Help! Rats in my ceiling void!

[PickledMuffin]

Hi all

We have rats (we think) in the ceiling void of our extension.

We use this part of the house as our dining room and to chill out in the evening, so all evening we can hear them scratching around, probably making a nest with the insulation.

We can't find how they are coming in. We've banged on the ceiling to try and scare them and make them leave but it doesn't seem to be working.

Any tips on how to make them leave?! I don't want to kill/harm them, DP has different ideas.

Pretty sure it is rats because i've never seen a squirrel in the garden.

Thank you

thanks for the replies everyone. i have home emergency with my bank and that covers vermin, so i've made a claim.

it's a flat roof so god knows how they'll investigate.

let's see what happens. Wish us luck!

Our hero pest control man laid poison (its not humane, you have to agree to it,) which makes them so thirsty they leave to search for water, then they die. After a week, you fill in ALL the places he tells you to. (I went to a hotel at this point!)
That was problem solved for us.
He said do it properly an there's no need for a 2nd visit.
Good luck!

buy yourself 2 farm cats

You should check with your council first because some councils do provide the service for free. We had some in our garden and previously in our loft and both times they came and sorted it.

We have mice from time to time and one even mouse can be surprisingly loud in the dead of the night.

Just had the pest control over. he can't couldn't see where they are gaining access so has recommended a drain survey be carried out, he couldn't put any poison down either as where we live is considered rural and would be a danger to the wildlife.

So drain survey it is.

I sympathise OP. We had pretty much the exact same situation- except we discovered the problem when we moved into our new house. The room in the extension had a horrid musty smell due to what was probably years of rat wee and droppings, don't know how we didn't notice when we viewed the house, must have had windows open. It was grim. We'd hear them scurrying all over the void.
It actually took us months to get to tye bottom of it. First paying out for drain inspections then all kinds of investigative work of the walls. In the end we had to get foam cavity insulation stuff pumped in and around the walls as that's how they were getting in.
Council were useless - nothing beyond trapping/baiting them but we needed to actually find the source.
Still have to keep on top of it by occasional poison. I don't think you will have much option not to as they will not just go away by themselves! Good luck and hope you get it sorted.

Yes this sounds familiar. Check drains first but if not then you'll need to be looking at walls

Btw the smell of decomposing rat is awful and can last for ages especially in winter when their bodies don't rot so quickly.

😞 just heard one running across the ceiling void just now. straight from
one side to the other, no scratching though. Booking in the drain inspection tomorrow. Wish me luck!

You got any going?! 👀😂

I feel your pain! We had the exact same in our attic and wall cavities. All night long we could hear the little sods, I barely slept. I didn't want to kill them either and try all the "nice' types of traps but they were so clever that they'd take the "nice bait" and not even set the traps off! I gave in in the end and laid down the real deal poison. We even had the sods climbing up the bird feeders and taking the suet blocks (that was until one fell off and the dog got it 🙈🙈). You have to go in hard before you're infested. Good luck x

Do you have an extension? Rats got into our extension and promptly died; the smell was horrendous. Turns out the builders hadn't capped off a pipe when the new one went live and the rats were using it as a highway into the roof space.

Ahh! Sorry; I see the problem is in the extension.

Knittedfairies2 just a fyi (as pest control arent plumbers)* *toilet pipes etc should not be venting into your attic space as water/heat will damage the timber and sweage fumes are dangerous and need a safe exit pathway to the outside.

Hi @PickledMuffin - did you have any luck? I think I have a similar issue...

@DrapeyDreamer have you solved your issue any advice

Hi 👋 they left as it got warmer… i think they’ll be back when the frost comes to take more of the insulation! 🙁 will let you know.

@PolarBear4788

"...stink like Satan's arse crack..."

I'm not familiar with that fragrance. Is it from Frebreeze's new 'Back to Nature' range?

We discovered (the expensive way) that trapping and baiting is pointless unless you fix how they are getting in. We had an extension built and something disrupted a drain. Getting that hole filled in and some one way valves put in actually worked. Traps and bait did nothing much.

They're getting into my walls through a hole behind the flashing where the extension meets the house. They shimmy up the drainpipe then lean across and squeeze in! I watched one do it. So far they've eaten through 2 electric cables, I don't mean like loose cables I mean ones to make the house go, by the fuse box. A pipe under my bath which caused water through the kitchen ceiling. Thrown dog food and plastics about. And caused several sleepless nights with their in wall parties. We had a pest control chap come out and they are breeding next door. We need to poison them all unfortunately to get rid of the population before we close up their access hole. It's taken a month so far. I heard on Radio 4 today that calls to pest control about rats are up 20%, they said the weather this summer contributed to population increases.