Big massive fuck off rat - please keep me sane

[BrianGlue]

(name changed because I imagine my husband is searching every corner of the internet for advice)

Heard scurrying Christmas Eve - pest control over, poison out. Came back Boxing Day to no noise at night and breathed a sigh of relief.

But turns out this little (huge) bastard is a trickster. Every night since it’s been out and about at night. It was spotted yesterday behind the oven. Last night it chewed through skirting and a bit of door.

This evening it had the audacity to bound up the kitchen steps when I went to get wine. It’s HUGE.

Seriously, what do we do now? Just put my baby to bed and currently sat outside his door ready to spear it if it dares to come close.

Questions:

1. why isn’t the dog putting him off coming in the house?
2. is it likely it’s poisoned if it’s acting weirdly like coming out when the lights are on?
3. should we get traps too?

I want to leave but I also am terrified of how much it could destroy if it’s not poisoned. This is fucking awful.

Definitely not smelled anything!

Odd its ignoring the pest control poison.

Not that odd. It's fairly recently been put down and rats are neophobic, so it often takes them a while to eat newly offered food.

Yes, think it’s a drain pipe - it’s a very very old house and there could be so many.

poison was laid Christmas Eve - is it likely it’s had it and still alive now do you think? Didn’t look particularly slow.

I second the idea that there is very likely more than one (sorry OP). I have mice which come down from the attic (I think) and pop out into my wardrobe. I have traps in my wardrobe and have spent an unpleasant festive season filling in holes at the back of my wardrobe with polyfiller.
When they come down and suffer their fate in the traps it is never just one, usually 3 in a row. At one point I caught about 9 in a row in the traps. Urgghhhhh.
Sympathy to you OP.

I've had pet rats and mice so I'm always reluctant to use poison or glue but also OP if you have ever smelled dead mice or rats in your house then you'd think twice, honestly it's horrible especially when the heating goes on!

We used to get a lot of mice and occasionally rats in our childhood home and humane traps are by far the most effective for rats they are clever and often suspicious of poison.

You could try something like this near the entry point bait it with something smelly Bolognese sauce worked well (from memory)
https://www.tbcandme.com/stv080.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAnL-sBhBnEiwAJRGigsVG14le7cNz3wwGs1pZoD5NURLiuQfd0dRIXTzh6jQ1XOkE6VobpRoCUT0QAvD_BwE

Then release a good way from the house

What I’m hoping is that, if that’s the case, then this is the last big boss rat because the noise on Christmas Eve was def in multiple places at once, I’m sure, and since the noise has come back, it’s def not as much.

Also change the location of the trap as once one has been caught there they usually avoid it.

Just to make you feel a bit better OP, we had just the one rat. Apparently it was an ‘opportunist’ rat (), which pest control said had probably come in through our open cellar door when I had been outside during the evening emptying my bin. One lot of poison killed it off though. I’m still traumatised by it all five years later. So just letting you know there is a chance it could be a lone interloper…

There are some good traps called rat reaper. Good luck x

Chuck a ton of poison under the floor boards for (if not now) the future! We used to get loads of mice. Vermin don’t need a very big space. Mice squeeze in through a biro-sized hole. Rats don’t need a much bigger space. Stuff any holes with wire wool. If using snap traps, peanut butter is best.

In a week or so there’ll be an absolutely foul smell if they don’t manage to crawl outside to die (although maybe keep an eye out for dead ones in the garden if there are cats around). It’s horrible when you have young children. I think I’d feel a lot worse about rats than mice, too.

Chocolate spread and a snap trap works well. Anyway you can set up a camera to see where it is coming from? We get them around the chicken run and spend a lot of time trying to outwit them

Snap traps set 🤞🤞🤞

I'd be sobbing! It was bad enough when I used to have a horse and I'd go in the stable to the sight of a massive one beating a hasty retreat, on one occasion over my foot (I screamed). Or I'd be mucking out and one would suddenly erupt. I'd be hysterical if one was in the house and imagining it in every corner

Is there pest control you could call in? Is it possible to cordon off the rat room with a pest control provided bait box?

Already had pest control in Christmas Eve and doesn’t seem to have made any difference so far. Honestly I feel sick.

Urgh how horrific. Google terrier pest control. I know someone who had a guy over with his Jack Russell - problem immediately sorted. Good luck and keep us updated!

Meanwhile, under OP’s floorboards…

When you set the traps and put down the poison were you wearing gloves?

I saw a segment recently about pest control and the expert said that the oils on your skin are left as a residue on the traps/ poison.
Rats and mice can smell it from a mile off and actively avoid the traps. He said the best thing to do was to wash it thoroughly and reset it using gloves

Also I wouldn’t have the baby apart from you. Rats have been known to gnaw at babies

Oh god you poor thing. Hope you catch it soon

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/baby-eaten-by-rats-indiana-b2418220.html#

Is it male or female if you don’t mind me asking? (I’ve googled which are better hunters and there are mixed reviews)
thanks

@mamma65432

"Try an electric cat (amazon) put some peanut butter inside to entice the rat in and leave it in the same place for a few days."

What on earth is an electric cat? 😁

This isn't helpful whatsoever

No obviously not helpful at all. He’s 18 months and I don’t think we’re infested, just an old rural house near farms and stables.

I’m trying to be realistic about the situation. A rat is a real threat to a baby. If I came on here and just said - the rat can eat / nearly kill the baby w/o any evidence of it having happened I’d be scaremongering

This isn’t a rumour, it’s a fact, and it is trying to be helpful - not all help and advice needs to be warm and fluffy. This is a warning. It’s no different to the drink drive ads that made you think twice.