To think pest control control would do more?

[Springwillsaveme]

I am so upset and scared.

About a month ago I seen what I thought was a rat run across my kitchen floor behind the washing machine. We bought a humane trap and nothing so I reported this to My letting agent who contacted the landlord. Landlord came back with try humane traps. I said I had but would continue. No further sightings for a couple of weeks.

Then found droppings and footprints in kitchen and could hear it at night.

Reported again and it's taken a week to get them to send out pest control. Guy come out this morning and basically was a one man band type guy, not exactly rentokill.

He said you have rats (plural) definitely and put poison bait in the airing cupboard where they were dragging in bits to make a nest and under the skirting in the kitchen. That's it.

I'm so sick of worrying we are going to get ill from them or that they will start coming into the lounge or bedrooms.

I don't feel any better and don't know what to do.

The house is old so impossible to seal up cracks and we can't move (and don't really want to)

I'm not really sure what else you are expecting them to do? Even Rentokill would just put poison/bait down initially.

I had mice once and that's all the pest control people did, then they came back a couple of time to make sure that they were taking the bait and once it stopped disappearing, they knew they were all gone.

If you want a bit more action, get the Suffolk & Norfolk Rat Pack in. Or take up ferret keeping. Otherwise it's bait boxes I'm afraid.

I know I'm probably being unreasonable then haha just a horrible situation and this rat is bold it's running around the kitchen at 9pm at night when the lights are on and the TV in the lounge 😐

Rats are clever if you go disturbing everything and put load of poison everywhere they know and avoid it
they stick to familiar routes and food sources
he’s identified where they are going and put poison there

It’s painful having rats. I agree the pest control people don’t so much more than you could do yourself if you’re willing to.

My DH has turned rat man and I have a few tips for you. You need to work out where they are getting in. Look for any chewed air bricks or visible holes. It’s possible they are getting in the through the sewers if there is a cracked pipe somewhere. Are there any obvious rat runs in your garage that can be looked at. If you can try to establish these things you can give a better idea of the fixes your landlord needs to make

Killing rats (relatively easy) the biggie is stopping others getting in. We had 2 to 3 years of on and off rats. Poison down and other traps and such (our own and a couple of pest control companies). Rats would go for a while, and then a few months later (once as long as a year) you’d hear that dreadful scuttling from the attic or worse behind the kitchen cupboards or worse still running across the floor in front of you.
Ended up getting the pipes surveyed. Big hole into house. Had that filled, pipes sealed and a rat block put on the exit pipe.
So advice is to see how poison goes. Might work and be a one off and they’ll never return. But if they do speak to the letting agent and tell them they need to find where they’re getting in.