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Raaaaaaaaaat! Jesus, help me!

24 replies

TenPastEleven · 23/08/2019 00:31

Talk me down, people!

So this evening I was sitting quietly at the kitchen table doing a bit of work when out of the corner of my eye I spy movement on the floor, coming round the kitchen island. Before I saw what it was I thought in a split-second ‘how did a blackbird get in the house’? Then realised what it was and shouted, it scarpered back round the corner.

The kitchen if you can imagine is kind of a U shape with the kitchen island attached at one end to a wall. The direction our ratty anti-hero went in was toward the utility room which is more of a cupboard than a room really and backs on to another room. So no exterior walls. I did find the board thing under the units is out of place so there’s a gap under the integrated dishwasher. Anyway managed to convince myself it has taken a wrong turning and would never be back. Googled rentokil etc.
Half an hour later I look up and the fucking thing is about 3 feet away for me heading for the sitting room. I shouted ‘ohfuckinghell’ surprisingly loudly and it fucked off again at speed.

Where is it coming from and going to? How much will it cost to get rid of? Is it going to come upstairs in the night and nibble my children? I am so disgusted and a little bit shaky. No evidence prior to today and I keep the kitchen really clean (no food lying out or scraps on floor). Have had recent (3 months ago) building work and have occasionally heard noises in the utility room.

Anyone had similar and can tell me it will all be fine??

OP posts:
WTF99 · 23/08/2019 00:36

Are you a member of UB40?

Falafel19 · 23/08/2019 00:39

He's probably been living in your walls/some random space since the building work, possibly with his family, sorry. We had a rat 2 years ago, he definitely was alone, it was winter, our dryer vent cover had come off outside, he came in to stay warm (the f*cker). He made a nest in our boiler with papers he brought inside, then went up a vent space in the hot press into the attic and pulled some insulation down for his cosy nest.

Rentokil cost about £250 I think, over the course of 3 calls/6 weeks.

He won't nibble your children but I would be keeping all doors closed, block up his pathway, look for any external exit point he might be using to go outside too.

GreenTulips · 23/08/2019 00:40

Ring the council they’ll sort him out
Building work has displaced them

TenPastEleven · 23/08/2019 00:46

Isn’t the council going to tell me to call rentokil (other pest control services are, as I have discovered, available)? I’m upstairs imagining the big brown furry fucker climbing all over my worktops. Urrrgh

OP posts:
KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse · 23/08/2019 00:46

OP you have my sympathy. I've also had my day ruined by a rat. In my case a dead one in the middle of the hall.

The cat is grounded. Sad

TenPastEleven · 23/08/2019 00:47

My ground floor is totally open plan. Not a door anywhere. Beginning to regret that a bit!

OP posts:
TenPastEleven · 23/08/2019 00:50

bishopbrennan bleeeeeurgh

OP posts:
Falafel19 · 23/08/2019 00:51

Ours couldn't have gotten past our little utility room which was the one thing that kept me sane, it's locked every night and the dog sleeps in there so Ratty presumably stayed very quiet overnight!

He's been there 3 months without you knowing so I'd say he won't pick tonight to amble upstairs and you can call pest control in the morning.

nzeire · 23/08/2019 00:53

OMG OMG OMG!!!! We had one in Dublin and I ran screaming out of the house!!!! All the neighbours came out to see what the commotion was all about. Very god friend came in and lay rat traps with peanut butter and mars bars, checked every hour for the rest of the day until it was killed (sorry). Rat man from the council came in the next day to confirm he was alone.

HORRIFIC

still haunts me years later

Size of a small cat

TenPastEleven · 23/08/2019 00:53

If it’s been here 3 months wouldn’t I have seen rat shit/ raided cupboards or some kind of evidence? I am faintly revolted by the thought it’s been roaming around that long.

OP posts:
TenPastEleven · 23/08/2019 00:56

My husband is away and had texted something unhelpful about the ‘rat/mouse’ which isn’t helping. I think I know the fucking difference, thanks.

OP posts:
tobee · 23/08/2019 00:57

We had a rat in my kitchen a couple of years ago! He'd been eating my fruit!!! Horrible! You have my sympathy.

