The pungent odor of your garbage can is one of the most likely causes of a rat infestation. While you look at your garbage bags as waste, a rat smells its scent in the air as his next nutritious meal.
As beneficial as a compost bin is for the environment, it is also a good way to grab a rat's attention. Just like a trash bin with all of the bits of waste from every meal.
Along with the waste you leave behind after meals, the waste your dog leaves outside is also an attractive odor for rats. All of the feces outside offers compacted nutrients for rats.
If you make sure your trash is put away, rats should have nothing left to go after, right? Unfortunately, no. If a rat doesn't see one of these options available, they start going after the food that you intentionally leave out.
As an animal-based material, rats smell leather and see yet another opportunity to take in a meal. Leather is just one of many non-food materials that rats enjoy chewing through.
Even if your dog or cat regularly clears their bowl after every meal, take a few extra minutes to wash away any residue. The rat's olfactory senses allow them to smell anything that could be a meal.
As omnivores, nuts and seeds are a regular part of a rat's daily diet. Peanut butter has a bold scent, allowing rats to clearly smell it. If you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Rats aren't concerned with carbs or fat - in fact, they search out foods with high calories to make themselves chubby for leaner times.