Rat stuck in kitchen wall

Davexirl

We have had problems with rats before in out house and in my neighbours houses, we have got them in cages before.

It's been quiet the last few months probably cos it was summer, but now there is one stuck in the wall in my kitchen. It must be stuck because we can hear it gnawing and scratching at the wall or cavity block since 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the rat just hasn't stopped, he takes a break from a minute or two then goes at it again. It's really annoying, what can be done? It's a brick wall, do I just wait for him to eat his way was out?

Big Lar

Me thinks that the first thing you do is find out where the little fecker got in and block it up with a bit of sand and cement:

• In by the heating pipes if you have a boiler on the footpath
• He also may have come in through any services running into the house like ESB, Phone, etc.

If I was you I would drill a small 12mm hole in the wall into the cavity <SNIP>

Davexirl

Big Lar wrote: »

Me thinks that the first thing you do is find out where the little fecker got in and block it up with a bit of sand and cement:

• In by the heating pipes if you have a boiler on the footpath
• He also may have come in through any services running into the house like ESB, Phone, etc.

If I was you I would drill a small 12mm hole in the wall into the cavity and shove as much poison as you can into the cavity, might be a bit of a smell for a few days but better than the fecker coming in elsewhere, if he gets up into the attic than there can be serious damage done to pipes, cabling etc

We don't know if he's right behind the radiator or what part of the wall it's hard to figure out, but good thinking about drilling a hole and filling it with poison.

It's really starting to piss me off, how long would it take him to eat his way out? We think the sound is getting louder/closer to getting out but we could be just going insane listening to the fecker.

Davexirl

mikehunts wrote: »

The Auld Fella always has problems with rats in his house, until he got them sonic repellers you plug into the wall. He never had them back since he plugged it in a few years back. We found one dead behind the fridge blood coming from its ears. Dirty Sons of B****

Yeah I bought one of them today, hopefully it stops them in the future but for now this fella ain't going anywhere. Constant gnawing and scratching!!!

anniehoo

Only humane methods of catching this rat is to be discussed in this thread. Poisoning is not one of them. Posts have been snipped and deleted as a result.

If you have an issue with this please take your query to PM.

Do not reply to this post.

Bizzum

Around harvest time the rats really get a move on themselves!
This internal wall, is it a stud wall ie. Timber/plasterboard? Is it insulated? Are the external walls block walls or block/timberframe?
Is that noise in the YouTube clip the rat?


If you were to post this problem on the Farming & Forestry forum the lads there would have a lot of experience dealing with this problem.
There's no point in me telling you here the way to deal with this potentially very serious issue.
This has the potential to endanger your life. You need to get it sorted.

Davexirl

The noise in the video is the rat or whatever is in the wall but it has to be a rat.

It's a cavity brick wall where he is stuck. I'm standing in the kitchen waiting to see where is going to come out. I'm probably better off just heading upstairs and watch TV and see what happens but the hunt is on now, i want to catch the fecker.

Big Lar

I'd say you'd be best off to put a trap in the kitchen for the night, humane I suppose as per mod post above.

Davexirl

Home from work and he's still at it.

brrabus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ZvR2VSNwA



Sorry couldn't resist. But in all seriousness, I know how you feel, we had one just by the kitchen a few years back under the floor boards, don't plug those sonic things in until he has been gone for a while otherwise he will just run round in circles (in the walls of your house), he will not go. I empathise with you, been there, hated it, serious cause of insomnia for me.

fathead82

We had a rat problem in our shed,they actually made a hole in the concrete beside the door,caught a good few in the cage traps baited with peanut butter but could still hear them running around the roof at all hours of the day & night.
The ultra sonic repellers were useless,had 3 plugged in & could still hear the rats & see the damage they were doing.
We ended up leaving the window opened for the semi wild cat to move in,she sleeps on a blanket on the shelf & we have not seen or heard a rat in the shed since the cat moved in.
Try keeping the cage permanently set near where you think they are getting in. If the rat in your wall is on its own & has no way out,theres a good chance it will die of dehydration or starvation before it gets through the wall.

Irish Stones

I'm sorry for your situation, it must be terrible to live with that sound around the kitchen.
But, I hope you can forgive me, I'm on the rat's side and I hope the poor thing can find a way out of your walls without any harm done to him.

I think that the drilling solution is the best given so far. You could drill two holes as suggested at the ends of the wall where you think the rat is behind. Then you could lay two non-killing mouse traps next to the holes so you can catch the small rodent and set it free away from your home.
Then you look for any possible ways in and fill any cracks or small passages with concrete.

I found traces of mice in my garage years ago and laid three traps to catch it alive. We had non success with the traps, but the mouse had gone anyway.

Pretzill

Davexirl wrote: »

We have had problems with rats before in out house and in my neighbours houses, we have got them in cages before.

It's been quiet the last few months probably cos it was summer, but now there is one stuck in the wall in my kitchen. It must be stuck because we can hear it gnawing and scratching at the wall or cavity block since 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the rat just hasn't stopped, he takes a break from a minute or two then goes at it again. It's really annoying, what can be done? It's a brick wall, do I just wait for him to eat his way was out?

I've been there!First check.for evidence of a rat look.for droppings and entry ways - mice can be noisy buggers too if nesting - rats sound like mice with size ten clogs on though so it should be easy to tell the difference.

We had a rat who burrowed through dry lining into our kitchen cabinet, we trapped him but poison was used stupidly too and whereas I advocate humane proceeders it was a last resort a foolish one - the poison was crumbled by rat on all the kitchen surfaces and it ended up being more of a danger to us. I have also realised it takes weeks for the all invading smell of a deseased rat to leave the property.

If this is a rat they will move towards an exit where you may be able to trap them. If it's an infestation you may need to call in the professionals. I can deal with the odd mouse but rats can harbour some nasty diseases.

Pretzill

Irish Stones wrote: »

I think that the drilling solution is the best given so far. You could drill two holes as suggested at the ends of the wall where you think the rat is behind. Then you could lay two non-killing mouse traps next to the holes so you can catch the small rodent and set it free away from your home"


If it's a rat it won't fit in a mouse trapping device - they are seriously bigger than mice. I have a humane trap for rats for our sheds - it's a large cagey yoke - a small cat could wander in by mistake!
I have never caught a rat humanely they are really intelligent and are hard to trap. I have caught mice both house and field variety and been able to set them free again eventhough they usually make their way back to the house! Best defense against any rodent is blocking access routes and for rats use a wire base before covering over in foam - the wire is harder to chew.

oppenheimer1

Humane traps for a rat?! They are a pest ffs. If its stuck in the cavity there is very little you can do apart from wait a few days for it to die. Smell shouldn't be much of an issue if there are no openings in the wall.

Are you sure that is a block wall, because it sounds like a partition though it could be just the video...