Rats - coming from sewer? Not able to get rid of them

Hannaho

Hi!

We suddenly had rats in only one room of the house - one bedroom - since before Christmas. No rats downstairs. None in attic. The Pest Control guy came out and fitted a rat flap to the drain - as we observed rat droppings in the drain. He put a bag of poison in the drain the week before he put in the rat flap. The poison was gone once we looked in the drain again = it was a bag of poison on string - so he fitted the rat flap. A week later the rats are back - in one room only - the poison is gone from the drain. The rat flat is still working. There is a guy coming out to do a drain survey tomorrow. Unfortunately, an idiot built over the sewer at the back of the house when extending previously - a private sewer. Can anyone tell us where we should go with this.

The Nal

MOD Snip.

It would be cold comfort to have rats come into your house so long as you had a cat to catch them.

DO NOT TAKE THIS THREAD OFF TOPIC BY REPLYING TO THIS

facehugger99

If the rat flap is working, it would suggest that the rats are accessing the sewer line at some point after the flap.

The drain survey should be able to show if there is a break in the pipe.

Obviously, if there is a break, getting the pipe repaired would be the next thing to do but if someone has built over the line at the point of the break, that's going to be difficult.

Get the survey done first and see what it throws up.

Kurooi

I have no experience with rats, but had mice trouble and feel I need to point out that poison is not an ideal solution.

They still come in, they just die in your walls. I'd put up a few secure, locked kill traps see if it's possible to cull the local population a little.

Hungry Burger

Call Rentokil.

frankie2shoes

I paid Rentokil for about 2 years and then we got a cat. Not a fan of cats but my God was she effective. We had been putting down poison and traps for months but still there were rats and mice getting into our old house. The cat just took care of it. Far more effective and a whole lot cheaper than Rentokil and poison

John Ivory

Did the survey show any defects?

Wearb

MOD NOTE

Re the last post referring to rat cannibalism....too gruesome for me and I expect for most people.

I've deleted the posts. DONT POST ABOUT SUCH SOLUTIONS AGAIN. .

The Continental Op

OP do your own survey of yours and neighbours gardens. Rats normally turn up having been attracted by something else. Examples would be...

Over excessive bird feeding with bird food on the ground.

Pets like rabbits, guniea pigs, chickens etc anything that is fed outside.

Compost heaps that have food scraps thrown on them.

Overflowing unemptied bins and piled up rubbish bags.

Nearby stables can be another source.

If you spot anything that might be attracting the rats dealing with that might save you a lot of effort messing with drains.

EnufisEnuf

Hello

Did you resolve the issue?