Do Light or Sound Machines Work to Get Rid of Rats?

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We commonly think of rats and rodents in general as being quite shy creatures. If you were to walk into a room with a rat, that rat would turn around and run the other way. It knows that you don't want it there, and you might not even get the chance to see it, the creature sniffing you out and turning to run in barely the blink of an eye.



Sadly, rodents aren't quite as shy as they were a few decades ago, and that's definitely true for the humble rat. It's an animal that has evolved and adapted over the years, and it's done a very good job of it, and that's just one big reason why typical, old-fashion methods of rat removal do not work. Anyone who has a cat and still has rats or mice can admit that's most definitely the case. The feline is meant to keep rodents at bay. Once upon a time, this approach might even have worked.

Light or sounds once would have worked to keep a number of pest animal infestations at bay too, but just like using domesticated pets to keep pests away, they no longer work. Rats are commonly seen out and about during the day, and they're not actually as nocturnal as everyone thinks they are. Mice and rats DO come out during the day. If you have rodents in your home, there's a good chance that you'll see them as well as hear them. This just wouldn't have been the case a few years back - those rodents would have done everything in their power to avoid detection, but they're so much braver now.

If you walk into a room and turn the light on, the mice and rats in that room will scarper. That's still very much the case, unless you come across one that is feeling particularly brave and decides to fight back. That's rare, thankfully; they are more likely to run away. When you walk out of the room and turn the light back off, however, the rat will just come back. It no longer has anything to be scared of, because your'e the scary thing and you're no longer in the room. It will re-enter the room, especially if it has a reason to, such as food or a nest filled with young rats. Your rat problem won't have gone away, meaning that using lights (or sounds) as a repellent doesn't work. It's a short-term fix that solves nothing. It just gets rid of the rodents from that space for a short period of time.

There are actually countless reasons why light and sound machines do not get rid of rats, but the most important thing of all is that you literally have no idea where the rodents will end up. What if the lights or sounds were to actually work, but instead of driving those rats right away and out of your home, they simply drove the animals into a wall cavity that you then can't get them out of?

With so may things that have the potential to go wrong (or just not right, with the desired outcome being all rats out of your home), wasting your money on light and sound devices is not only pointless, but also quite dangerous. All the while you have rats in the same building, you are spreading disease and causing damage that you could have longterm repercussions for you and your home.

Go back to the Rat Removal page, or learn tips to do it yourself with my How to Get Rid of Rats guide.