Help Get Rid Of Rat In Loft

[animalb]

We have rat activity (Sounds like just one) in our loft. We hear him 'bedding down' (scratching about) in the early hours of the morning. We found an air vent brick with a hole in it, just a couple of inches off the ground, so I guess he is coming in there and climbing up the inside walls. This is just a guess. We also have ivy so he could climb up that, but I can't see any holes in the roof and it's a fairly modern house (1980).

He did make it into the kitchen but I blocked the piping hole, and he's never come in again.

Someone lent us a device you plug in and it emits a noise at a frequency that we can't hear but rodents don't like. It didn't work at first, but we've now put it right in the loft, and didn't hear the rat last night.

So the next step is to block the hole outside, I didn't want to block the rat in, so I would like to know if anyone can tell me when is the best time to block the hole? I believe they are mainly nocturnal...

Many thanks.

[Hedge Witch]

How about blocking the hole but not permanently (board or brick, but no cement) and wait and listen for several days? Turn off the scarer if you don't think you'll hear the rat in the wall, only if it goes in the loft. If the rat is inside, he'll give himself away eventually. Then if you can hear him, just open his exit for a while, and try again.


I think it's probably most active at night (you could block the hole just after nightfall) but I've seen plenty in the day.

[animalb]

Thanks Hedge Witch. The high pitched noise seemed to work when we put it directly in the loft. We blocked the hole at 10pm and we didn't hear him last night. We've switched off the noise, so that if he is coming in from somewhere else i.e the ivy, then we will hear him again in the loft and have to start again. But so far it's been very quiet up there

[Hedge Witch]

Good, fingers-crossed he's gone elsewhere.