Rural house and creatures

[Ruralmumof3boys]

Looking for some advice.

We live in a rural area and last year we had an issue with rats in the attic and in the house. We got professionals out and done everything to get rid of them and it all worked out fine. However we are going to be coming into the cold weather and my son who is 13 is terrified of them coming back andis already starting to be afraid. Every little noise he hears scares him. I also have 2 other children who are afraid if they hear any scratching noise.

I'm wondering would you consider moving if you had the same issue again this year. We live in a house about 120 years old so there are definitely ways for the rodents to get in if they want.

Or should i just try to get the kids to overcome their fear and combat the rodents if they do enter the house??

We blocked up a lot of holes last winter so the chances of them coming back are quite small

Thanks x

I used to live in large old 2 story stone farm cottage with lots of sheds and out houses. We kept Cats to keep them down! I love cats and it works.

You beat me to it - we have always been a cat household and no rodents make it past the threshold

We have a (lazy fat) cat and mice are still getting in. Make sure the cat you get can be arsed.

Our pest controller blocked up holes so doubt rats could manage it. Maybe another hole blocking exercise?

You do start to get less bothered, although that’s with mice, not rats in our experience.

Definitely cats

I would move in a heart beat. Once it’s in your head and you’re afraid it’s game over I think.

Cats and don't overfeed them! Ideally, contact local rescues to see if they have any semi-feral cats/kittens that need rehoming and prefer outside.

Our cats sleep in our outbuildings and kill everything that moves (including frogs, birds and bunnies 😥) but rarely see rats or mice and we're on a working farm.

We have a professional trap in our loft. It needs to be emptied every so often. It works very well. We are surrounded by fields and used to have quite a mouse problem. I can understand children being upset about vermin.

I live in a 270 year old farmhouse on a farm with lots of animal feed around and we keep around a dozen cats. I only have 1 cat who comes in the house but because the others are around the outside of the house and in the outbuildings we don't have a problem with rats or mice coming in the house. I occasionally see one in the cattle sheds if I go in at night but the cats really keep them down. I would recommend getting a couple of semi feral cats and keeping them outside. Cat Rescues often advertise these as they are more difficult to place. Mine are all well looked after by the way, they are fed every day, neutered and have plenty of outbuildings for shelter.

My partner works in pest control and this is a job they would come out to as a
Preemptive job. You've had them
In the past, he would come out and check the areas they'd commonly inhabit and put in measures to
Stop them.

Ours is 16th century. We have field mice that come back every winter, bats that roost in our roof space, more spiders than I can hoover, slugs that somehow find their way into the kitchen and something that’s been scratching around in one inaccessible roof space for months. I think it’s a squirrel but I can’t be sure. If I spent a month filling holes to stop creatures coming in, it still wouldn’t ever be enough. Beyond bait for the mice every few months and getting rid of spiders on a weekly basis I ignore the rest. DD’s occasionally get scared of the noises but they seem to forget about it soon enough.

I've had more rodents in the house from cats bringing them in to play with!

Seems overkill to move; any house can have a rodent prob, no matter how old.

Thanks so much for all the replies I really appreciate it. I don't want to move but wanted some reassurance I was doing the right thing by not moving. I'll definitely look into getting cats as they seem to do a really good job. Thanks again everyone x