Rats in drains - HELP

[LilMissSunshine9]

EEK

For a while I have heard scratching noises in the bedroom wall and running across the attic - finally had pest control come out and check the attic. They confirm it is rats and that they accessing the property via the drain in the garden.

Anyone been through this who can provide advice on the best course of action - I am not sure whether we need to simply block up the drain or need to get specialists in to carry out a CCTV drainage check.

[Clargo55]

I?m in a similar situation here. We have rats in the attic, but cannot figure out how the hell there getting in. Have meshed everything up and laid humane traps. Unfortunately, were still finding fresh droppings in the attic.

The main problem is resolved if you have found the entry point. I would start with blocking everything and then go down the CCTV route if it would be more of an expense.

[lljkk]

Some councils have pest control services, else you can get a professional quote for eradication in which case, maybe they will probably look for free at your drains to assess extent of problem.

[LilMissSunshine9]

I have contacted the council paid £45 for pest control to come out their laid bait down in the attic but identified the source of the access being the drain and said we need to have the drains cleaned and they cannot do that. Hence my query really whether just covering it up filling in any holes will remove the problem - I don't want them to suddenly create a hole somewhere else.

[Clargo55]

Just a tip, make sure you remove dead rats from the attic on a regular basis. (They smell horrific if they are there for too long). Make sure you use gloves to pick them up and do not pick up by the tail, as it?s the tail that harbours most of the disease's they carry.

We paid about £125 for private pest control, as the council offer no services here. That included laying bait on 3 occasions. Laying powder to try and track their movements as they usually follow a certain path. They also put wire wool into any holes and then stapled metal mesh over the top. Is your house detached? We are end of terrace and there are small holes leading form our neighbour?s attic into hours. If you are not detached I would let your neighbours know. If you sort your problem and the neighbours have them to they could come straight back in.

Maybe you could do some DIY and mesh any holes? It has to be metal though as the can chew through most other things.

How did they determine they were coming from the drains?

Sorry I?m not of much help, I guess the next step is to contact private pest control.

Hope you manage to sort everything swiftly.

[Clargo55]

If any holes are blocked up there not likely to create any more the bait will kill them and they should die either in your attic or in the cavity of your walls.

[LilMissSunshine9]

Thanks for the replies so far. Accoridng to the pest control guy who came over there is a hole in the wall? or by the drain? - I need to go home and see this myself as my mum who was at home to let the guy in has informed me.

I have got some quotes for CCTV check from £100+ plus remedial work, just thought I would check on here on what others have done so I don't waste money doing something that won't neccessarily help.

My initial thought was to fill in any holes and cover the drain. The pest control guy will be back next week to inspect the traps - monitor any noise between covering their access point and next week to see if it is any better.

The house is detached - which is why I am undecided about getting professionals in - knowing they might try to find their way in somewhere else - luckly they are only acesssing the attic and cavity wall - god forbid they actually get into the house!

[Clargo55]

If there is a visible hole it should be nice and easy to block up. Rats can however come up through the sewers and if there is a crack in any of your underground pipes they can tunnel up from those into your walls then into your attic. We think ours are getting in by just tunnelling under the house just through the soil of garden and then up the cavity?s in the wall. They could also come up the drains and then up the waste pipe then into the attic.

That sounds like a fair price for the CCTV we were quoted £150. But rats usually live in sewers and have easy access to drains. If the cameras don't go any further than the drains I can't see the point in it as it just confirms there?s rats in the drains, which is quite common . Sorry if I?ve got that wrong but I?ve not really looked in to the CCTV route so I?m unsure of what it involves.

I would wait until the pest control guy comes back next week and take it from there.

Try not to worry. I know its horrible buts its unlikely they'll come into the house. They like somewhere quite and human free .

[likeatonneofbricks]

I don't get it WHY they are going into attic - there is no food there! normally rats go where animal feed is in the outbuildings, or maybe into a kitchen if the food is left lying around.
This kind of thing really puts me off buying a house. I know it happens rarely in flats but only in messy old ones with holes everywhere.

[Clargo55]

Thats not true likeatonne. Speak to any pest control, there alot of cases of rats in attics.

We have spoken to approx 6 houses within close proximity to ours and 4 of them have had rats in attics, and most of them knew that some others in our cul de sac had the same problem. (We live near a river and allotments with chickens, this is why we have a lot of rats near by).

It must be something to do with nesting? (they enjoyed making a nest out of our new insulation )
We think our rats feed off the chicken feed approx 200yards away. They have no food in our attic but they keep coming. We keep the house v clean and its a realativly new house, no holes everywhere.

