Rat Problem! Please Help

Justamum

My gran was living in warden-checked housing provided by the local council. A rat had died underneath her bath and was smelling really badly. The warden didn't bother notifying anybody it was left to the family. She complained about a noise which she thought was coming from the ceiling above her bed. Again the council did nothing - my husband looked up in the roof to check but found nothing. One morning she woke up with a mysterious wound on her forehead. Another day she told my uncle that she had seen a rat in the lounge. He asked her what she had done so she said "I hit it with my stick and put it in the bin". Sure enough he looked in the bin and there was a dead rat. Still the council did nothing. When she was taken into hospital after a fall my mum went in and had a good tidy up in her bedroom. Her bed was a divan with drawers underneath it. She discovered that the rats had made a nest in one of the drawers! :eek: The noise she thought was from the ceiling was actually under her bed, and one of them had nibbled her one night causing the wound! :eek::eek::eek:

Still the council were not in the least bit interested. She was eventually too frail to look after herself so went into a care home. I very much doubt the council have sorted out the rat problem. This was also in a terrace of small flats so they could have come in from anywhere.

Justamum

Yesterday my husband saw a rat in the road. He said it was the size of a small dog! There are two things in life I can't stand and that's rats and cockroaches.

Years ago I lived in a house in London which had rats. All holes from outside were blocked up with cement mixed with ground glass. Apparently normal cement is like cream cheese to them but ground glass in it will kill them. Rats develop immunity to rat poison quite quickly, but can't develop immunity to glass)

busiscoming2

We have been hearing various scratching and scraping noises in our loft for a couple of months now, we put poison bait in between each joist and looked a week later, two of the bait pots had been disturbed, but still could hear the noises. So hubby got some of the plug in sonic things from B&Q, but a week or so later they are still there. Next door has said they can hear them too. (we are in a town house terrace - I am the end), I am really afraid they will multiply and then find a way into the house! I also worry they may be rats or squirrels, the only thing we have seen are the droppings which are tiny black sausage shaped things. Are rats and squirrel droppings bigger?

thriftlady_2

busiscoming2 wrote: »

the only thing we have seen are the droppings which are tiny black sausage shaped things. Are rats and squirrel droppings bigger?

Aha, sounds like mice -we have them in the garage. Last night we made a trap like this. We caught one in the evening and took him away to a nice hedge, then we reset it and this morning there was another one (or possibly the same one come back:rotfl: ). The kids took him further up the hedge My OH can't stop talking about it as he only made the trap for fun and didn't think it would work. It certainly has been the talking point of our Christmas holiday and fun too especially the for kids, the mice were so sweet (wood mice we think rather than house mice).