Do Mothballs or Ammonia help repel rats?

Mothballs and Ammonia are the commonest repellents used against rats in homes, especially when they have established colonies and nests around walls, doors, attics, porch, decks and some other secluded places in Florida homes.

First of all it is recommended that you must apply these repellents every 3-6 months in order to achieve any results, but it has been discovered that rats quickly get use to the gimmick and may return to your home few days or hours after the application of such repellents. Waiting for every 3-6 months to apply repellents can be time consuming, in addition to costs and the fact that the smell of ammonia and mothballs can constitute serious Florida environmental hazards.

Inhaling ammonia and mothballs for too long can trigger certain allergic reactions, for instance, some people have reported chronic headaches , while some have reported breathing issues. As an alternative, it is recommended that the use of lethal and non-lethal mechanical traps such as strap-traps, and hinged or one-door traps. Traps are effective but you have to seal off the entry points of rats to keep them coming.

Mothballs are quite cheap to make and sold in the market for those who are desperate to get rid of Bradenton rats from their homes. Mothballs is a product also referred to as Naphthalene, they do possess strong smells of Florida rat predators, thus they can act as camouflage to repel Bradenton rats from coming back to their nests, but the issue is you will have to spray as much contents as possible, despite that, they are still not as effective as you want them to be.

One of the bad sides of mothballs and ammonia is that they are only effective for few hours or days and after that , their strength dissipate so fast. Secondly, these chemicals cannot be used outdoors where wind, rain and some other environmental conditions can wash them or reduce their strength. Chemicals like mothballs and ammonia can only be applied where your pets and family members do not go to, thus they can only used in remote places like the attic , chimney tops and the roofs. The fact that you need to place several mothballs in open containers make the product unsafe around your Florida home, and then you need to check and locate the movement track of rats and this is where you set the mothballs.

Both ammonia and mothballs have been discovered to be carcinogenic in nature, and that means they can cause certain forms of cancers, when accidentally ingested in both man and animal. If you have toddlers at home, these chemicals must definitely be avoided because toddlers are known to put anything in their mouth. It is better to stick with traps and sealing of all Bradenton rat entry points , to get rid of rats from your home , than using repellents.

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