Help - rats in my kitchen

[Helpmechangemymindsetplease]

He/she/they were in a kitchen cupboard last night munching their way through packets of food.

We can also hear them under the floorboards in two different places.

Does anyone have a good pest control recommendation and how do I let them in with social distancing etc?? Also it would have to be next week since I had (mild but who knows) viral symptoms last week so we are isolating until next Tuesday, so what can I do in the meantime??

Thanks a lot!!

Get some poison. If you can't go out to get it, get someone else to go out and get it. If you can't find anyone else to go out for you, then you'll have to order online.

Meanwhile, look in the cupboard and work out how they got in there, then block up the hole - wire wool is best, but anything relatively difficult for them to chew through will do for now.

Also get a couple of traps.

Once your poison and your traps arrive, lay it all out.

"Shivers". The first thing to do is to seal up how they are getting into kitchen. Get expanding foam and get under the baseboards which is most likely access for them - I know that's where mine came in. Rats and mice are everywhere always will be but they will only come.in for food or nest in walls. You can call pest control who are still working.and they will lay poison. That's not my preferred option but if you do you go outside as they come inside.

Also word of caution about poisoning they will likely die under your floorboards or in wall cavities. The smell is horrendous and takes weeks to.go away.

We use traps baited with chocolate. I'm sure you can order them online. Hopefully they're mice not rats!

You gotta fix dat rat.

I have a pest control business what I can tell you is the poison you buy in shops is no where near powerful or as strong as what registered technicians can buy. In fact mostly it's like feeding the rats sweets
Get pest control in and save money. We have completely limited indoor visits to the minimum but if we must we put on full hazard suit and masks. I'd make sure any company you have in does this too.

Thank you.

I am sure it is rats as they are making a deafening noise and you can hear the size of their bodies!

I do have some poison and bait boxes and I was thinking I could empty the food cupboard they were in (ugh) and put one in there as I don’t know where else they would access the poison otherwise? Would it be okay to do that in the meantime?

I am much too scared to lay traps and then retrieve bodies .

But I take your point @iamtherealitycheck about the poison not being strong enough.

Long term though, I suppose pest control would know the best places to leave poison under the house and the floorboards which might need to be lifted up to do this?

This has been a recurring problem for us (though mainly mice) and after years trying to deal with it every year, I really want to move to a house that has a concrete floor!!!

Does anyone have any recommendations for good pest control places in London?

Council pest controllers are still working, so you can give them a call.

Greedy bastards! Should queue up like the rest of us for their food!!

Weirdly enough DH and I were discussing if there would be more rats/mice coming into people’s homes for food since a lot of food outlets have closed. People around here have stopped feeding the birds too which I’m guessing the rodents had a share of.

Greedy bastards! Should queue up like the rest of us for their food!!

Yes really and I have had to throw away all of this .

Hadn’t thought of that @MashedSpud.

@Yang rats in the kitchen AND an earworm?

Another thing to bare in mind is the longer you put off getting someone in to do it properly the more damage the rat will do to your property x

don't use expanding foam, they can eat through it, you need wire wool.Look for droppings, they like to do it in the same place, you may be able to trace where they're getting in from.Poison works over a few days, knocks them out gradually, they usually go off somewhere to die.

I've got rats 😩😩 my council won't come out at the moment, no idea what to do! Don't want to use poison as the stench they make from dying in the house is vile