Rats in the walls

consultant31

My daughter and SIL have rats within the walls of their house. Initially, they were in the attic they thought so they put down rat bait over and over again until there was no more signs of them. Shortly after, DD heard them in the walls and (obviously) it's driving them both mad.

The got Dynorod out last week (on the recommendation of a local pest expert) to check the pipes, expecting to find there was a crack down there but they've been told that there was no sign of any damage.

Can anyone suggest how they might be getting into the walls. They have put screwed up wire in the bottom of all the drainpipes in the hope of stopping the rats entry that way but are at their wits end now.

TIA

another_casualty

Years ago, I had squirrels in my loft . Only for a short time . They got through a hole in the corner of the eaves . Luckily ,I hired a ladder and my brother went up and fixed it . I got ammonia and mothballs and left the light on in the loft , banging on the ceilings in my living/bed rooms every so often . They were gone . One was blocked in the cavity wall in the kitchen . My brother let it out the window.
There were no more .
If you haven't got any birds or kittens, it may be an idea to get a quality plug in device . Not the average £10 ones from ROBERT dyas.

If you are able to post pictures of problem areas on here , it may help
Have you checked fireplaces, walls behind cookers/ fridge / skirting boards etc. . ?

consultant31

Thanks 'anothercasualty'.

I've Googled plug-ins but they all seem to be poorly reviewed except one which was very expensive but not to be used in an inhabited house apparently.

The rats are inside the wall cavity we think, so putting traps down there is impossible and DD is at the end of her tether (especially as she has a small baby). They've blocked up all holes they can find though there must be somewhere they've missed I guess.

So, now looking for local pest exterminators, though the rats don't seem fazed by the poison we've put down over the last several months. I really hope they can come up with a solution or the family might well be looking to move house.

poppellerant

Borrow a friend's cat for a month, keep it indoors and let nature do the rest.

consultant31

poppellerant wrote: »

Borrow a friend's cat for a month, keep it indoors and let nature do the rest.

They have a cat who is constantly bringing mice in from the garden but, sadly. hasn't found a way into the wall cavity like the rats have

Aspiration

Maybe worth when dry using the powder to see if any tracks become visible, may help to determine point of entry.

ssparks2003

Rats only need a hole the size of your thumb to get in. They could have got in through a broken air brick or from the roof area they were in.

They need to remove all possible food sources; so no feeding the birds in the garden, check they are not getting into the kitchen etc. The get a professional in with both traps and poison.

Our last house had been empty for 6 months before we moved in and it was plagued with rats in both the loft and walls, it's not pleasent to live with the and can be difficult to resolve. Don't bother with the bait from the diy shop, get a pro in with the licenced poison.

SensibleSarah

poppellerant wrote: »

Borrow a friend's cat for a month, keep it indoors and let nature do the rest.

I never had a single rodent in any house I've lived in until I got cats. Now I get an average of 3 live rats a week brought in through the flap (usually unhurt, dropped somewhere and then ignored) that I have to then deal with! :rotfl:

On the plus side, I am now excellent at catching and releasing rats humanely without actually getting anywhere near them. But a cat is not necessarily the answer!

To the OP, friends of mine who have had similar problems swear by getting the professionals in and making sure there are no food sources etc. Still can take a few weeks to sort - but gets there in the end.

consultant31

Thanks everyone, some helpful replies here. I think it's going to have to be a problem for the professionals.

I have to say, SensibleSarah, you're a better person than me...I'm not at all interested in the humane approach as far as rats and spiders are concerned :rotfl:

romanovski

Also a great story by H.P. Lovecraft

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rats_in_the_Walls

benson1980

I tend to DIY most things, but this is one area where I called in a professional to deal with the problem. Whether this is 100% true or not I don't know but our ratman said the bait available to buy on amazon etc is much weaker strength and may not kill them. Also baiting doesn't obviously solve the long term problem.

We had exactly the same issue- cavity wall up into loft. There were no food sources there- they just wanted to build a nest and the damage they caused was significant.

Whilst we couldn't confirm the entry point the dog did an excellent job of highlighting the most likely route as she would obsessively go out and sniff at one particular area at the bottom of our gable end wall, which happened to be where the drain ran. A rather expensive one way flap installation sorted out the issue for us.

It cost us £300 but it's horrible having rats in the house so worth the expense to get it dealt with properly.