Rats in the house!!

[MrsSchrute]

A few weeks ago we had a rat in the house. I was sitting on the sofa and it ran out from underneath and across the room, big hairy bugger it was!
We have since had a really good pest control guy in, who thinks it was just a one off, but I'm really freaked out! I keep imagining I can here them every time there is a noise.
Has anyone else had rats in their house? What happened? Did they go for good or come back?

Oh god that sounds horrific! I would take him at his word though, easier said than done. Do you live in the countryside?

No, edge of a big city.
Haven't heard a single sound since, I think it's just knowing that it's possible!
I know rats are going into houses more since the restaurants shut, so I'm hoping that as lockdown eases they will go back into the city centre! 🤞🏻

Yes I would be listening out for it as well! I have heard that, and I would believe the pest control if he’s said it’s a one off. I’ve never had rats but had a mouse once. It was just the one, came in via a second hand dishwasher! Once it was disposed of we never had anything since. Horrible though.

I saw a mouse run across my living room about 1.5 years ago, i freaked out...
Fortunately I never saw the little bugger again.
10 years ago I had a mice infestation when I had a parrot and a rubbish builder who didn't seal up the living room properly! I think if you had a infestation you would know by now, hopefully just a one off. I know its horrible though!

I saw a rat in my garden a couple of days ago, I live near a town centre. I have never seen one before. I have stopped feeding the birds and am regularly rat watching out the window now. Has really concerned me seeing it.

We’d spotted some in the garden before lockdown and literally on the first day of being at home one came up through a hole in the floorboards. It pushed me entirely over the edge!
I phoned the first number for a pest controller I could find and he he came out the next day, put a shit load of poison down, told us how to block the hole and thankfully 🤞🤞🤞🤞 that was the end of it

Yes, in a second floor modern flat in central london! The whole development was having work done on gas flues and somehow rats got into the risers. It was massive. My pre-schooler was playing in the kitchen which was separated from where I was working by a glass door. She came through saying ‘mummy theres a big rat’ and I humoured her saying ‘I’ll shut it in, come and play in here’, and the next thing I saw it out the corner of my eye. It was trapped so the pest guy had to catch it on a sticky pad, which was horrific - they make a screaming noise like a baby crying 😢

I’m really nervous that I may see another rat in the garden. I’ve become a bit obsessed looking out the windows.

Urgh. We had a rat living with us last winter. It had made a nest behind the kick board of the sink unit in my kitchen 😱 it also ran out from under the couch one day. It completely traumatized me and we just couldn't kill it. Traps, poison didn't work. We had a builder come in and rip out the sink unit. He found a hole behind the wall which he filled with concrete and broken glass. At that point we had my friends terrier staying with us and I thought he had scared the rat out of the house. Turns out he had scared the rat further into the walls and then we blocked his escape by filling the hole. That night we were woken up by the sound of the rat frantically chewing the wood (or something) behind our bedroom wall trying to get free . It was horrible. That went on for days until I guess he either died or found a way out.

Urgh rats are the worst. He never came back though so long story short is to find how he got in and cement the hole.

Yes once in my last house, called in pest control who also said it was probably a one off- and he was right, we never heard or saw another one again. Noisy bugger it was.

I saw one in my rabbit's run outside. Initially I thought it was an escaped Guinea pig was so large. It then had babies so I put poison down and they went. Having a pet rabbit attracts other rodents no surprise. ⁰

Yeah he got in the kitchen cupboard and ripped the bread apart and got in all the books and crannies, we were in bed and heard him trying to break out of the bathroom unit. It turned out it was going between us and the neighbours. The pest control guy but down traps and we caught two haven't had any problems since

I had LOADS it was gross. Including kitchen cupboards and loft.

Pest control guy poisoned the hell out of them and blocked off their entry route. They have stayed away!!!

