Choose Topic
Guaranteed Rat Control, Removal, & Prevention in Orlando Florida

Will a rat in the attic have a nest of babies?

Your home is perfect for you to live in - you with your partner and kids, and also the pets too. If your home is perfect for you to live in, it will be perfect for other creatures to live in. That’s because it provides three important things - warmth, shelter from predators and the elements, and also a source of food and water. These are three things that a rat needs in order to stay fit and healthy, and also to raise a young family of its own.



An average female rat will experience mating urges many times per year, as many as 15 times per year, and it will be throughout the year too. During one 6 hour ‘session’, one female rat can mate as many as 500 times - she’ll keep mating until there are no more attentive males around to see to her, or until her mating urges run out. Either way, she makes damn sure that she gets herself pregnant. This gestation period will vary, but usually falls somewhere in between 21 and 26 days. The older she gets, the fewer babies she has, and female rats are known to go through a ‘menopausal’ stage at around 18 months to two years of age, during which the speed at which she reproduces will decrease. She can still have babies though, and that’s what you need to remember.

The average litter size is around eight to ten babies. The average rat will also reach sexual maturity at about three to four months of age, and they will generally live for a couple of years. Three years is a pretty good lifespan for the average “wild rat. They often fall prey to humans and other predators before that point.

If that one female rat managed to get pregnant 15 times per year, and she had 10 babies each time, she would produce about 150 young in just that one year. Oh, and for the record, rats will mate with brothers and sisters too. They are a species that doesn't recognise incest.

Bearing in mind that rats can mate and have young all year round, and they are doing so regularly, one rat problem soon becomes a very big rat problem, and there's a good chance this will be going on undetected in your home for a long period of time. It will only be when there are more rats in our home or property that you’ll start to see signs - droppings, urine, staining, and maybe even gnawing and damage, and by that point, you could have a great number of rats running around. The more rats you have, the longer it will take and the harder it will be to get rid of them.

There are things that will change how frequently rats mate, and if the weather is particularly hot or cold, you may find that their reproducing will slow down a little. Generally, however, thee rats will have babies whatever the weather, and that’s why you wouldn't want them in your home for very long.

Rats will breed at an astounding rate, so there is a very high chance that any rat you encounter in your home will be a mother with her young in tow. This certainly makes the catching-process much more difficult, as you will have more than one rat to catch now, but you can still achieve a rat-free home. The trick is to inspect and repair any holes and damage, and then use lethal snap traps to ensure every single rats is eliminated from your property. It's not the nicest job in the world, but it's definitely a necessary one. One rat in your home is one too many, and sadly, there is rarely just the one rat!

For more rat information, visit our rat removal tips page, or for more specific how-to instructions, read the how to get rid of rats page with 6 step-by-step instructions. If you have a problem with rats above your ceiling in your house, read my rats in the attic guide. The most important part of rat control is sealing shut entry holes into the building, but after you've done that, you'll want to know how to kill rats humanely to complete the rat control job. If you need to hire professional help in your city, click on my directory of over 200 rat removal companies servicing 95% of the USA. we can help your with your rat problem!
© 2017 OrlandoRats - site content, photos, & maintenance by Orlando Rat Removal, original site by Moonrise Group, Inc
Tel: 407-233-3838      Cell: 407-956-1268      help@orlandorats.com      Residential & Commercial      Licensed & Insured