dvice about rats :s

[ohsleepyone]

advice about rats :s

hello, right i live in a flat with communal bins at the back of building, lately some of the other residents havn't been disposing of waste properly and i got a letter from housing association to tell everyone to take bins out properly because rats have been seen and advised us to buy rat traps. to be honest tho i didnt think anything of it as i'm on the 2nd floor and on the other side of the building. however yday i decided to have a bath with my lo and whilst we were in there i saw one walking into lo's bedroom. i shut the door and shoved a towel underneath then went to tesco and asda to get traps but neither had any so i picked up some rat/mice poison. i have put some down but i'm still totally panicking, i'm on my own with 9 month old and havnt sat wih my feet on the floor since i saw it! i had lo in with me last night in my bed and currently is having a nap in my bed as i write this. i have totally inspected whole flat and no signs of mice or rat droppings anywhere, i also heard rats leave marks along skirting boards? but dont seem to have any marks. basically i need to kno what to do as i finally got the courage to open his door this morning and there is HUGE droppings in his cot and other places in his room, i quickly shoved the lil tray of poison down and ran out and but the towel back under the door! so now i dont kno what to do theres no way he's sleeping in there for some time i kno that much but i dont kno what else to do, normally i would ask my dad but he's away for 3 weeks please help!!!

sorry its so long winded :( xx

Okay, first of all, don't panic. The rats will not attack you or your child.

If you are in receipt of benefits your local council will deal with this for free. In any case the housing association should be able to help. Call them tomorrow and tell them what's happened.

Please be very careful with rat poison regarding both yourself and your child. It is better to leave it to the experts particularly when you are in flats as it won't just be you affected.

lo will not be playing on the floor until this has been sorted, plus the lil trays are totally out of the way so even if i let him loose he wouldnt get to them. I'm not on benefits but it is a housing association property so do u think i'd have to pay anything? i hope not as extremely poor!! lol i've been checking all surfaces regularly and no sign of droppings in any other the other rooms, fingers crossed its a stray one! xx

Ring the council, they should send someone out. We used to live in a house that backed onto woodland and one cold winter rats came out of the woodland into the bottom of the garden and a baby one got into our hall!!!

The council were so good & the problem was sorted out really quickly. At that time (17 years ago) there was no charge even though it was our own home.

Good luck.

Big f*-off traditional rat traps with peanut butter as bait. Obviously keep LO well out of the way.

we had rat problem, the problem with poison is that they tend to cause a terrible smell as they decompose. The swiftest way (although terribly unpleasant) are rat traps and as Teebee said bait it with peanut butter - apparently this is the best bait. Leave the traps along the rat runs (where you have seen them and preferrably along walls/skirting rather than middle of room)
Ring council for advice.
We got our industrial size rat traps from B&Q. Meanwhile keep everything scrupulously clean, empty bins, no plates etc left for washing up etc. (we were guilty of this!!) I had nightmares for ages and was SO paranoid about the ratty scraping sounds. Took a little while to get rid but luckily not peep since. Good luck

OMG...you have my sincere sympathies. I recently had a 'mice' problem but thankfully only in the garage and garden. If I had of seen one in the house I really do think I would have had to move house! As for a Rat, I would possibly have left the country

Our local council couldn't send anyone round till the Wednesday (discovered them on Sunday night) so paid a private contractor to come and deal with them. Since found out that the Council would have charged more anyway!

My 'Mouse Man' told me peanut butter and chocolate are the best baits.

Good Luck!