A rat chewing on an electrical wire in an attic


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A Wired Rat - Yes, I caught this naughty little critter red-handed when he was nibbling on a wire at a house I was called to. And that exactly was the reason why I was at this house in the first place. Apparently, a portion of the house had a power cut and according to the electrician’s diagnosis, it happened because a rat had chewed on the wires, disrupting the electric supply. While the homeowners got the electric problem fixed, they made the smart move of calling me up and trap the rat that did all this to them.

Like everyone else, I also used to wonder about rats’ fascination with electric wires and why they love to gnaw at them. It was after years of observation and learning a few things about rats’ characteristic habits that I understood why they do that. Since rats have sharp teeth, they like to have a go on anything and everything that they can practice on, much like cats like scratch different things with their claws. It is more about keeping themselves in practice than satisfying their appetite.

Oftentimes, this situation can pose a hazard as the gnawing leaves the wires exposed with the current still running through them. It can not only cause a fire to start in your house, it can also be an electrical hazard that endangers the life of an unknowing passerby. For this reason, home residents should handle a rodent situation as soon as they can whenever they discover a chewed wire situation.

In this particular case, I not only caught this miscreant but also cleaned their attic off the mess it had created, thinking of it as some kind of public rodent lavatory. It is important to clear out the rat droppings as they can also be hazardous to human health and cause different kinds of diseases.