Getting rid of rats/mice (merged threads)

john_s_2

The cat's probably been getting them for ages! Tip away into the garden, they'll be fine.

Barneysmom

Take them down to the park and let them go?

vaio

Barneysmom wrote: »

Take them down to the park and let them go?

But drive or run back as the little bug gers will try to follow you back

helping_hubby

I think we have a rat (or probably rats). Been trying to catch it for a few days now, but it's taking the bait and not setting the trap off.

Anyway, I've been looking into ways of avoiding having rats to begin with and I found this:
http://wwww.doyourownpestcontrol.com/sanitation.htm#exclusion

It mentions "stuffit" to use to stuff the holes around pipes. This is where my rat is coming into the kitchen - through a hole where the boiler is. Does anyone know what this is called in B&Q? I can't find it on the website.

If I find this stuff to fill the holes, should I block them right away? The trap is at the bottom of the pipes, so it won't be able to get to it. I've got a trap in the roof too.

Reading the websites, it's possible it lives outside. There's a hole under the path that we thought nothing of before, and now I'm thinking it could be a burrow. It's near a dripping tap outside - and rats needs a good supply of water. So am getting that fixed asap.

dragon47

Wire wool is good at blocking rat and mouse holes. It damages their mouths when they try to chew through it.

I've not heard of 'stuffit'.

steveo3002

how about one of those expanding foam aerosols?

kevingattaca

dragon47 wrote: »

Wire wool is good at blocking rat and mouse holes. It damages their mouths when they try to chew through it.

I've not heard of 'stuffit'.

TOTALLY agree with the wire wool, Cheaper in the long run, and it works

K

LTA

Help!!!

We heard a rustling in the loft yesterday morning and it was still there in the evening so we called a local pest control firm who is a member of the NPTA (sounded like the best in the yellow pages at the time!).

He said he saw a rat up there and has laid some anti-coagulant down, he said he’ll be back in 2 weeks. He couldn’t see any entry points but said it could be from the neighbours as we are in the mid terrace of a row of 3. Our neighbours also have chickens, a pond and a compost heap which he said might be an issue. He's charged us £120 for that and tried to sell us some box catcher things that were £40 each but we left them!

I’m just concerned they’ll come back again and I’m not sure what to do. The loft is really small, dark and hard to access so I’m not sure a builder would even come and look?

The council says we should have called them and they'd charge £70 and do drainage checks or smoke tests (maybe at an extra charge?).

I just don't want the rats to come back so shall I bear the expense and get the council to come round too now or wait for the private firm to come back?

We go on holiday in a few weeks and I'm worried about being away now without it being fully sorted.

If you could offer me any advice that would be great. I was a bit shaken by the news yesterday so didn’t think of this when the private firm was here.

Thanks for your time.

gamston

we had rats in loft, best bet is buy a few traps at the shops, only a few £ each.
we live in the sticks and get mice every year, our record for mice is 25, over a winter trapped.
its very hard to find where they access the loft,
this year i replaced roof and blocked up any gaps into roof with metal mesh if airway, and wood if not an airflow point, not had any this winter

LTA

Well there's the anti coagulants up there at the minute so I don't fancy going back up to lay some traps I have to say!

Just worried they'll come back if I don't know where they're coming in.