Rats in the kitchen

[Overthinker92]

I’ve read there is never only one .. 😭

sorry it’s a long post.. I needed to find other similar experiences before I have a breakdown. I already suffer with anxiety/ocd , I feel I’ll have ptsd after this it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and last at night and everything in between 😩

basically long story short ….

My neighbour had an issue 5 weeks ago and never mentioned anything to me (they’d had something under their stairs chewing electric wires and eating some food they had stored.. I wasn’t told otherwise I could have took preventions sooner making sure I had no holes anywhere in my kitchen, I was told by someone 2 weeks ago so started to take preventative measures and then a week ago I noticed something in my kitchen. Three times thing has been in my house in the last 2 weeks. (Prior to this I’ve never had any issues and I usually leave stuff like a fruit bowl on the side, my baby’s milk etc and there’s never been any kind of inclinations there was something in the house.

But something came in again last night and I don’t know how it’s got in 😭 I’m absolutely terrified there is more than one and they are in my house in other rooms … somewhere other than the kitchen as I have young children and I just don’t know what to do. Might seem silly but I’ve done nothing but cry as I really thought blocking the holes up had ensured they/it wouldn’t come in..

there was nothing for 3 days then my partner came to stay that night he’d left his rice cakes out on the side for work wrapped up and they disappeared with just the bag left with holes in … I set a camera up, purposely left something on the side where it had been taken previously and nothing for three days nothing until this morning… a dead RAT 🤢. I’ve got the council pest control coming but they can’t come until next week.. I’ve spoke to my landlord who had a Quick Look and are going to check the cellar on weekend as they are away until then. Please tell me this has happened to someone before. Im so scared , every little noise , kids leave something in site , listening in my eldests room whilst he’s asleep incase I can hear anything .. I’m exhausted 😴
😩 Thank you if you read this.

The snap traps are really good. The poison the pest control guy uses will be much better than you can buy. Try and find where they got in.
You may only have a couple and there are times when you only have one rat. I have just the one under my chicken ark because I recognise him.
Try not to listen to the scratching in the walls at night, listen to the radio, otherwise it will drive you made. We had a horrific rat problem a couple of years ago. We spent the time ensuring they couldn’t get in walls, or anywhere to nest and sorted the drains out which they used as a rat highway!
It’s the time of year for rats to move inside.

I'm gonna fix that rat.

I had just one in an outdoor shed, sometimes there really is just one.

We had them in our kitchen year ago before last.

The professional just wanted to put down poison which I refused so I sent him away and we dealt with it ourselves. The thought of putting poison in our kitchen near food, when we have children and pets just seems mind bogglingly risky to me. Also then they would die under floors and in walls and stink the house out for months.

So we used motion detector cameras that you get off Amazon to work out over a series of nights how they were getting in. We blocked those gaps up. We went through every single cupboard worked out if they could get in or not and dealt with the contents accordingly.
We sealed up all access to food.
It was hard and stressful but we did it over about a week. We haven't had a problem since.

Update - left the trap out same place again and nothing came last night, not feeling to hopefully though, as it seems to wait a few days between visits. 😭 I did have a black bag full of clean washing at the bottom of the stairs and there was hole in the bag this morning , not sure if it just ripped before I put it there but now I’m convinced they are in the rest of the house. My mind won’t switch off. 😭😭

Not long until pest control come so hang in there. Keep food tucked away.
Hopefully it was just the one.

Just to say we had rats at one point and they never went anywhere other than the kitchen and we didn't keep the door shut, so hopefully they aren't being adventurous.

Update: nothing since catching the big massive rat last Wednesday- I’ve had the trap out every day since.
council pest control came yesterday - he took the kickboard off etc nothing there but there was some holes from the cellar.
He believes the entry point was my cellar door as it is outside in my yard and there is a hole in it.
now I’m not 100% convinced as there was nothing no signs of anything until around 3 weeks after it was under my neighbours stairs , chewing their electric wires 😩
he’s left some poison in my cellar and will be back in 2 weeks. And my landlord is going to fix the cellar door. PTSD is still going strong. 😭

I mean, it's great that there has been no further activity. At least the poison is down now and pest control will come back and check it all out. Hopefully that's it for you.
I've no clue whether rodents like to find somewhere warm for winter but I'm ensuring poison is behind kitchen units and traps still in place 😫
And leaving peppermint all over the house to deal with spiders!
Hope

Hopefully you’ve got the devil. There is sometimes just one rat and you’ve got him. If the holes are blocked up no others will think of over wintering in your house.