I would compare prices and services with a few pest control companies. I think Rentokil are quite expensive. I think we've got rid of any trace/holes now. 🤞

Poppins2016 · 23/08/2019 00:59

Very god friend came in and lay rat traps with peanut butter and mars bars

My father used to work for Rentokill decades ago. He still raves about using peanut butter in traps. It works brilliantly!

tobee · 23/08/2019 01:01

After rat man got rid of ours I had to wipe down all the surfaces of the kitchen with anti bac spray. I had to throw out the toaster because my son saw him sitting on it! The cheeky fucker! The rat not my son.

Falafel19 · 23/08/2019 01:03

Ours never got into our food storage because he was restricted to the utility room, but my grandads house had a rat too once and all we found was orange skins behind the sofa, no other signs of droppings or feasts and that guy had an absolute ball in between the floorboards for ages.

Falafel19 · 23/08/2019 01:05

Actually there were never droppings in our utility room either, the only evidence was occasional rustling over a few days in there and then when rentokil took the boiler cover off all the crisp packets etc came out.

Kinsters · 23/08/2019 07:53

Noooo, rats are horrible. Can you borrow a cat with proven rat catching ability? It might make a bit of a mess though, a rat trap might be better on second thoughts. You can get humane ones if you're squeamish about killing it.

My experience with rats and mice is that they're loud and leave a trail behind them so it's probably not been around that long. Not sure if rats are like mice but mice are incontinent (or maybe just don't care) so you'll see a little trail of poos and wee wherever they go. If he'd been in your kitchen a while you'd have seen poos. Have a look round the outside of your house and see if there are any holes (even small ones that you think no way a rat could fit through) and fill with poly filler if there are.

LadyOfTheCanyon · 23/08/2019 08:01

We're near a river and the cat is kept busy with rats. Occasionally he brings them in - one bit my FIL and was quickly ejected through the cat flap. Grin
Another time I opened a drawer to find one sitting eating a rice cake. I screamed and he hopped it, back door was open so hopefully he hot pawed it outside never to be seen again. No droppings anywhere, and I pulled the kitchen apart looking for evidence as I bleached it to within an inch of its life.

So it might just be confused and disoriented and passing through, but I'd get The RatMan in to be absolutely sure.

whojamaflip · 23/08/2019 08:06

We had a rat issue when we moved into our current home - disused farmhouse. Had spent 6 months renovating and the first winter was horrendous. The little buggers used to run between the downstairs ceilings and the upstairs floorboards and sounded like they were wearing clogs!

We tried everything and the only thing that worked was laying bait which then had the unfortunate result that they died in places we couldn't get to - the smell for about 6 weeks was unbelievable 🤢 added to which the downstairs ceilings all ended up with grease marks where the bodies decomposed (limewashed) every ceiling had to be treated with special paint to stop the marks bleeding through. We counted 8 in the end 😮

Glad to say in 20 years apart from the odd mouse we haven't had a problem since - that may be something to do with the fact that we now have 5 cats and a terrier.

Your council may still offer free pest control for rats - ours does so probably best to give them a shout.

ArgusFilchsCat · 23/08/2019 08:09

We had them in the attic after building work. Got in through a gap in the cavity and got stuck once it was closed. Think they died/ left as the only evidence we had of their existence after the work finished was an abandoned next in the Christmas trimmings box! Shock.

Italia2005 · 23/08/2019 08:17

Contact your Council - we had this problem 2 months ago and my council provides a subsidised service for less than £60 which includes a full initial survey, all treatments and 2 follow up visits.
My neighbour was quoted hundreds of pounds from rentokill before they’d even been out to assess the situation.

fiorentina · 23/08/2019 08:20

I think rats aren’t incontinent like mice so you may not see droppings. Hope you get rid soon. I’d definitely be rat trapping.

Pretendapony · 23/08/2019 08:26

Do you have any friends that own a terrier? They’d get it pretty quickly if it’s bold enough to roam around in company. It’s a quick kill.

notso · 23/08/2019 08:32

We had a rat in the front room one night. I panicked initially and just shut the door on it and went to cower in bed.

The next day I went and bought traps and DD and I set them in the front room.

It was caught in a couple of hours, but there was shit everywhere. It was an old house with very high ceilings and we had shelves floor to ceiling. There were droppings on every shelf, on the top of the blinds, in the coving around the ceiling, all over the window sill, the sofa, the tv...

I think it had just come through the open door as we didn't see any evidence anywhere else in the house.

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