Five tips to keep rats out of your home

Gig Conaughton,County of San Diego Communications Office

SAN DIEGO – Unless they’re a pet and you’ve given them a name, nobody wants rats or rodents skittering around their homes, scaring them at night, creeping them out by day and maybe even making them sick.

But it can happen easier than you think. A rat can squeeze through a hole as small as a quarter to get into a home, garage, cabin or workshop. Mice can squeeze through a hole no bigger than a dime.

Private pest companies provide rat-control services. But the County Department of Environmental Health’s Vector Control Program does conduct...