Inspector
Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!
Too cold where you are for boa constrictors and pythons but you should be able to round up somebody with a ferret or a weasel. it will have a great time and the rats will split.
Pete
Pete
Dealing with rats in subfloor void
- Thread starter sammy.se
- Start date
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+1 for the ferret.A schoolmate kept ferrets , back when I was a kid in the UK, many decades ago ( his dad was the local rat catcher ) as did almost every farmer ( us included , back home in Ireland ) .does anyone still catch rats with them in the UK ? AFAIK you can't keep weasels, ( protected ) without a special licence. I don't think a weasel would come back to it's owner like a ferret .
Growing up with ferrets around is how I know about ferret bites, I have couple of scars from the wee beasties.
One probably also requires a permit to keep snakes in the UK ?
Growing up with ferrets around is how I know about ferret bites, I have couple of scars from the wee beasties.
One probably also requires a permit to keep snakes in the UK ?
Jameshow
Established Member
A Jack Russel / boarder terrier should work too!!
Last edited:
Blackswanwood
Still Learning
They were getting through a small void alongside a pipe that went into the neighbouring property. Once under the floor they found a small gap in the brickwork and got under the floor of our property. From there they went up the void in a wall into the loft where they gnawed stuff.
Finding the access point took ages. We suspected they were coming through the drains and invested in having one way gates fitted which proved a total waste of money. Numerous rat catchers promised solutions with traps and poisons but it was always temporary.
I reckon it's something like that in my case too. There is no food source under my floorboard. But there is warm insulation.
I dread to think how long it will take me to find the entry point.
Btw, I have a kitten but he is too young I think to make any difference. He's 7 months old
Andrew Knowles
New member
I had a similar problem with 30's terraced property. In the end you need to find where they are getting in otherwise the problem will keep returning.
I used a professional rat cat catcher who used a combination of traps and bait. Place against walls so they have a better chance of running into them.
He used tracking dust to try and find out where they were coming in. The rats kept coming even after we stopped up all possible holes. CCTV survey of the drains couldn't find a break but we had a "ratflap" fitted. Stopped the problem in an instant. A few years later the rats started again. The ratflap had got blocked open. Once that was resolved the problem went away again.
https://www.pestcontroldirect.co.uk...ts/ratflap-stainless-steel-drain-rat-barrier/
My dad had one at least in his roof, you could hear it running about at night. A neighbour suggested peppermint. Allegedly they can't stand the smell. I placed a saucer of peppermint oil in the ceiling void, and whether purely by coincidence, no more pattering of tiny feet. Never heard of it before.
We had a pair of rats move into our garden and had rat tunnels everywhere. Or course, we attracted them because we feed the birds and have two or three hedgehogs who usually stay for the winter. I bought a double-ended humane trap and baited it with peanut butter on bread, but never set the trap, instead holding the trap open with a small wedge of wood (there's the woodworking connection).
I managed to trap both of the adults and several young, all of whom, where transported back to the countryside but a long way off. Job done but needs patience.
I also caught a few mice and a hedgehog but they were unharmed and released.
Adam W.
A Major Clanger
We are able to get serious rat traps FOC from the council. They are all metal with extremely sharp serrations on the catching bits, baited with either banana or half a grape (too tight to waste a whole grape) and the rats are a gonner.
PhilipL
Established Member
Isn't there a Canadian state which got rid of them? This individual approach sounds ineffective.
We had a bunch a few years ago that got in through a tiny hole where a steel beam met an external wall. They ran down the sides of the I and had a merry time above our kitchen ceiling. Horrid noise on the plasterboard... They do seem to like chewing electrical cables (once each lol). More seriously, as others have said, once a route is established for one family, another seems to find it next year (some sort of trail I guess).
One tip that may be helpful (once you've got rid of them and found how they're getting in is to fill any access holes with fine steel wool - they give up trying to gnaw through it. On another note, in India I've seen the professional pest controllers use folding sticky boards (about a foot square). They're very effective, but you have to psych yourself up for the sight (like flies on flypaper magnified 50 times ...). I've not seen them on sale in this country though.
One tip that may be helpful (once you've got rid of them and found how they're getting in is to fill any access holes with fine steel wool - they give up trying to gnaw through it. On another note, in India I've seen the professional pest controllers use folding sticky boards (about a foot square). They're very effective, but you have to psych yourself up for the sight (like flies on flypaper magnified 50 times ...). I've not seen them on sale in this country though.
