{"id":14978,"date":"2026-02-01T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14978"},"modified":"2026-02-01T09:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T09:00:36","slug":"are-rats-nocturnal-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Are rats nocturnal animals?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many customers ask, \u2018are rats nocturnal animals?\u2019 The reason this is such a common question is because even if you\u2019re in the unfortunate position of suffering a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/rodents\/rats\/\">rat infestation<\/a>, you\u2019re still unlikely to see one roaming around your house or office during the day.<\/p>\n<p>Rats are nocturnal which means they\u2019re most active at night and during dawn and dusk. What\u2019s more, even though they can be brazen at times, they will generally do everything they can to avoid human contact. Typically, they will wait until it\u2019s very quiet before venturing out.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s great news that these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/rodents\/\">rodents<\/a> are most likely to come out while you\u2019re safely tucked up in bed, it can make spotting an infestation very difficult until significant damage has already been caused.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the more common <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/rodents\/rats\/\">signs of a problem with rats<\/a> include:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Droppings<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Unusual odours (similar to urine or a damp, musky smell)<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Unexplained holes in materials<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Nests<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Scratching noises, especially at night<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Gnaw marks on furniture<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Greasy tracks on the floor or skirting boards<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Footprints (you can test this by laying down some flour at night)<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Your pet is putting its nose inside crevices for longer and more often than usual or they\u2019re suddenly constantly on the hunt for something<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0Electrical problems \u2013 rodents are well known for eating anything and everything, including electrical wires<\/p>\n<p>If you need help eliminating a rat infestation, please don\u2019t hesitate to get in touch with your local Prokill team via our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/contact-us\/\">online contact form<\/a> or on 0800 328 9354 and speak to a member of the team today.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many customers ask, \u2018are rats nocturnal animals?\u2019 The reason this is such a common question is because even if you\u2019re in the unfortunate position of suffering a rat infestation, you\u2019re still unlikely to see one roaming around your house or office during the day. Rats are nocturnal which means they\u2019re most active at night and [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":14394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are rats nocturnal animals? - Prokill UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are rats nocturnal animals? - Prokill UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many customers ask, \u2018are rats nocturnal animals?\u2019 The reason this is such a common question is because even if you\u2019re in the unfortunate position of suffering a rat infestation, you\u2019re still unlikely to see one roaming around your house or office during the day. Rats are nocturnal which means they\u2019re most active at night and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prokill UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-01T07:00:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-01T09:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/RatGettyImages-695134804.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kate King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kate King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/\",\"name\":\"Are rats nocturnal animals? - Prokill UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/RatGettyImages-695134804.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-01T07:00:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-01T09:00:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e1eb424584468803cf55d54b994f8a24\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/RatGettyImages-695134804.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/RatGettyImages-695134804.jpg\",\"width\":724,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"A rat surprised to see a human so close.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are rats nocturnal animals?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Prokill UK\",\"description\":\"Your fully accredited local Pest Control company\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e1eb424584468803cf55d54b994f8a24\",\"name\":\"Kate King\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88e423ae7462c9b4f440c9cf5dbb2ca0d0827e479c587ccd28f048a075426039?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88e423ae7462c9b4f440c9cf5dbb2ca0d0827e479c587ccd28f048a075426039?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kate King\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/author\/kate\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are rats nocturnal animals? - Prokill UK","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.prokill.co.uk\/blog\/are-rats-nocturnal-animals\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are rats nocturnal animals? - Prokill UK","og_description":"Many customers ask, \u2018are rats nocturnal animals?\u2019 The reason this is such a common question is because even if you\u2019re in the unfortunate position of suffering a rat infestation, you\u2019re still unlikely to see one roaming around your house or office during the day. 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