Rat in my ceiling

[JetskiSkyJumper]

I think there's a rat in my kitchen ceiling! I can hear a large pitter patter of feet. How the fuck do I get rid of it?! I'm praying it's actually a bird but I think I'm deluding myself!

I've been outside and I can see a gap in a roof tile at the side of the single storey extension so guessing it's got in there so we can block that off but how do I get it out as I don't want it eating the ceiling, wires, or getting in the actual kitchen etc.

Another question will the council do anything if I report issues with rats? We've had pest control out 4 times in the last 4 years!

There's a rat tunnel that comes up in our front garden, we chuck poision down and block it but they keep coming back up there. Pest control said they weren't coming towards our house but tracks go straight across the footpath in another direction (there's a bin at the bottom of the road that probably attracts them).

Then we had a rat get in via our open patio door one day. Pest control think it left before they came via an open window as no trace was ever found and no poison ever touched. Only saw it once.

Then we had one in the kitchen, pest control couldn't figure out how it got in. Poisoned, died somewhere in the wall I suspect from the stench! We put gates on the outside drain pipes as a precaution, blocked off the hole in the kitchen with wire etc.

Now this! Our house and garden and are clean and tidy, I've stopped feeding the birds, pest control dont know where they come from but it seems our garden is a route for them so they chance their luck getting in.

Dh saw a dead one. Ear some communal garages a few days back so someone else must have issues and be positioning them too. Will the council do anything.

Just what you don't need at Christmas!

Gap in the roof tile doesn't lead to anything so whatever it is didn't get in there. We think they're getting in the cavity wall somewhere but no idea how or where

Only poison worked for us when we had rats

Rats are amazingly adept at getting into nooks and crannies. We had one in our loft and cavity. Put poison down which worked but the dead rat attracted blowflies (🤮)
We plugged in a sonic repellent. Works but only in a relatively small area.
Our council don’t do any pest control anymore.

Sure its not seagulls or squirrels on the roof?

Might be a squirrel. I once watched one run straight up a neighbours brick wall then enter under their roof.

Before you poison you need to really really identify all access points. There must be one. No question.

find it. And seal them off with metal mesh, repair any holes in mortar.
they can dig down to get up into the underfloor cavity, so closely examine the perimeter of your house.
if you find any holes, dig around them, clear soil etc away and repair any holes in bricks or airbricks etc.
we blocked off one that was made in the gravel surrounding a soil pipe.

they could be coming in from the soffits, again repair any gaps or broken parts,

again these holes could be in neighbouring properties if joined etc.

finding entry point is key to stopping other rats entering

use tracking powder to identify movement inside the house.

again block all the gaps you can .

rats don’t like new things to will avoid traps and bait boxes etc for a while,

Unlikelt, but if you are in or near the Chilterns it might be glis glis.... We had 8 removed earlier this year.

If it is rats it's more likely they're coning up from the sewer up through cavity walls. If it's the roof it's maybe a squirrel or birds.

Just be glad they're not IN the house 🙈
(I have them too, hoping it's birds)

Sadly, i've stopped feeding the birds too :(

We've just bought a sonic repellant, fingers crossed it works as they have very mixed reviews. I've been banging on the ceiling every time I hear it in the hope of putting it off staying. Definitely not seagulls or squirrels as I could also hear it from outside when I went to look so know nothing was on the roof.

There are no obvious access points, I got up on a ladder and ran my hand along the gutter and under the tiles to check for gaps, checked the soffits etc. There were couple of teeny gaps between the soffits and tiles at the edges of the roof so I've stuffed them with wire wool but they weren't chewed. No gaps around pipes, no holes in the walls/sofits/tiles/ground.

We suspect they are getting in the cavity wall but no idea how. Even pest control couldnt figure out how they got in last time. We put the one way valves in the outside drains last time as there's an old disused pipe but we did that and the kitchen pipe, maybe we need to do the sewage pipe from the toilet too. Lovely lol.

Oh I'm very glad it's not in the house, yet!

I thought they were a protected species, like bats?

Soak cotton wool in peppermint oil or essence and push into any gaps to get it into the roof space, rats hate the smell and should leave. Until you have poison mix bicarb into peanut butter place on paper plates close to walls and edges. It will kill the rats as well as any poison.

We have had rats every winter.
One was about to enter the kitchen but a trap caught it.
I still hear scurrys in my attic every so often but since we have had our lurcher it's not been too bad. I don't know if try can sense dogs? X.

You need to get it killed asap. Modern houses and their crap plastic plumbing are like catnip to rats. They can chew through it and cause a lot of damage.

Pay a local expert pest controller to get it out asap.

They are allowed to be removed by licensed people.

Oh, the smell of a decayed rat in the roof space is one I won't forget... We had a couple expire there and it was eventually discovered that they got in using the old pipework when we had an extension built that hadn't been capped off when the new ones went live. Are you sure you've got all the old pipework blocked off?

I don't t know as it was done before we bought the house and the attic space above the extension isn't accessible.

Well I've learnt something new today! Had no idea what glis glis were,just had to Google it. Fat dormouse!