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Camera & Rodent Issue

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  • 04-11-2018 7:32pm
    #1
    Arklow10
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭


    Guys, I hope some of you with far more technical camera knowledge can assist me. I have a recent rodent (rat) issue in the walls of my extension. They are not in the house yet but with all that gnawing they may be soon!
    I have set various traps and poison recently externally to no avail yet, nothing touched or sprung. I have no idea how they are getting in and I would really like to know. It is a modern build etc.
    I was thinking of purchasing a night camera that either takes images or video on movement. I would then move it to various possible areas in the vicinity of the extension to see if I can spot anything.
    Any thoughts on a night camera:specification, suitability, cost, features etc. would be appreciated.


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    #2
    pixbyjohn
    Registered Users Posts: 6,250 ✭✭✭pixbyjohn


    I advise you to surround your extention / house with bait boxes or short lengths of piping with storm in them. Forget about spending money on camera.
    Storm can be bought in the co-op for about €50 for a large bucket. Persevere for a month to get rid of rodents and then keep poison down all year round.


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    #3
    Arklow10
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Arklow10


    Thank you for your suggestion ,I have just started poisoning.
    However I was really hoping to discover where they are getting in to my house and address that point or points of entry, hence thinking about a night vision camera. A rat really, really smells if it dies in your house e.g. behind a skirting. If possible I had hoped to avoid that occurring.
    Is it just too difficult to locate rat movement etc. with a night vision camera? Or an onerous task in moving it around etc?


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    #4
    Markcheese
    Registered Users Posts: 8,431 ✭✭✭Markcheese


    Do you own several decent night vision cameras?
    If not just get a pest control company, cheaper and quicker... (You'd probably have to have a fair idea where they are to correctly position cameras anyway...)

    Slava ukraini 🇺🇦



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    #5
    Arklow10
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Arklow10


    Thank you for your reply

    I do not have any night vision cameras. I was hoping by using just one camera and moving it around (very small garden) I would locate the point of entry to;
    1. Avoid the smell of a dead rat in a house (did you ever have one, its ....!!!)
    2. Prevent a re-occurrence of vermin in the house.


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    #6
    phog
    Registered Users Posts: 23,779 ✭✭✭✭phog


    Check the outside of your house for openings where the rats are entering the cavity. Has there been any holes drilled/opened recently? Fill everything with mortar/plaster.

    Then use bait outside as well as inside. Rats are hoarders so use a bait they'll have to eat rather than carry away.

    I use storm, drill holes in the pieces and anchor with wire or screw to a piece of board and cover it from weather.


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    #7
    Arklow10
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Arklow10


    Thank you for your practical advice.

    regards
    aodhan


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    #8
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,506 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    your best bet, if you did want to explore the camera option, would be a trail camera. *occasionally* you'd see them in aldi, but you might get one cheap secondhand, albeit i suspect there's not much of a secondhand market for them.


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    #9
    vicwatson
    Registered Users Posts: 28,403 ✭✭✭✭vicwatson


    Does your extension have a jacks or sink in it? Or is your boiler attached to it?


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    #10
    Arklow10
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Arklow10


    No, it is just an open plan room from the kitchen. There is no sign or noise or faeces in the kitchen or indeed in the floor of the extension. However at the rate of gnawing and activity it is only a matter of time...
    I have checked under the kitchen sink and also laid a rat trap here but the bait has not been taken. The noise comes from two right angle walls in the extension that are both external walls. Extension is about 10 years old. I cannot see any external holes in these walls, at least not above ground. There is no boiler located or WC in this area. It is heated via a central heating system but these pipes are all internal. Floor is concrete.Walls are two solid concrete walls with a cavity and insulation in the cavity. The rats are located between the plaster board and the internal brickwork. The plasterboard also has insulation at the back of it and I presume this is where nose is coming from.

    The external trap has not been disturbed. I am going to install another couple of traps and other devices externally and also now lay down poison. I was reluctant to go down the poison route but with this activity I am now going to, its just that smell...!


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    #11
    vicwatson
    Registered Users Posts: 28,403 ✭✭✭✭vicwatson


    Any decking around outside? How far is the kitchen sink to the extension?


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    #12
    pixbyjohn
    Registered Users Posts: 6,250 ✭✭✭pixbyjohn


    What makes you think it is a rat, mice can sound like a herd of buffalo on the run.
    I still recommend using Storm poison outside the building in bait boxes or pipes and as previous poster suggests put garden wire through the poison blocks anchor it to box or pipe to ensure the culprit has to eat it there and then.
    Once you get rid of your present rodent/s continue to lay poison once a month for ever.


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    #13
    twowheelsonly
    Registered Users Posts: 2,268 ✭✭✭twowheelsonly


    As mentioned already, have a look for a 'Trail Camera'. Have a look on Amazon or the likes..they're really not that expensive and I reckon it's what you're looking for.

    Example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crenova-Upgraded-Wildlife-Detection-Monitoring-white/dp/B00V9HPAB2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1541460289&sr=8-5&keywords=trail+cameras+with+night+vision+waterproof+wildlife


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    #14
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    Flour sieved onto floor might show tracks.


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    #15
    Arklow10
    Registered Users Posts: 68 ✭✭Arklow10


    To update all on my rodent issue, you gave some very good advice.
    Despite having a three traps/poison/and others devices in the garden, nothing was touched, ever!
    The rustling noise every evening in a particular part of the room seemed to sound like "buffaloes" behind the wall. I eventually opened a electrical socket nearby where the sounds stemmed from, pried the internal electrical box away from the plasterboard and poured in a 1kg of poison. No half measures here.
    Noises continued for a further four days. I did think on the fifth day it was somewhat quieter and last night, none!!

    I reckon there is enough poison there to sort out the rodent population for a long, long time!

    Now I am waiting to see if a smell occurs (rats) or no smell (mice)
    The main thing is finally job is done. I will now as a matter of course have an ongoing poison/trapping program in place.

    Thank you all for the sound advice and practical support.


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