To asking how to get rid of vermin without paying the council?

[blackcoffeeredwine]

So, are on an extremely strict budget. DH went in the loft to find my wedding dress chewed to bits and loads of plastic bin bags destroyed too - a full binbag had been eaten. It must be rats. Left poison out all over the house, none was taken. Left poison out in the loft, got taken straight away.
We are in dire straits money wise and can’t afford to pay someone to come out. It’s giving me the creeps, I can’t sleep at night cause it knocks me sick so much. DH is willing to get rid of them, but we don’t have a clue where to start!
Has anyone else successfully eradicated rats from coming into your home??

yes we used some poison from wilkos and these things you plug in to sockets that are meant to keep rats away and they never came back since then

You can get traps from places like B&Q for less than a tenner. Some come already baited, but if you have to bait them yourself I recommend something sticky, like a small bit of cheese in peanut butter!

Thank you! The plug ins, do they prevent them from coming back?
Just concerned we will kill them but not find out where they are coming in from so more will come and it will be never ending. I HATE the thought of them crawling all over us especially DS!!!!

Keep putting the poison down, I guess? Though I would look at borrowing money to get the proper exterminators out. It's not as if it's frivolous spending.

When we had vermin we phoned the council and they came out and sorted it, we didn't have to pay anything because it was rats, they said we'd have had to pay if it was mice.
Not sure why, suppose rats are worse so they want rid of them, don't know whether your local council might have the same policy, could be worth checking.

It cost us 40 per exterminator visit and we had two. They'll also advise what needs blocking up to stop them coming back. And they pick up the dead bodies on the second visit. Well worth it IMO.

It could be mice rather than rats?

In some parts of the country the rats have become immune to the poison. If this is the case in your area you may need to buy traps

The council can only do the same as you. You have to work out why and how they are getting in. In the loft, the why will be to keep warm.
How is probably through the drains, through a broken pipe, into the cavity walls and then up into the loft. If you don’t find the way in and block it you will never get rid of them.

If possible, this is always something I chuck money at and would rather live on beans in toast for months than have rats or mice. I get someone in because I absolutely can’t bear it.

We leave poison permanently in our loft (which we never use for storage so the fuckers don’t have anything interesting to chew on) and I send DH up regularly to check it hasn’t been taken. I hate the things.

Have looked at how much the council charges, in some areas it’s heavily subsidised.

Can't remember how much we paid the council (sub £80 I believe) to come and deal with our mice problem. They came for three visits over about 6-9 weeks and said that they'd keep coming back until they were totally gone. Honestly was worth the money, if you can.

We put our cat in the loft overnight. Problem solved.
After that, we placed traps baited with chocolate spread or peanut butter and checked daily.
We bought decent traps as we were unsure if mice or rats.
If it's for mice, the cheapies from wilkos are fine.

It’s £60 per visit in our area - if we had the money we would obviously prioritise it, but we just don’t have it for the next few months, other than feeding our family and paying our bills (borrowing also not an option for various reasons)
That’s what I thought - the council probably don’t have special equipment and will just do what we (well DH) can do anyway!! Thanks for the suggestions we will try them ALL. My dad has also successfully exterminated mice from many a relatives house, might ask him to come and scrabble around in our loft as well as DH as between them they may be able to find the hole they are getting in and block it off. I absolutely hate them. I like the idea of leaving poison down on a permanent basis anyway to ensure it doesn’t happen again, as a P.P suggested.

We've had warnings from Environmental Health that rats have got into peoples houses by coming up through the drains - any unused drains or drainpipes need to be capped to stop them getting in. Also look for rat runs - rub marks close to walls or fences where they're travelling back and forth - and target those with poison. If they've chewed through anywhere, block it off with galvanised mesh, they'll chew through pretty much anything else.

If you use snap-traps, bait them with chocolate spread or peanut butter, something they can't yank off and run with. Oh, and go through everything in your loft with a fine tooth comb to make sure they're not nesting in there.

Look away vegans..Trigger warning My parents bought mouse poison which the adult mice bring back to their babies so they all eat it and abracadabra mice gone except for the rotting carcasses which you'll have to sniff out and dispose of

Don't pay the council, we did and wasn't really worth it. We have one in our cavity walls, we were told if it was two we would normally hear some squeaks with the scratching. The man from the council said it can just be bad luck in the winter and there is not much you can do in terms of preventative measures as they dig up from the ground as well 😱. Anyway they are EXTREMELY cautious so the fact they you have laid down poison may be enough to have disturbed them and they may go on their own accord. The sonic things didn't really work for us. The only thing was laying the poison down and making sure there was nothing for the rat to eat, so block access to food. We are now on day number five of not hearing any scratching, fingers crossed but having just gone through it myself I don't think the council really do anything that you can't. I have heard that coakcroach powder is really effective as it goes on their fur rather than them having to take the bait

Borrow a cat with a good hunting reputation, let them loose overnight with no other food source. Even the smell of a cat might put them off.

i think the plug ins do prevent them coming back as this was a year ago ( and it was really awful, our flat is spotless but all the doors were getting chewed etc and they ate the poison but still came back.since we bought the plug ins they've just gone

Round here, mice are charged, rats are free. Our council believes rats are a bigger problem that they are happy to handle.m
Blue Poison and fo Huge traps.

Have you checked you home insurance cover? Some cover pest infestations, so you might be ok.

The only thing that we've found that actually works is the plug-in electro-magnetic ultrasonic thing. I wish I'd known that before we spent £150 on private pest-control that only provided temporary relief. We did buy our own poison which was a little too successful - the little furry fuckers died inside the house and the stench was awful. We had them on and off (mostly on) for around 18 months but nothing since I got the plug-in back in the autumn