How Cold to Kill Rats
WouterIn winter, rats need to stay warm and find shelter in a cave or shelter. Most rats will stay inside houses or outside shelters, although they can also dig burrows. Because rats are mammals, they need to keep their body temperatures warm to survive. The colder the weather gets, the fewer food sources rats will find.
Summer temperatures are also uncomfortable for rats. However, they have ways to balance out extreme summer temperatures. In these conditions, they will rarely leave their nests and become protective of their nests. They also take great care in choosing a location for their nests. If temperatures are too hot, they may be displaced from their nests.
Because they are adapted to the cold, rats may stay indoors during summer, unless they need to mate. When it gets too hot, they may choose to build new nests in cooler areas, such as attics. In this case, they will burrow through insulation, electrical conduit pipes, and plumbing. They may even have multiple nests in one area.
Cold temperatures are also cruel to mice. Compared to their wild counterparts, mice spend 70 percent more energy to stay warm compared to their wild counterparts. Cold temperatures also weaken their immune systems, leading to lower survival rates. In addition, exposing mice to extreme cold conditions may worsen certain diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