Our neighbour feeds their dog outside - leaves the dry food down all day, which unsurprisingly attracts rats. They ended up with one in their lounge!
We had them in the garden under the decking and just got the rat man out. We've removed the decking and blocked up some possible holes and have had no problems since. I'm sure they are still around though

Oh God @MissClementine I feel you. Last year a rat was chased by my cats across the garden and I was obsessed but eventually got over it, and then in April the cats presented me with a dead rat! They can't leave the garden so clearly the rat came into the garden some how. Anyway we searched every inch of our garden and found no evidence of them living here so I eventually calmed down further and then yesterday I looked out the front window and there was a rat at the end of our drive, on the bank where our hedge is; eating the bird food! My heart stopped, the brazen creature was out in daylight feasting away.
I stare obsessively out the window now - the bird feeders are hanging ones not trays but there is a nest in the hedge so the feeder has a purpose and we get so many birds despite it being a busy road.
I don't want to stop feeding them but I cannot believe now that there have been three rats in total around our property and I obsessively stare out the windows looking for more.
None in the house thankfully as I think the cats are a huge deterrent - their litter tray is also at the back door so the smell of cats must be evident but they are not known for hunting and I don't know how they killed one to begin with!
I'm seriously considering getting a terrier dog, but concerned it will confuse the cats with larger rats (and I have a seven month old baby)

I may sound so naive here and please don't be too mean to me.
I can completely understand not wanting Rats in your home especially with young children but I think we often forget that these animals are living beings who feel pain.
We moved into a house which the land was previously a nature reserve, we had mice come in the house which were actually quite friendly but probably scared. We need to realise that we have built houses on land where wildlife was originally there. We would humanly trap them (in a box with a spoon of peanut butter) the flap would go down then we would release them over the nature reserve. No problems, no cruelty.
Someone mentioned that they used a sticky trap (got a pest controller to use) and to me that is horrendous and unnecessary. These traps will literally tear the fur and skin off anything that sticks onto it, I have seen cases where people's cats have stuck to them and also wild birds. Just awful!
We have become accustomed to think that wild animals are vermin when they are simply trying to live, like us.
I guess my point is, yes by all means remove the mice/rats from your homes but this does not need to be done inhumanly.
I know i will be targeted for having this viewpoint but it would play on my mind if I did not address how cruel sticky traps are. Please don't ever buy them. Please use other methods.
I hope you understand and respect my view.

@GalesThisMorning good grief just reading that has traumatised me... I’d have been sleeping in the car.

In our last house we used to have problems with rats in the garden. Never in the house though. I think it was because there was a Chinese supermarket place nearby that used to dump all kinds outside... between the rats and the seagulls I couldn’t wait to get away!

I found a mouse in the cupboard under the sink last week. I immediate ordered a humane trap, which caught it the same day, and I released it.

There weren’t many droppings in the cupboard so I naively told myself it was just the one, but it has been a week and have been no more droppings or furry friends in the trap. Fingers crossed it was a one-off - for me and for you!

Yep. I had a thread about this at the start of this year but have no idea how to link to it.

It was my elderly neighbour with a rat infestation and because we're in a terrace they got in all the floors and ceilings.

Took months to get rid of them. I still see them in the garden.

To the poster who said they are living things, I do see what you are saying but they carry a huge amount of diseases and they reproduce and multiply at an insane result. It is not healthy to have them in your house.

We've had them a couple of times. It's no big deal, we just stuck some traps/poison down and got rid of them.

We've had mice too (live rurally) and I'm a bit more caring about them (I know, I know!) and use humane traps so they can be released back into the fields.

This is interesting:
Are you never more than 6ft away from a rat?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20716625

I know rats are going into houses more since the restaurants shut
Sorry that's made me laugh. Imagining a rat sitting at a table with a little napkin round its neck now It was probably a one off, but the important thing is to find out how it got in and block it off!

@Gales
Broken glass?? I hope I don't come across this builder!

I don't mind being 6m away from a rat if they're not making their presence obvious. If they're out in daylight or in the house, then it's time to take action.

@stepbackfromthecircles I completely agree and understand :) also thank you for being kind and for understanding my view on this, I appreciate that.
I think my concern is not that people don't want them in their houses, that's understandable, but with the inhumane methods that people use to get rid of the rats or mice (especially the sticky traps) I know it takes more effort but there are so many kinder methods to use.
Especially to those who live near in the countryside as it should be expected that wildlife will be living close, its where they live.
I know how soft I sound but I hate to think of anything or anyone suffering simply for another's convenience.