Seagulls and rats, can't cope anymore

[Iambetteroffsingle]

I live in an inner-city area of Liverpool, I currently live on the very top floor of a 5 storey house and thankfully I'm in the process of buying a ground floor flat.

Seagulls are in abundance here and the noise they make on my roof is too much. I have to sleep with earplugs every night because of the constant wailing, scraping and tapping on the roof. It honestly sounds like people are running up and down the roof sometimes. It's every single day. I informed my lettings agency and they basically said 'Sounds like your problem '.
That said, I've had no heating for 2 months and have asked them 3 times to fix it so what did I expect? (so glad I am buying soon!) It sounds cruel but I honestly just want to throw something at the seagulls. And yes I know the term is 'gulls' but whatever.

Next is the rats. I don't exactly live in a beautiful area of Liverpool but it's convenient for town. I live on a verrry long road right opposite a park with a ton of houses/HMOs. There are about 4 bins to every house and some people just leave rubbish willy nilly, also the seagulls get into the rubbish bags.
I can't leave my flat at night without seeing rats, I've seen a few outside my front door. Honestly it's super depressing, I used to like going for a walk late in the evening but I can't without a rat whizzing past my feet. The fuckers are huge.

I've only been here for 3 months but it's just too much. Would environmental health do anything? Pest control? I'm just so fed up.

Inform the council about the rats, they are obliged to take action when the infestation is in public land.
With the gulls … hopefully some will move on once nesting is finished. There’s not a huge amount you can do on you own… headphones and earplugs

Hope you get to move soon

Thank you, I will put in a complaint today!
The amount of litter in my street is disgusting and it makes me embarrassed to live here.

Report the rats to council. You might find that when/if they get dealt with then the gulls will go too.

We have an elderly neighbour who kept throwing lots of food out for the gulls. It was awful I don't think most people understand how disruptive they are. The noise! Omg and they were attacking us when they were nesting. The food also attracted rats at the sane time. Once the neighbour was forced to stop throwing food outside and the rats were sorted, the gulls slowly stopped coming here. Peace at last.

You have my sympathies op

We’re on the Wirral here and the same problem with seagulls…..sometimes it feels like the fecking house is haunted.

We used to live on Smithdown Road and it was a nightmare. So you have my sympathy

We have seagulls on the roof at times and they also make a massive din ‘arguing’ with other birds late on summer evenings. We have a flat roof covered in stones and they pick them up and drop them. I can’t say I like it but that’s nature really. Thankfully you won’t need to deal with it for much longer as it is clearly causing you serious distress.

As for the rats, as others have said, report, report, report.

These creatures share our world. It's their home too. We destroyed their habitat to build houses for ourselves. We can't begrudge them taking up space.

I feel your pain free the gulls. I used to live on a street that didn't have mandatory bins (they do now) so it was gull feeding day when the bin men were expected. Street would be strewn with rubbish. I once saw a rat but it wasn't a problem somehow. But the noise! I hated them so much. I've since moved to a place where they live much more naturally (ie population not bolstered by bin day) and they don't bother me at all. I hope your move comes as quickly as possible.

So what is a rats natural habitat pray tell.

Hi @Iambetteroffsingle Liverpool resident here (Toxteth). I agree with you entirely about the state of the streets. I'm a homeowner, love my house and the area could be so beautiful...if it weren't for all the litter! Some people are so dumb, or ignorant, and leave a bag of rubbish on the ground and it gets ripped open by the rats. It really gets me down.

There are too many people packed into these houses, but even so there are loads of bins to use if there's are full. I accept that some are likely living below the breadline and maybe feel disenfranchised, so don't care about litter being everywhere.

There are litter picking groups. I'm yet to fully commit to one, but have done so a couple of times. It's not the solution, I don't know that is, but it's something and good exercise.

Sorry about the seagulls disrupting your sleep. I hear them, but they don't walk all over my roof or anything.

Liverpool is such a beautiful city and it's a shame that it's been spoiled for you. I hope things improve- for you and the suburbs of the city.

this, the gulls have been in the country longer than humans, I have no patience with the hatred towards them. They have as much right as we do to live here.

poor rats! they are sociable and intelligent creatures. If their population gets out of control, it is because of the filthy habits of humans, and it is the rats that suffer because of it

do you have no care or consideration for other living creatures?

what do you mean? Where do you think rats live? What a strange question!

What action were you hoping the letting agent would take against seagulls?

The council should be providing the appropriate number of bins to HMOs but the landlords or residents would need to request it. I live in Sefton but just along the Dock road from town, and it's the same here with rubbish strewn about by gulls and rats scampering about. Our issue around here is too many terraced houses that open right onto the street, the council won't give them bins because they don't have space to store them. I don't know what people are meant to do.

It's more of a governance issue more than an animal issue.

If seagulls are an issue you probably shouldn’t live in a city on a river?
Rats you need to report to the council but you can do it online. Ultimately though if your neighbours aren’t being sensible with rubbish etc there’s not much the council can do. Living opposite a park won’t be helping either as that’s probably where the rats live, and are entitled to be. So if you’re providing food sources, they’ll be nipping over for food.

Sentimental twaddle. I wouldn't want vermin near my house and don't see why anyone else should have to put up with it.

What about it is "twaddle"? Who decided that humans should be the only creatures worthy of having a home? They were here before we were.