[Clargo55]

My other post was supposed to say quiet not 'They like somewhere quite and human free'

[likeatonneofbricks]

no I'm not disputing it, Clargo, as I don't own a house but a flat so I wouldn't know (but thinking of buying one in future and this concerns me). I'm trying to understand why would they go there. Read on these threads that people get them mainly in outbuildings which at least does make sense.

[Clargo55]

Its deff something to look for when buying, even take a ladder with you on a viewing to have a quick look in the attic. We didn't have any when we bought our house 2 years ago, we checked twice before buying.

Not to sure why but its not for food. Think it must be for nesting/mating and/or shelter.

Our neighbours had a rat?s nest above their airing cupboard, maybe it?s the warmth. I guess some people?s attics could be warm and quiet, as heat rises and all.

[MadBusLady]

We have rats and mice in our rented flat periodically, and it's actually one of the reasons I want to buy. If it was our own place we could mend the fabric of the roof and attic, tear out the old kitchen and block up all the holes etc before we put a new one in. It's time and money, but eventually everything would get done. Landlords will only ever do the bare minimum. I hate not having control over the fabric of the building.

[aufaniae]

We had literally years of problems with rats. They caused untold damage (kept chewing the electrics), stress and money. It cost us over £2K before we found a solution. And our insurance had a rat clause so no help there.

I'm not trying to scare you btw! Just putting the £100+ in perspective.

The key is finding out where they're getting in and stopping it. The pest control people were useless IMO. They just kept on killing them but didn't help find out where they were getting in (hope you had a better experience).

You may or may not need a CCTV. In the end it was a plumber who helped us. He found the way in (for no charge) - it was a disused pipe - and filled it in (he charged for that).

The drain thing sounds like a reasonable hypothesis. I would check that there is actually a hole in the wall however. If there is, I would get the work done, make sure you have a really heavy drain cover put on and it should solve it I imagine.

For us, it was a disused pipe which was giving them a free run into the house. They came in to nest (above our spotlights). With extensions and conversion happening over the years, many houses have disused pipes which are just asking to be rat runs.

Good luck!

[Clargo55]

aufaniae do you have any advice in regards to finding out how they are getting in? Our pest control people were the same just kept killing them, but could not find out where they are coming from. We are unsure where to go from here and on a limited budget. Anything you found useful or a waste of time?

[likeatonneofbricks]

OMG I don't about the OP, but you are scaring me aufaniae! I mean how on earth do you buy a house, without putting yourself at risk of spending lots of money not to mention the yuk factor!? you can't check all these beforehand. Is it anything to do with an area at all? I mean, by rivers, or wetter than most, or surrounded by farmland?

[likeatonneofbricks]

*don't know about OP

[Clargo55]

There everywhere, wherever you live there will be some near by. The claim is that you are never further than 9feet away, 7feet in London. My pest control guy said that its getting worse and were currently in an 'epidemic'.

The only thing you can really do is avoid living near area's that could be a source of food. Like a rubbish dump, takeaway shop, chicken pens etc.

[MadBusLady]

You can't control for it, sadly, just check for obvious signs and hope for the best. I've lived in very built up urban bits of London, near scuzzy takeaways, and never had any problems. But where we live now (a naice area) we have the pest guys in twice a year, and they tell us our street is notorious for rats.

I reckon it's to do with the naiceness. Other people here probably set humane traps and do incantations rather than just killing the little sods. It only takes a couple of households not dealing with the problem for everyone to have a problem.

[MadBusLady]

By the way, it could be worse. I was reading some reviews of rat repellant stuff on Amazon recently (headline: doesn't really work) and a load of American reviewers were talking about having rodents infesting their CARS!

[LilMissSunshine9]

Finally home to check the hole! Its by a drain - too scared to open the drain cover to check the side of the drain - resorted to my own diy experiment to see if this is the rats access point before parting with more money - putting a small scrap of carrier bag into the hole and will check everyday to see if its been moved.

[ish111]

Hello, are you still having problems with Rats in Attic?

[ihatesiresh]

All the answers in this story:

beattherat.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/first-blog-post/

[MiniBrumMum]

There are 2 main sorts of rats - climbing rats often go into attics - & rats, unlike mice, tend to go outside every night to forage & then back in the day to sleep - only bolder rats take food from in the house, or rats where there's no outside food nearby (takeaways wrappers with chips in etc) or where there are so many rats that there's not eno9ugh food to go round! I hope this answers your query as to why rats go into attics.