What actually works to get rid of rats?

[Beautifulbeard]

We have a rat or rats in the attic and it is driving me crazy. We bought our house about 5 years ago and every 6 months or so we seem to get rats in the attic. We've tried everything to get rid of them, traps, peppermint oil, plug in electronic noise things, and poison. Usually the poison gets them after a week or two and we have a few months free before we hear noises again. The house is detached so not coming in through the attic. We have had the council pest control guys out and they can't see any obvious entry points. My assumption therefore is that they are somehow coming from the drains through our foundations and into the cavity wall up to the attic somewhere. Thankfully I've not seen any sign of them outside of the attic but even that is far too close for comfort.

This time they seem to be avoiding the poison and I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any suggestions for things that actually work to get rid of rats?

Paying for pest control, I'm afraid; we tried everything and wasted a lot of money...got in pest control, diagnosed, were thorough, professional, efficient, with follow up visit 3 weeks later. Gone for good. That was 3 years ago. We had cladding chewed through, electric cables as well as seeing the creatures, scurrying...they are quicker than mice!

A couple of terriers or a 12 bore.🙂

Cats.

Rentokil
Then a cat.

A cat. Problem solved! I remember when the houses near us were having a problem with rats. Our house and our neighbours houses were the only ones who weren't affected. I have a cat

You need a BIG, feisty cat if you want a cat to sort it. Our cat is afraid of rats - and she isn’t much bigger than them!

If they’re avoiding the poison, grate some chocolate and mix the poison through it. They’ll eat it.

I had to pay quite a bit for several visits from a pest control company when this happened to us. In our case we're not detached and it was a neighbouring house that was the source but it took a few goes to find where they were coming from. Not had them back since.

I'm willing to try anything so I'll give the local pest control company a call on Monday. The reason I haven't before is that I thought all they would do was put down poison and we can do that ourselves. If they can identify to entrance point though and fix it that would be ideal.

Not sure if it’s particularly helpful for the attic but they also hate bleach and vinegar. When I had one under my shed, I used to squirt bleach underneath it and white vinegar all round it and the boundaries of the garden and I didn’t see it again.

After we tried poison and traps for a while, we got our loft wrapped - steel mesh covering the top of the wall cavity so the rats couldn't access the loft from inside the walls.

We also got a drain survey which found an old drain that wasn't capped off and ended under our kitchen extension. The rats were exiting from this and then crawling through the wall cavites into the loft. The company fitted a sleeve to cap it via the manhole.

We had an issue with rats getting into the space above the ceiling in the cloakroom downstairs; they had the audacity to die there and the smell of decomposing rats isn't something I'll forget in a hurry. We tried poison, but it wasn't a long-term solution. The Council pest control officer suggested we had a camera survey of the drains, which we did and that identified the problem. Turns out it's quite common; the cloakroom was part of an extension and the builders hadn't capped off the old drains when the new ones went live. They put some sort of device into the waste water pipe which solved it.

There’s another thread on this here.

With the pattern you’re seeing, it sounds like there is a rat next outside and the gap they use to get into your home is big enough for the little rats but too small for fully grown rats, so you’re getting them inside when there are new little rats.

You need pest control. They’re brilliant and will find how the rats are getting inside and block it all up.

If you can find a local “rat guy” they’re usually great. We live rurally and the guy round here charges £180 and will do a full inspection of the house and all round it to find how they get in, then he’ll seal up whatever needs sealed up and will come back for a 2nd visit if needed. Totally knows his stuff, and even took my deck apart as he thought their way in was under my deck. He found it, blocked it and rebuilt my deck.

We used poison - the same sort as the local pest controller provides. First time they came back but we were told to a) top it every 10 days or so for five months; b) block up any holes they could be getting in the house c) clear the garden of any rubbish, which provide hiding/nesting spaces d) make sure that you aren't feeding the birds in your garden. It worked.

Also if you have a shed or other structure in the garden ensure it has a concrete base as otherwise they’ll make a home under it.

They need a food source. Then somewhere to live. We had a nest under our shed but had a dog and two cats, so never saw them in our garden. They were feeding from the bird tables our neighbours generously loaded up for the birds. We are rural so the neighbours were providing a fast food restaurant for the thousands living in the fields surrounding us.
since removing the shed we no longer have a problem.

Our very clever rat cacher ( cat) would wait for them to leave from under the shed into the neighbours garden, kill them and leave them on their driveway. They were not over bright ( the neighbours) and kept the bird food under their porch.

The only time the rats braved our garden was when the cats and dog passed away and we didn’t replace the dog for about 3 years. Fortunately we are in a modern house which is pretty airtight so no way in. However we do get wasps and hornets in the loft and a mole has taken up residence in the lawn. We do know a good mole man though.

A private pest controller.
My neighbour had 14 rats in her garden in daylight in various sizes a few summers ago, I have a video of them!
The neighbour is absolutely useless, the garden is neglected she just leaves stuff in it.
My dog caught one a few days later, well that was it, I called the pest controller and he put bait down where they would be running and suggested the neighbour tidy her garden.

A few really good ratting terriers. Domestic cats are no match for rats, but a couple of traditional Jack Russels or a few Stafford’s will be your friends.

The best ratter in the world.

My dad got a company to come out and seal any potential entry points. He also got some noise emitter things and put them everywhere. His house is in the middle of a field and next to a barn so it definitely had an impact - we see dead ones sometimes in the barn (he has cats and dogs) but never in the house.

We have had all this crap,going on for a long time.think all is ok then the chewing noise starts at night.a few weeks ago/cold weather loads of bluebells were all over the house,another dead rat :/ peanut butter seems to draw them in though.not heard anything now for a while.

Not blue bells hahaha blue bottles

I've had this problem along with a couple of my old neighbours - have since moved. Old house was a 1900 semi and the rats had nested under the decking next door. (I will NEVER have decking for this reason). I'm another one who noticed i didn't have any problem whilst I had a cat. After cat died, rats extended their visits into my kitchen under the floorboards and into one of my (very messy) kitchen drawers. I tried to catch it humanely - my very frustrated Newfoundland had a few attempts, but it evaded me. Local council were useless. Private company only offered poison which i was loathe to use but had it put down under the floorboards in desperation. Eventually I had an inaccessible dead rat. The STENCH lasted about 6 weeks and you could smell death from the front door. I had to stand with the hoover and suck up the flies mid air once they hatched.

The other neighbour was a builder and he had them coming up through his drains.

They are an eternal pest. I have just spotted a big one strolling in my new garden - arrgghh 🤬 - and I think I can hear what sound like scratching / running in the ceiling when I'm in bed at night - this house has 3ft solid stone walls (1800 terrace cottage) - new roof put on just before I bought it. Could I have them up there? Too pissed off to look ...