often not strong enough to kill crane flies, it’s important to find a reputable pest control company that can get rid of the crane fly population in your home.
If you live in the Dallas or Charleston areas, Vinx Pest Control can help get rid of the crane flies around your home for good. We know how annoying it is to find these large bugs around your home or wake up to brown patches in the yard. Because we’ve been there, we’ve tailored our service to specifically attack crane flies. We offer a premium pest control service that will make sure the only leather jacket you see is the leather jacket hanging in your closet. Not only do we apply insecticide with a liquid treatment, but we granulate your yard, which helps to get rid of leather jackets and other pests that hang out in your soil.
Perhaps the best part of Vinx is that we offer a guarantee. If you are still seeing bugs, give us a call. We’ll come out again and retreat for free until they are gone. Our quarterly treatments will get rid of almost all bugs—including crane flies—and the only finger you’ll have to lift is the one you use to give us a call. If you’re sick of seeing crane flies around the house, fill out the form or give us a call for a free quote. We service, Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Rockwall, Garland, Coppell, Farmers Branch, and more in the DFW area! We also service Charleston, SC, Mt Pleasant, North Charleston and that entire area!
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