Owd Jockey
Established Member
I hate rats, but mercifully we only get the odd one now and again. I use a bait station, but although I can see that the poison has been taken I have never found one dead as a result of the poison. I have used the larger rat traps, and managed to kill one with that. However, a couple of years ago I also inadvertently killed a Blackbird and a little Robin, even though the traps was out of sight, I felt really bad about that and creased using them. I now use a rat cage, which I have successfully caught two rats. I have an air rifle with which I then dispatch them.
accipiter
Established Member
If you're not wanting to use rat poison - one reason being your cat - then do a Google search for "plants that deter rats uk" and you'll get quite a few come up - lavender and daffodils being just two but many others.
I'm guessing it may be difficult re planting plants close enough to the wall BUT you can buy these as scented liquid to spray or pour around.
Another alternative is to get some "live traps" to catch them live using bread with peanut butter as bait and then dispose of as you wish. This is what I had to do after seeing one climb up - and down - the bird feeder pole one evening even though I've a cat and two Border Terriers they couldn't get to them.
I'm guessing it may be difficult re planting plants close enough to the wall BUT you can buy these as scented liquid to spray or pour around.
Another alternative is to get some "live traps" to catch them live using bread with peanut butter as bait and then dispose of as you wish. This is what I had to do after seeing one climb up - and down - the bird feeder pole one evening even though I've a cat and two Border Terriers they couldn't get to them.
Droogs
Not the Sharpest Moderator in the box
I live in a ground floor flat in a long terrace built in the 1850s, the internal walls are mostly still lath and plaster for the most part and have this problem on and off. Bait boxes have been used with partial success as the terrace is around 150m long. As you can't force the neighbours to be as diligent as you may be in takling the rats/mice; for us the best remedy was to replace one of the lower air bricks with a vented cat flap. The local cats now patrol the sollum (void area) on their own schedule and the incedence of sightings have very much reduced
hth
hth
PhilipL
Established Member
Alberta is rat free:
https://www.alberta.ca/history-of-rat-control-in-alberta.aspx
Edinburgh needs to take similar control! All this individual rat control is useless - they are just along the street and will come back. A very well known restaurateur told me that that was just what Edinburgh was like when I was getting them removed from the building I shared with him. Well, I wouldn't have eaten in his place.
https://www.alberta.ca/history-of-rat-control-in-alberta.aspx
Edinburgh needs to take similar control! All this individual rat control is useless - they are just along the street and will come back. A very well known restaurateur told me that that was just what Edinburgh was like when I was getting them removed from the building I shared with him. Well, I wouldn't have eaten in his place.
BTW..if, due to all this publicity, you get a guy with a pointy hat and a flute show up offering to deal with your rat problem, please pay him when he is done, and lock up your kids until he is absolutely gone away for good.
Thanks all for the helpful advice.
I would rather try and catch them dead, then alive, and have to deal with dispatching them myself (although I like the idea of buying an air rifle! ha)
I'm going to finely inspect my subfloor party walls and block anything that remotely looks like a hole (with steel wool and lime). And I'm going to push a mesh over my air bricks.
I still suspect they feed from the neighbours, and come into my subfloor to sleep and poop. But I will see what I can find.
In the meantime, I've ordered some heavy duty rat traps which should be here in the next few days.
BTW - great idea about the cat flap instead of the vent brick!! I would hate to be responsible for a neighbour's cat getting stuck under my house though...
I would rather try and catch them dead, then alive, and have to deal with dispatching them myself (although I like the idea of buying an air rifle! ha)
I'm going to finely inspect my subfloor party walls and block anything that remotely looks like a hole (with steel wool and lime). And I'm going to push a mesh over my air bricks.
I still suspect they feed from the neighbours, and come into my subfloor to sleep and poop. But I will see what I can find.
In the meantime, I've ordered some heavy duty rat traps which should be here in the next few days.
BTW - great idea about the cat flap instead of the vent brick!! I would hate to be responsible for a neighbour's cat getting stuck under my house though...
Inspector
Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!
There are no states in Canada. Provinces and Territories only. America has the states.
Our biggest rats infest the government.
Pete
woodieallen
Established Member
Poison. Not the blocks but granules. The smell goes in a few days and so not an issue at all. I've been renovating a house with a mate. We've left tons of the stuff everywhere as a house-warming present for rats.
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