Rats!!!

Mr.Triffid

A friend of mine discovered that he has rats in his house,
apparently its very serious and he needs to find the source and get rid of them, he said he has to rip up floorboards and other stuff to find the source,

Is this true, surely there can be a more effective and less destructive way of getting rid of them.

Does anyone have any good advice please, thank you.

haminka

get a cat. or two. two decent cats will have the time of their lives and you will have a pest free house

Mr.Triffid

haminka wrote: »

get a cat. or two. two decent cats will have the time of their lives and you will have a pest free house

thanks, (I hope this is the right forum to post this)
anything else? I don't think my friend wants to have cats in his house.

Kash

If he doesn't want cats (and to be honest, not all cats are great hunters, so this could be hit and miss) then the only sure fire options are either putting down poison or calling in a professional (rentokil or the like).

Given the number of people who are not able to use rat poison effectively, and the number of children and pets that are poisoned by it, I would recommend that you go with a professional.

You can stop re-infestations by using a sonic emitter thingy, but that won't get rid of the existing infestation.

lolo62

someone once told me that if you bring a ferret into your house mice will never come back...something about their scent

could be the same for rats...look up 'working ferrets'
apparently they are used in pest control

might not be done in ireland but its a possibility..

mikemac1

I believe there is a poison shaped like sugar cubes and the rats pick it up and take it back to the nest.
They all share it and they all die
It's more efficient then only killing the rat who comes looking for scraps.

Any farm supplies store would have info on this, one in most towns

minterno

Had rats in my last house and it took me about the best part of a year to get rid of them,went with cats,traps and it was the poison that did the trick,i was worried in case they died in the house and smelled the place out but there was no odour at all but a few years later while doing up the bathroom i found a dead one under the bath,it was kind of mummified but there was no smell off it,the cat was a wase of time as they cant get in to the areas where the rats reside,ie between walls and under the hot tank and beneath the floorboards,if i had a similar problem again i would try humane cage traps and poisen if that did not work,regards

Discodog

Unless you are sure of what to do be very careful with poison. There have been countless cases of pets being poisoned & you have to be certain that the poison bait can't be accessed.

minterno

discodog is correct,wear gloves dust mask and glasses when dealing with any poison,and place the poisen is any areas where the rats frequent,you have to use common sense when handling poison and wash your hand straight away even though you should be wearing rubber gloves which should also be washed and disposed off,i lifted floorboards,pulled out shirting boards and put the poison under the floorboards and inside the wall cavity and behind the washing machine and keep replacing the poison as the rats take it,if you get up one morning and none has been touched your nearly sorted,keep an eye on the poison and if after a few days none has been touched you should be sorted,good luck

Kash

Dead rats can definitely stink up the place too - it won't happen every time, but if they die next to a heat source (like a hot water pipe, or behind the airing cupboard) then it can be particularly nasty. It happened in a student house I lived in, the rat died under the floorboards of my room and stank to high heaven. I complained to the landlord and the bloody lazy sod gave me an air freshener. Grrr.

You do need to be very careful with poison - not only in handling it, but in making sure that any kids/pets cannot get anywhere near it. That's why I don't think the sugar cube ones are a good idea - you can never be sure where they end up.

Maudi

Kash wrote: »

Dead rats can definitely stink up the place too - it won't happen every time, but if they die next to a heat source (like a hot water pipe, or behind the airing cupboard) then it can be particularly nasty. It happened in a student house I lived in, the rat died under the floorboards of my room and stank to high heaven. I complained to the landlord and the bloody lazy sod gave me an air freshener. Grrr.

You do need to be very careful with poison - not only in handling it, but in making sure that any kids/pets cannot get anywhere near it. That's why I don't think the sugar cube ones are a good idea - you can never be sure where they end up.

my source explained to me recently that modern rat poison is designed to "dry out"the rat after killing it...it actually kills by drying out the blood as far as i recollect....so as when it does die it dusent stink.

Gingernuts31

Was out in the field the other day and my dogs were on the other sides of the trees. They started going mad running like they were chasing (another) and I just caught sight out of the corner of my eye that one of them had either a v ery big mouse or a rat in its mouth. Told her to drop it and she did. It was about 6 or 7 inchs long, grey witgh long tail. Fat thing too. I don't know where it came from but im glad they caught it. There isn't much that can out run my lurchers

Maudi

Gingernuts31 wrote: »

Was out in the field the other day and my dogs were on the other sides of the trees. They started going mad running like they were chasing (another) and I just caught sight out of the corner of my eye that one of them had either a v ery big mouse or a rat in its mouth. Told her to drop it and she did. It was about 6 or 7 inchs long, grey witgh long tail. Fat thing too. I don't know where it came from but im glad they caught it. There isn't much that can out run my lurchers

best dog i ever had was a lurcher...

Kash

Maudi wrote: »

my source explained to me recently that modern rat poison is designed to "dry out"the rat after killing it...it actually kills by drying out the blood as far as i recollect....so as when it does die it dusent stink.

Well, you live and learn - I didn't know that!

clappyhappy

Not sure about this maybe someone can inform me correctly. I was told that when putting down poison that you should crush it into powder as the rats are taking it back to nests in small amounts and the nesting rats can build up a tolerance to it due to small amounts being consumed?? I always keep poison down outside in poison boxes as I HATE the little b****rds and have started grounding up the poison am I doing right ir wrong? Any advice greatly appreciated....

clappyhappy

Any takers on the above??

dodderangler

Problem with using a ferret as good as they are at killin rats mine was anyway you could get two big rats that will fight back and one bite god knows what diseases it'd get could kill the ferret it's always a risk a ferret isn't much bigger than some rats

Kash

If you are using poison, just follow the instructions on the container.
I wouldn't go powdering it - i can't see how that would get the rats to actually eat more of it

haminka

Never had to use poison as my over 12 pounds big cat has no problems catching even the bigger ones but can't imagine rats hoarding the food and then eating it in small amounts that's something a hamster would do but rats would normally prefer eating as served, AFAIK. I also hate the idea of poison as its effect can cascade and kill other animals, a cat who'd catch the poisoned rat, or a dog, etc.