Rodents

bouli73 wrote: »

Advice welcome please.

Have had problem with rats (almost definitley) in the house attic for past two weeks. They are confined to attic, no evidence of them anywhere else in house.

I have been leaving out storm posion in attic. First few days it was taken every second day. Now a full tray of the stuff is being taken every night for past 5 days or so.

I phoned Rentokill and from what i can see, they charge €250 for three visits over an 8 weeks period to set poison - exactly what i am doing every night at the moment so seems like a waste of money. Am i right in this?

Also, any advice on how to get rid of these b&stards would be gratefully received.

Thanks

What they do is they keep taking the blocks of bait and bringing it back to their nest. They won't eat it until they have all that you have left out for them eaten. So if you keep leaving stuff out for them, they will just bring it to the nest.

I have 2 tips for you:

1. Stop leaving out any poison for a week. Then leave out some - I'll bet they won't take any of it - they'll have started to eat what they have brought to their nest and will be entering a deep sleep.

2. Buy the Storm blocks with the holes in them and screw them to a piece of ply. This way they will have to eat it instead of bringing it to the nest.



If you're confident enough with what you are doing then there's no need for rentokill. They won't do anything more than you are doing. So long as you are laying the poison in a responsible manner, its quite safe.

You may have problems with smells in your attic or walls when the rats die - but most often than not, the rat will leave the attic in search of water after he takes the poison. That's the good thing about using storm. And water will help to speed up the poison in his system. However, make sure you have the tanks in your attic covered

After killing them, your main priority is to find the point of entry to your house for thenem and seal it up.
Its also a good idea to lay poison in proper bait stations around your house (in your garage and a few secluded outdoor locations) which will help to get the rats and mice before they enter your house.

aujopimur wrote: »

DO NOT use Storm etc in your house, rats will die under floors, in attics, in wall cavities, resulting in a really bad stink in your house which can take months to clear

Like Relig says, the rat will in almost all cases go outside for water before they kick the bucket. I had them invade my attic years ago. I used storm, sparingly. I also crushed the blocks so they had to eat in situ.
There is never any need to keep replacing the eaten stuff on a daily basis.
I would keep it topped up for 3 days, and then stop for a week.
Then bait again, as above untill no more being eaten.

Then find the run into the house.
In my case they had burrowed under the footpath, through the outer leaf of the wall, and up the cavity into the attic:(
I dug a channel all around the foot path where it met soft surface like tha lawn. I then filled the channel about ten inches deep ten inches wide with concrete with a rake of crushed glass bottles mixed in. Never had a problem since.

aujopimur wrote: »

DO NOT use Storm etc in your house, rats will die under floors, in attics, in wall cavities, resulting in a really bad stink in your house which can take months to clear

That would be more applicable to the traditional grain type poisons.

Cats, cats and more cats - the only longterm solution to rats / mice.
We always seemed to have rats around but since we got 2 cats, the only ones I see are dead ones.;)

Well my sheds are well away from the house, and I have a collection of wild cats living in the hay shed. Have had them there for years. Never ever feed them. Nevertheless, I got absolutely overrun with rats two years ago. I was setting poison for over three months before I got rid of the bastrads. Found and burned a few dozen corpses. Probably several more dozen died I didn't find at all. They ruined a good half ton of spuds on me.:mad:

Freakin cats were no protection whatsoever

Just to follow on from the advice about Nutella in the traps, Peanut Butter is also brilliant. Same deal as the Nutella, they have to eat it in situ, We get mice in the attic now and again and the bastards can't resist peanut butter on a wooden trap, 2 for €2.50 in Tesco. I saw pest controllers from the States using this method for rats, obviously with bigger traps. Amazing how clever they are, but hunger gets the better of them eventually.

The mice rarely get to eat even a mouthful before they spring the trap, maybe I'm a sadistic person, but I find it quite therapeutic to look at a dead one with his skull crushed on the trap, those little Tesco ones are lethal :pac: