Rats in garden and noises in loft

[rat_whisperer]

Hi I'm Helen, and I keep rats as pets and have done for a few years now....currently have 15 but had 78 at one time

Have any of you thought about getting an ultra sonic plug in for your home. It cannot be heard by humans but will repel rats, mice etc.
They are easy to get from your local DIY or even ebay sell them.They aren't expensive and will sort the problem.

I admit wild rats are a nuisance but they do not carry as much disease compared to some other wild animals - they tend to cause more damage to buildings and contents (unless you bring sewer rats into the equasion). Mine used to love chewing the odd modem cable or two but now my home is 'rat proof' it's no longer a problem

[Concerned]

I`ve copied my below post from another thread, it was the update on how we dealt with rats in the timber frame and attics of our house. I hope it may be of use to anyone else with this problem.


Just a quick update. We put traps around the house, into the attic space and into the bits of wall we dismantled and caught just one mouse, we know we have the odd mouse move into the house most autums but the cats generally deal with the problem very quickly.

Not one of the traps caught a rat. However, I installed a sonic/magnetic all singing all dancing repeller device and sprayed different scents (sometimes cats pee, sometimes just air freshner, disinfectants, perfumes, whatever came to hand) into the house frame wherever possible at least once a day. If we heard any noise we banged on the wall/ceiling with different objects to make different sounds and, I think, generally made life very nerve racking for rats who apparently hate new/different, sights, sounds and smells.

Eventually one rather thin and ill looking rat was caught by my son in the kitchen wall, (a panel removed for access as we`d heard scratchings there quite a lot) and dispatched humanely. I felt really sorry for it.

That was early Feb and we have neither heard nor seen any sound of rodents since. I am just beginning to relax and believe we may have got rid of the problem.

I hope this helps anyone else who has a problem with rats in the house. Its not a quick fix and I`m told that if the rats had been breeding it would have taken longer to get rid of them as they don`t readily abandon their young.

I don`t know if we just had that one rat, although I understand it is unlikely as they are social creatures, or if the others simply moved out when life became too uncomforatable for them in our house. Either way I will be leaving the repeller on permantly.

[shirl]

Hi there

Pleased you have managed to sort out the problem, we get the rats in the loft each year about October / November time and usually they leave in Spring. Like in your loft, the live mammal traps with choccie inside never tempted them in; we also bought a sonic repeller, but that didn't work here either. Now in the last week I have only heard the rat once, so looks like they are off back to the garden where they belong - I hope! Time to check every possible hole/entrance throughout the summer months and clean all the insulation, the main thing for me is to identify how they are getting in so they don't come back late autumn again.

Shirl

[Concerned]

immmm, maybe it was not so much what we did as coincidence and timings. Maybe the rats would have left anyway? I shall follow your example and attempt to make sure there is no way back in for them next autumn.

[rats!]

There is something BIG in our roof space (we have a huge roof space accessible through cupboard doors upstairs.)
The big problem being that we want to sell the house and have a structural survey in 10 days. What can we do?
I don't really like the idea of glue boards or poison, but according to the pest control people I have spoken to on the phone rats are just too clever to get caught by traps unless there is a very limited space they have to use as a corridor. I am not completely squeamish, I just don't much like the idea of using something that causes a long drawn out death if there is a more humane method available. If I have to though, I will - I don't want to lose this sale.
I am tempted to try a sonic repeller, but it sounds as though they don't always work - and to be honest, I now don't have the time to try any experiments.
I am guessing that a terrier wouldn't work in a loft space? If it would, does anyone know of a west country ratting terrier?!

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by rats!

There is something BIG in our roof space (we have a huge roof space accessible through cupboard doors upstairs.)
The big problem being that we want to sell the house and have a structural survey in 10 days. What can we do?
I don't really like the idea of glue boards or poison, but according to the pest control people I have spoken to on the phone rats are just too clever to get caught by traps unless there is a very limited space they have to use as a corridor. I am not completely squeamish, I just don't much like the idea of using something that causes a long drawn out death if there is a more humane method available. If I have to though, I will - I don't want to lose this sale.
I am tempted to try a sonic repeller, but it sounds as though they don't always work - and to be honest, I now don't have the time to try any experiments.
I am guessing that a terrier wouldn't work in a loft space? If it would, does anyone know of a west country ratting terrier?!

Are you sure it's rats?
We have the same problem. Fortunately for us it's a squirrel. We had a pest control company confirm it.
The first thing to do is find their method of access and block it. Not always easy, we struggled to see how on earth the squirrels were getting into ours. In the end we decided they were getting in on our neighbours side and running inside behind the soffit boards.
I've set a trap, but I'm not holding my breath to catch it.
It's now a war of nerves. I wait until I hear it and then I noisily open the hatch door to our loft.This makes the squirrel go out. I'm hoping he gives up before I do.
I've tried one of the sonic devices and at first I thought it worked but now it doesn't make any difference.
The one easy way to confirm what's up there is to look for signs of droppings. If they're everywhere and it's very obviously smelly, then it's probably rats. If its not overly smelly and droppings are mainly in small areas, it's far more likely to be squirrels.

[snowdrop]

If we heard any noise we banged on the wall/ceiling with different objects to make different sounds and, I think, generally made life very nerve racking for rats who apparently hate new/different, sights, sounds and smells............


How right you are. I had a new kitchen and bathroom fitted earlier this year, the noise of hammering and the workmen shouting to each other, which went on for over three weeks, cleared the house of all patters, scratching and rustling.

The downside was everything from the two rooms ended up in the living room. I reckon I had a 3x5ft area of space, all I needed was a skeleton in the corner and Steptoe could have called it home.

[Concerned]

Reading up about rats I do beleive its continued disturbance which is the best deterrent, and mabe the sonic repellers help too by making the situation a little less comfortable for them.

Its November now and we had some noise in one wall about 3 weeks ago, lots of banging/scent spraying and focusing a powerful sonic devise in the area got rid of it very quickly. We are keeping our ears open all the time and our fingers crossed that we don`t get an influx when the weather gets really cold.

Hope this information helps.

[shirl]

Well my rat moved in again a few weeks ago, live traps are up there and I am waiting patiently. Kept the sonic device on since Spring and that didn't stop it. Just got a motion sensor camera yesterday and I am determined to find out exactly where it's getting in and block it! It can be a long process I am afraid, but definitley go and look for droppings so you can confirm it's a rat rather than a squirrel or something else - mice can sound like elephants in the loft!

Good luck

Shirl

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by rats!

There is something BIG in our roof space (we have a huge roof space accessible through cupboard doors upstairs.

Hmm, have you seen the film 'Shallow Grave' by any chance?
;^)

Jim