RAT in my house!!!!!!

[helpmehelpme]

I've called Rentokil. But a rat ran across my kitchen floor last night, I slept really badly thinking about it. My dh is profoundly phobic I told him I'd seen a mouse!
We have a garage and a few potential places they could be getting in. I'm totally freaked out and depressed by it.

Could anyone please just reassure me that we can potentially sort it out and it will be ok? I feel so upset about it I'm in tears! I also really need to hide it from dh who is under so much pressure at the moment I can't heap any more on him.
I think I'm in a bit of a state because I slept so badly!

Any reassurance or stories of solutions or comfort would be massively appreciated. I do feel a bit hysterical and on my own about it.

thanks

eek! Feeling a bit hysterical about it myself too - sorry!

Hope you can get rid of it. Bet rentokil can do it, surely they do this all the time? You poor thing, rats are revolting.

Thanks Sandy. There's a gap under the bottom drawer of a tall larder unit which we filled last night. Rentokil are sending someone next week but I just feel really responsible and is if our house isn't safe or ok to be in! I feel I should have got this sorted before when we thought we had mice.

We had an plumber who put some gas through the garage to the kitchen and he didn't fill the holes very well. He was a bit of a jerk actually.

'a plumber'

but it can't be that rare can it? I would so love to know I'm not alone!

Had exactly the same thing in my (farmhouse) kitchen and was completely freaked out by it!! The damn thing was sitting under my table cool as anything, then it ran into the cloakroom and I could see its (aargh) TAIL sticking out. I felt very severely traumatised by this, imagining all sorts of horrors.

Can reassure you though that Rentokil were very helpful, put down poison - and I never saw it, or any rat, again in the next ten years. So there is definitely a solution and hopefully you too will NEVER see another now you've taken steps.

we've not had rats but have had mice in the house. if you have a large garden centre near you, those kind of places will sell pest control devices, either poison or a trap. might be worth putting something down tonight in the kitchen if rentokill can't come out till next week

Oenophile, how awful for you! Thanks so much for writing, mumsnet is wonderful. I feel much better, just needed to know that I'm not completely alone. I feel really strangely as if I haven't protected my family? I know it's irrational but I feel terrible and so upset but a little better thanks to your post.

Oh I hoped there were more of us. Maybe people will post later, I need more stories of victory over Rats!

hug] helpme, I do know exactly how you feel. Rats seem to stir up primeval terrors in us all, it's odd really for I had a 'pet' rat at school to look after and found it perfectly ok, but to see one in the kitchen made me feel as if the whole place was alien and 'unclean'.

I do truly feel perfectly sure Rento will sort the blighter out and I lived in an area of high-rat-density, as it were, and never got another in the house, and I'm sure the same will be true for you (fingers crossed).

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks thanks thanks thanks Oenophile!

You can buy ultra sonic screecher things. I had rats in my previous house and I got a pack of three and plugged them in where the rats were (outhouse, conservatory, kitchen).

The rats left so fast there was rat shit up the walls the next morning!

Thanks the moon. That sounds great how fabulous. The only places I've seen which say those things don't work are the pest control people! But I guess they've a vested interest!
Feeling even better all the time
I LOVE MUMSNET!!!!

I bought my screechers on the internet, but I understand you can get them in garden centres.

You might find the council will deal with the rats for free for you

Thanks theblonde. I just checked and they can't come til the end of October. No choice but Rentokil I fear. But I am so desperate to get it sorted that I don't care if it costs a little but I dread to think what it will cost!

My PIL had a rat come up the old pipe in their (unused) outside loo. You can bet my FIL was sent out to deal with the old pipe (which he kept saying he was going to cap off) PDQ after that. Rat never seen again. Anyway, it's not your fault - these things happen. We often get mice (live in the country, little buggers come in for a warm in the winter). And why are dhs such wimps? Mine cannot look a spider in the face, and has now got DD1 as scared as him - wuss!

Ring the council they will come round as a priority. Its much cheaper than rentokil too . Hopefully its just one rat who has just found a way in .You've done the right thing getting the experts in.

Oh sorry I read that wrong , its rentokil who can come and the council who cant. Makes more sense!

The most important bit is to find out how it got in and to block it up but the rentokil chap will do that for you

You are not alone, we had rats a few weeks ago one was actually in the food cupboard and ran out when I opened it!!!!!!!!

They were also in our loft and in the shed in the garden.

We bought a rat box from B&Q and called the council rat man.He put down bait and showed me where they were getting in.

They are all gone now

thanks everyone, I'm calming down and looking forward to man coming!

Once there was a rat in my kitchen. It was pulling a whole loaf of bread across the kitchen worksurface in the direction of the window. It disappeared quite quickly but I recall it was about the size of a golden retriever dog. I also recall a certain dh hiding behind the living room door.
Ripped that house to pieces but never saw it again.
Weird night that was.

We had mice in our previous house - well I assumed they were mice. We got the council in and he put an awful lot of poison in our loft (where we heard them scuttling every night! you can imagine the lack of sleep). Anyway we didn't hear a peep for about 9 months then we heard them in a different place in between the floorboards. This time it sounded like a cat running so obviously a rat! We got to the stage where we were drilling holes in the floor boards and dropping poison down there with tweezers. I agree it plays with your nerves and it got so bad with us that we sold the house mainly because of the rats!

We had mice and put down poison, and DH borded up all of the gaps.
We heard nothing for ages, then on Tuesday we heard it again.

Anmd we saw a rat in the garden, in June. Then we saw 4 of the horrid things on a bird feeder in the garden.
We back onto fields and stables, so I think that's where they come form.
And next door had a huge rabbit run, and they went ot feed the rabbits and found 3 rats in there.

Are you feeling better???!

oh lordy lulu, that is scary. I think having a garage is a major bummer, some bloke I rang said it's really hard to make a garage door that is truly flush to the floor, flush enough to keep the bastards out!

littlerach, do you think loads of people have them and ignore it somehow if they don't make noise?
This rat bloke I spoke to said they breed incredibly quickly. I'm going to try the sonic thing too.