RATS in loft

[Peterrainbow]

Absolutely freaking out! Anyone else experience this? Will pest control come tonight or do I have to wait until tomo 😱

Oh for Rats and not Hertfordshire Glis Glis.

We had rats in the kitchen roof space a couple of years ago. The council said there was a 3 weeks waiting list for them to come out! So we paid privately, and glad we did as the guy identified where they were getting in and resolved that issue. Whereas in our experience in a previous house the council do tend to just put poison down.

You can put traps down yourself but defo need to find out where they got in!

Putting poison down they might go off and die somewhere unreachable and your house will stink for months.

I feel for you OP, it was so stressful just the thought of them being in there, and wondering whether they would pop up in other rooms (they didn't).

Hope you get it sorted soon!

We just can't seem to find how they get in. The UV powder sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately our "loft" space is inaccessible as it's a cottage., unless it was a small skinny person who could crawl.

Anyone able to get rid of them long term?

Are they likely to come back

Ours haven't come back. The rat guy sealed off their entrance.

I live in a row of townhouses. My loft is in my bedroom... it's been an on going problem for years. No rats ever roam around my house. I can just hear them every so often and pest control come out.

You can ask pest control to use tracking dust and cameras to find out how the rats are entering your home. Sorry you do need poison to kill them it's horrible having rats living in your house. I cried and moved out when I first discovered the problem in my house.

@sandyhappypeople you definitely win the best comment on OPs thread. Made me chuckle... you made it sound like an enjoyable game of tennis... you are better than me. I'd of grabbed baby and left the house!

@Sandalholidays12 so you actually moved out because of them? As in left the house permanently?

Just for a while. I had to get used to it eventually and it's gone on for years. Up until recently it's not been long enough to say really but a neighbour further down had an issue in their property... we live less than 5 minutes away from a railway line and lots of new properties are being built so the issue has been horrendous this year. Hope pest control find the cause OP.

Crikey

We have just had the 'all clear' from our pest control person, after six weeks of rat infestation. They had dug holes in the garden, by a drain, used the skirting boards as a run and were also in the loft.

We put traps down but they were not very effective, and we took them away because other creatures could have been hurt by them. The pest control person told us that rats have 'neophobia' or a fear of new things, so they would avoid the strange looking object for a while, even if there was food on it. Bait boxes seem to have done the trick.

As others have said, contact a pest control company. Rats breed quickly and they are tenacious and intelligent. What starts out as one or two visitors can very quickly become a plague.

OP - I think it's been two or three years since we've had a ratitie loft visitor.

I know it feels horrible but don't panic. You'll get it sorted x

Reading this thread with interest as I discovered rat droppings in the house about 6 weeks ago! Rentokil are here now for their second visit. He thinks they are living in the house (nice) rather than coming in from outside as he boarded up what he thought was their entrance on the first visit.

He’s now going to board up another hole behind the oven. I’ve told him I can hear scratching in the loft and he’s just told me ‘that could be squirrels which is a whole different ball game’. Aaagh!

OP - I hope you’ve had better luck than me and got yours sorted.

Not in your kitchen ub40

Well we had a guy fill in the holes where we thought they were getting in through the walls and into the roof. Not 24 hours later another rat spotted (I have cameras in the roof).

You dont necessarily need pest control.
At this time of year its quite common to have rodents come in to a house because they are looking forms somewhere warm and dry.

Couple of years ago I had a rat in my loft. I put poison down and then the body of the rat smelt under my floorboards for ages (I couldn't lift the boards where the smell was coming from) so I wouldn't use poison again.

This year I've had mice in the loft. I put some traps down with peanut butter as bait and caught and killed two mice. Haven't had any more yet.

I think you just need to get rid of them as soon as you can.

Rats and mice can get in through the tiniest of gaps so unless you know where they are coming in filling holes could be a waste of time.

make sure you are extra careful of clearing up any left over food/crumbs. Keep cereals/ biscuits etc in plastic or metal tins if you think they are getting into your kitchen cupboards.

Try using a plus in sonic deterrent. Some swear by these - others think they dont do anything but my view is they can't do any harm so I'm giving them a try.

@Peterrainbow Did you get rid of them OP?