There are a number of scents which are perfectly pleasant to humans but rats seem to hate.

This makes leaving certain scents around your home, office or business premises is a simple, low-cost and effective method to stop rats making themselves at home.

What smell will keep rats away? Scents which are well-known to repel rats include:

• Peppermint. You can put some peppermint oil on cotton wool balls and place them in corners of your home. Replace every few days to keep rats away
• Castor oil. You can soak cotton balls in the oil or just spread some where you suspect they are hiding.
• Citronella oil. Use the same method you would for peppermint and castor oil
• Rats have a highly developed sense of smell which means they don’t like strong odours such as crushed pepper and onions. Be careful leaving these items around the house if you have children and pets. Onions are toxic to dogs and can cause anaemia in cats so it’s safer to stick to the oils if you have pets around the home
• If you want to stop rats entering your garden, there are a number of plants known to repel them because of their smell. These include marigolds, rosemary, peppermint, lavender, onions, grape hyacinth, garlic, daffodils, oregano, sage, cayenne, black pepper and tomatoes

If you would like help rat-proofing your home or business premises, get in touch with Prokill and we’ll introduce you to your local pest controller. Contact us via our online form.