Rats move indoors around April as the nights cool and the paddocks dry off. Roof rats run fence lines, overhanging branches and power lines, then in at an eaves gap or a lifted tile. Norway rats work low: subfloor vents, broken drains, the gap under a roller door. Droppings tell us which one before anything gets set.
Bait alone is a treadmill. Leave the entries open and next autumn is a repeat at your cost. Lockable stations where there are kids or pets, traps in roof voids so nothing dies where you cannot reach it, and a written list of the gaps needing sealing. Properties backing onto the Barwon flats and the river reserve get steady pressure year-round rather than just seasonally.
