Dealing with Rats & Mice

darrenheaphy

We've a new house, detached, that I thought was pretty well sealed but discovered rats in the attic. We've caught two so far and heard another scurrying or scratching in the night. I've set rat traps around the attic, which is where they appear to be, and left poison in cut out drain pipes around the property.

From reading this forum, and other googley sites, the critical thing is to block all entry points that they could use so will have a look at using expanding foam or the like this weekend. We're also going to get a cat, we live in the country so will need a permanent solution.

If the issue still persists after sealing openings ourselves, and the traps catching nothing, am thinking I'll need a rat trapper. Any particular recommendations for one or any other general advice?

superchip

if you get some bedding from a ferrit and rub it around your attic the rats will crap them selves and get out of there asap.the last thing u want is to block their exit. also a rat will eat through expanding foam. a bit of sand and cement with some broken glass in it would be better

darrenheaphy

Thanks for that, good tip on the ferret bedding. I s'pose a pet shop might have some

aujopimur

Check along the outside of paths, in particular near doors and where pipes and sevices come into the house as the rats are getting into the attic through the wall cavity. Don't be tempted to use poison in or around the house as you will never get rid of the smell of the rotting rats and mice.

mad m

Afaik, you can't have both at same time, rats eat mice. If you have mice then you dont have rats....

Believe me from experience, a poisoned rat rotting is not nice, the smell is unreal to the point that you can't stay in that room where the smell is for more than a minute so poison should be the last thing you should do...

Get loads of traps and check daily. Make sure during day and especially in these dark evenings that no doors are left open a little or they will be drawn in, this can happen when just popping out to get washing or anything.

Best thing to put on a trap I found is a small bit of peanut butter and some melted chocolate over it, let cool to set it...

Goodluck and good hunting.

psychward

Don't leave food lying around unsecured inside or outside the house as this will be one of the thing that attracts them. If you leave garbage outside you will need to secure it and lock it away. They will chew holes in garbage bags.
Do they run up the outside wall of your house in order to gain entry to the attic or is there perhaps a tree branch etc overhanging the roof which you could remove ? I'd lay poison in the garden outside the house too to reduce their numbers and try keep the population under control. They can nest in very small places and you might not even know they are there so you should also investigate if they can nest in an electrical junction box or under/behind a garden shed etc. They can chew through almost anything and cause serious damage to electrical cables and infrastructure. It's best to eliminate them as soon as you can. Cement mixed with broken glass is a good barrier against them.
If one of them dies in an inaccessible area they can create an awful smell and lots of flies for weeks until the body decomposes fully. Once you kill the parents the baby rats in some hidden nest would starve to death and result in a bad smell and flies etc so you really need to think about your approach. They are continually breeding so theres always a big chance that there is a nest somewhere. They defecate constantly and your attic insulation could be becoming very unhealthy. You should be careful to wash your hands etc after you are up there. And be very careful about rat bites as they can be very nasty and carry a lot of diseases.

tinofapples

Have noticed some droppings bigger than mouse droppings in my garage in past few days and I'm convinced Rats have moved in. Have set some Storm in the garage but am hoping to have a crack at the bucket trap tomorrow sometime. Gonna try the peanut bait.

Cill Dara Abu

This is the most disgusting thread I have ever read!

darrenheaphy

This thread was really helpful in dealing with it. I tried all of the above and other steps to much success

The ferret tip was a great idea, not only is their scent a strong deterrent but they poked around outside and exposed entry points into the cavity wall which they proceeded to disappear in for about an hour. I've since dug out and exposed those entry points, filled with wire wool, expanding foam, cement and rocks. I did the foam first simply because it might be a few days before I had the cement ready otherwise it's excessive and they'll eat through foam in any event.

I also laid the pipes around those entry points, but tucked away from our dogs (although the pipes are too narrow in any event) and placed bait inside (initially bait blocks screwed into wood but since upgraded to really powerful farmers stuff).

I also removed a compost heap that was there when we bought the house, turns out the bottom was all eaten away! So replaced that with a metal bin with small, as in tiny holes, to allow water and what not to drain off (which runs onto a small galvanise sheet that disperse the liquid rather than congregate underneath).

Inside the house we placed traps all over the attic, the black clamp style ones and the traditional wooden snap ones, all sized for rats. As someone else wrote, quite rightly, never put poison inside, they'll stink the place out. With those traps we caught two small rats and two massive ones!

I think, hope, that they're all gone. The latest traps for the last few days haven't been touched and we haven't heard the horrible scurrying of the rats on the plasterboard. Last night we heard a bang from one trap being sprung but nothing was around, could have just went off itself ...

creedp

aujopimur wrote: »

Check along the outside of paths, in particular near doors and where pipes and sevices come into the house as the rats are getting into the attic through the wall cavity. Don't be tempted to use poison in or around the house as you will never get rid of the smell of the rotting rats and mice.

I had rats in house last year. I found their access point which was a hole in the external wall between the original house wall and an extension wall that for some reason was filled with expanding foam. Before filling this will sand/cement I put down poison in attic and checked it every day until it was no longer being eaten and I heard no more noise. I then sealed the hole and have heard not smelt any sign of a rat since. The important thing with poison is not to block their exit point until they have left. I was told (don't know whether to believe it or not) that rats when poisoned will leave to look for water and won't die in their nest. So when poisoned they will leave the nest and die elsewhere. This is why using a slow acting poison is better indoors so they will feel progressively unwell and leave the house before they 'kick the bucket'. May not be very scientific but worked in my particular case anyway.

mad m

^^ not true really, well its hit and miss with rats. Rats need water to survive while mice don't. I put poison outside my house one time and the rat ate it and died under the floor inside house, right beside a heating pipe.

He was bloated because of the poison as he bleed out, the poison does make them thirsty, the only reason I could see why he couldnt get out was he was bigger than the hole he came in....

Also I found, when I trapped a rat in a trap, other rats ate the whole body and all that was left was the head. The great thing I suppose about the poison is if one eats it and dies, the others will eat the poisoned rat, thus them getting poisoned as well....

So ladies and gentlemen, make sure your doors are shut when your out back garden for anything because its getting colder now....

Goodluck to all and happy hunting...

red sean

And remember there will be lots of kittens and terriers looking for good homes before long

sardonic

Had to stop feeding the birds after spotting a rat around earlier this year , would'nt chance it again. Have'nt seen any rats around since. Want to keep it that way.

Cecil Mor

Interesting if skin crawling thread.

Old Farmer Joe type that lives near me told me his method of clearing rats.
It involves trapping 3 live rats and chucking 'em in a barrel with a solid lid so they can't escape.
He checks in a couple of days and there may be only two rats left, next day or so there'll only be the one rat left.
He then releases this murderous cannibalistic rat back into his barn/sheds wherever where it'll continue its killing spree.

I've since heard this from another old school farmer so perhaps theres something in it, good story though!

Personnally I'd try all the above but you can't put a price upon a good pair of cats or a Jack Russel/Terrier.


Here is another Boards thread that is somewhat related. Warning, open at your pearl!!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056441811