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Original poster

rat problem...losing the will to live...

29 replies

misspollysdolly · 10/01/2009 20:12

Title says it all really...

What started as a mouse problems as soon as the autumn set in has now become a rat prolem and it is becoming significant. They are in our kitchen and the dirt (not dropings...droppings I can cope with really...no this is GRIME, presumebly from their feet and fur...BOAK!) which gets everywhere. They are active throughout the night, knocking things over and if they can, getting every speck of food going. We have de-fooded our kitchen as far as possible, I start the day cleaning all worktops with antibac spray so that I can use the kitchen for food prep, but as of last night they are definitely now in our dining room, living room, hallway etc and I feel in total despair today, plus completely ashamed that we have this problem.

Does anyone have any tips, advice or experience in this area. I feel totally at a loss as to what to do or how to sort it. We live in an inner city old terraced house with a cellar running under our whole house. The rats are gnawing their way in and as fast as we fill holes with wire wool and other things, they are springing up from somewhere else. Totally despairing.

OP posts:
ComeWhineWithMe · 10/01/2009 20:14

Rentokill or local council sorry you are going through this .

lillypie · 10/01/2009 20:21

Call the council they will send someone out.I know how awful you feel I was practically held prisoner by the rats in our house when DD was first born.

The man from the council got rid of them very quickly.

girlandboy · 10/01/2009 21:25

Poison! And lots of it!

We've recently had one in the kitchen running through the extractor fan vent pipe. Dh put some poison down where we thought it must be getting in the house, and we've not heard it since.

snigger · 10/01/2009 21:38

Borrow a terrier - a Lakeland/Jack Russell cross or something, as long as you can handle the corpses.

Let it roam during the night, it might put them off coming in, then poison what's left and keep the dog out of the way so it doesn't get hurt.

Poor poor you. I have conniptions with one or two mice out here in the country, and can only imagine how grim you must feel.

countingto10 · 10/01/2009 21:54

Your council should get rid of them free of charge. Had rats in garden a couple of years ago, council came and got rid of them in about three weeks.

Apparantly rats are heading towards our homes and indoors because of the cold weather ATM.

blossomsmine · 10/01/2009 22:31

Oh god, how horrible for you. You need to get the council in asap. We have had them in before for a problem outside, thats before we got a dog.....they seem to keep away now!
Also, just got them in for an elderly friend, he was beginning to be over run with them, you need the council, they will lay poison and then come back and take away the dead ones and do follow up visits. Don't think you can cope anymore on your own with this. Good luck.

lucysmam · 10/01/2009 22:38

Feel for you misspolly, we have mice & they're bad enough. Hope you manage to get rid

carrotsandpeasifyouplease · 10/01/2009 22:39

god can I just say I really feel for you, we have just got over a mouse problem and I was just glad it was mice.
Council or rentokil, sod the cost you need to be able to feel relaxed in your own home, I spent months startling at every noise and movement.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 10/01/2009 22:41

Sorry for you, we have them but not to that extent and ours are due to living in a farmyard. We have found that the sonic plug in things have helped but other than that rat poison and lots of it.

FiveGoMadInDorset · 10/01/2009 22:41

Sorry for you, we have them but not to that extent and ours are due to living in a farmyard. We have found that the sonic plug in things have helped but other than that rat poison and lots of it.

Hangingbellyofbabylon · 10/01/2009 22:42

council will do it free of charge if it's a council property - if not you pay around £50 and they will keep on returning every week until the problem is sorted. tBh I can't believe you've let it get this far and not done anything about it, rats can be seriously dangerous and they really do need sorting immediately. The council should also come out to you within 24 hours of you reporting them. Good luck.

kylesmybaby · 10/01/2009 22:50

have to say i know EXACTLY how you feel.

they are in my dads house. and keep coming back. they put poison down and the rats come and eat it. and on and on and on.

i have just got the local concillor involved as not getting any support. my dads disabled and sleeps in the same room they are in. they are gong to have to rip the kitchen out as they are getting in behind it.

have started using the plug in things but not helped yet. will follow this thread.

hanging -- not sure what else the OP can do she said they are filling in all holes they are getting in?

kylesmybaby · 10/01/2009 22:51

also our concil does not come out within 24hrs and certainly do not keep coming back until they are gone.

Hangingbellyofbabylon · 10/01/2009 23:04

looks as if Rats are treated for free by Bristol council - hope this helps rats

Hangingbellyofbabylon · 10/01/2009 23:07

Kylesmybaby where do you live? I've looked at loads of council info and most do offer a good cheap or free service for rats. sorry that they don't for your Dad, it sounds like a horrible situation for him to be in

lillypie · 11/01/2009 10:21

MPD I live in bristol and the council service is free and they will keep coming back until they have gone. give them a call.

blossomsmine · 11/01/2009 23:13

I think different councils have different charges. Here we have to pay, a few years ago it was free but not anymore.
I just remembered we had them years and years ago at a house we were doing up, they were getting in under floor boards and through really small pipe holes etc., The rat man managed to get rid of them though and told us the holes to fill up. He also said to close all the windows during the day as more and more rats are getting in through open windows....what a horrible thought!

Original poster
misspollysdolly · 13/01/2009 19:40

Thanks for the responses and encouragement. Feel a little bit less down about it now. Rat man coming on Friday (this was already booked when I posted at the weekend as it goes, hanging) which was the earliest they could manage [frustrated emoticon]...Superhero DH managed to corner one a kill it on Saturday night, which has (I think) cleared the problem in the dining room. However I watched a mouse nonchalantly saunter across the kitchen floor this afternoon (sigh) so the sooner the poison is laid the better.

OP posts:
helplessinseattle · 21/01/2009 21:00

I feel for you, this can be really upsetting. Have you tried covering the airbricks outside the house? Check this out, hope that helps.

dinny · 21/01/2009 21:07

can you get a cat or two?

dsrplus8haggisandneeps · 21/01/2009 21:18

cats are pish for rats, jack russels are bred for ratting, beg /borrow/ steal one if you have too.....

dinny · 21/01/2009 21:24

our cats catch rats

as do my mum's cats

poopscoop · 21/01/2009 21:26

get a rat trap. Put chocolate on it (cheese is a myth) you will find you have a deadun in the morning. Saves the worry of the poison if you ave DC.

But the council should do it free of charge anyway.

Yurtgirl · 21/01/2009 21:36

misspollysdolly - You have my sympathy. We had rats a couple of years ago, drove me crazy

FWIW - the plug in thingys only work at keeping them away, they wont get rid of them once they are there already (tbh Im not sure they work in many instances)

Poison - they eat it, go away and die
In theory they do, mine never touched it. Once the poison is down dont bother refreshing it for at least 3 days. It takes a few days too work, if you put down too much they will eat it to no greater effect costing more money

What you want to pray for is green poo - if the poison is green once they have eaten it you should see green poo!

It sounds like you have a real infestation though - ideally you need to find the nest, as they will probably successfully reproduce almost as fast as you can kill them

Also talk to your neighbours, dont be ashamed about it, but you do need to find out how/if they are affected as well and get them to join in the quest to kill them

Good luck

Yurtgirl · 21/01/2009 21:40

Also another thought (why do I know so much about rats - endless chatting to the rat man I think!)

I would be surprised if you had mice and rats both visiting you at the same time - They are not normally keen to cohabit as it were unless food is plentiful (could be wrong?)

Ferrets are good at catching and killing them...............