I got Rat(s)!

[marty8587]

First, glad you figured it out. 2nd for pluging holes , the steel wool works pretty good and helps the Fixall seal the hole!

CONG RATS!!

 

[Cougfan2]

"code enforcement" ?? Do you live in a community with an homeowners association?
I really hope that your municipality does not have such a thing as a official government department, that looks if people mow their lawn or trim their bushes or paint their windows. Even the communist countries never did that to their subjects. (

It's city municipal code. Please stop crapping on my thread with the commie baiting BS. It ain't about whether people paint their houses a particular color or have the appropriate shrubs. If you had the neighbors I had, you'd be upset about it too, or maybe not. BTW way bud, we don't have a home owners assc. in my neighborhood and I would not support one. Maybe you're OK living next to rat infested lots. I'm not. Let me know where you live and I'd be happy to live trap them and bring them over to your house.

 

[Grunwald]

It's city municipal code. Please stop crapping on my thread with the commie baiting BS. It ain't about whether people paint their houses a particular color or have the appropriate shrubs. If you had the neighbors I had, you'd be upset about it too, or maybe not. BTW way bud, we don't have a home owners assc. in my neighborhood and I would not support one. Maybe you're OK living next to rat infested lots. I'm not. Let me know where you live and I'd be happy to live trap them and bring them over to your house.

If you think I was crapping on your thread that was not my intention. I live next to a freaking nutcase of a woman who feeds pigeons daily (twice a day), and even though I have asked her to stop many times over many years, she will not. There are rats in the neighborhood, because she just throws bread out on her front lawn. To me pigeons are nothing but rats with wings. They sit on my roof and crap all over it.
Right now I have a scaffold setup in my side yard with a pigeon trap on top to capture these pets (It's on a scaffold because she's afraid of heights, so I know she would not dare to climb it to set the free).

 

[explorerimports]

Pex was around Then. You can check at water heater where pipes come out of wall to supply heater. Or check under sinks normally you can see some of the pipe.
Yellow cpvc
grey -quest bad pipe, high fail rate rats enjoy this pipe too.
white,blue red, clear looking is pex. great pipe but rats love it.
copper color is copper

only worrie with pex pipe. or quest.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Since we are on this subject about every day rat populations, think about the worst case scenario that might resemble what Japan is going through.
Rat populations will explode when given the opportunity. All they need is a unlimited food source, breeding areas, and no control measures. Make sure all your hard work you've put into storing food and supplies is not in vain. Vermin proof containers is a must.
I use a solid block product in bait stations called (Just One Bite) very effective and cheap at Bi-mart. Only problem is that slugs like it too. Hopefully it kills the slugs as well.
There is a book written about the potential rat epidemic that occurred after the 911 attack ( Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants) and the extreme effort put into place soon after. Very informative and interesting as well.

This is a good point.. last fall the little buggers were even munching on one of my late season yellow crookneck squash I was leaving for seed stock. I'm going on a rat pogrom this year

 

[mjbskwim]

Y'all know the rat problem won't go away as fast if you use bait right?
You are attracting them to your house.They can smell it when you open the jar of peanut butter.Heck the trap probably kills one and another comes by to eat the bait.

They will come for your supplies,just find the openings and put some kind of trap in their path.
They will always come back for the bait

 

[Cougfan2]

Y'all know the rat problem won't go away as fast if you use bait right?
You are attracting them to your house.They can smell it when you open the jar of peanut butter.Heck the trap probably kills one and another comes by to eat the bait.

They will come for your supplies,just find the openings and put some kind of trap in their path.
They will always come back for the bait

That's kind of what I was thinking. I put down glue traps right where they come in, but have seen no evidence of the rats in the last two days. We just cleaned the garage real good and got rid of any kind of food source. I figure if there is no food there, they won't come in. I am going to wait a couple of days to see if they come back in the garage again and then seal the hole up good.

 

[mjbskwim]

They need food, water and security/sleeping/brooding arrangements.If you don't give them any of these they will go away
Get rid of the nesting materials or just keep rotating things,pulling them off the shelves to look for signs of rats.
Seal all food products or keep them in lockable containers

And on the west side we're kinda screwed with taking away their water supply

 

[pokerace]

My neighbor has killed 3..

I just now (15 min.ago) saw one in the street in front of the neighbors..

 

[Cougfan2]

Well, I finally called an exterminator as I was having no luck with the glue traps. Apparently they have been in the crawl space under my house for a while. I've used these guys before when some Starlings decided to make nests under the eaves of my house and they did good work. I figured rather than mess around with this for another week on my own while they just did more damage I would call in the pro's. Once they have trapped out the resident rats, they have a contractor that will go into the crawl space and clean everything up and permanently seal all of the possible entry points. I'd rather spend a few hundred bucks now on an exterminator than maybe thousands of dollars on repairs a year from now.

 

[pokerace]

My neighbor had an exterminator in.Now the will all move over to my house.That's probably why I saw one in the street....

 

[Swedish K]

I had roof rats down south. they chewed a hole in the corner of the siding and infested my attic. I had to use sheet metal to permanently seal the siding where they chewed through. I used an old style rat trap and learned that they don't always kill them right off - spent 20 minutes looking for the trap. after that I used a wire to anchor the trap so it couldn't be drug away more than a foot or so. peanut butter works great and you know you need to set the trap again if the peanut butter is all gone - they will gladly thank their fallen comrade for his sacrifice and finish it off in his honor. I ended up killing 8 of them in the attic before they were all dead. I hope your rat problem is solved soon.

 

[mjbskwim]

My neighbor has killed 3..

I just now (15 min.ago) saw one in the street in front of the neighbors..

1000 rats in your immediate area. Good luck

 

[MrB+]

I used an old style rat trap and learned that they don't always kill them right off - spent 20 minutes looking for the trap. after that I used a wire to anchor the trap so it couldn't be drug away more than a foot or so.

I thought I had one suggestion to this thread that hadn't been mentioned yet, and you just beat me to that one, even. Yes, tether the spring traps. At least I had a blood trail to follow, but the bugger drug the trap back behind a jumble of stuff that was a real PITA to move to get to him.

WRT cleaning up after the infestation is gone, I believe rats as well as mice can spread Hanta virus. Hantavirus - Wikipedia Guard against fleas while disposing of the corpse and breathing protection when cleaning up the crap.

MrB+

 

[Cougfan2]

Well, I got three rats in the first trapping session after the exterminator came. I re baited the traps and have not caught a rat since nor have I seen new sign in the garage or in the crawl space. I am hoping that the EXTREME garage clean out that we did got rid of the food source that drew them in the first place. We'll see what the exterminator says when they come again on Wednesday, but I'm hoping we get a clean rat bill and just have to have the contractor come in and clean up the damage and seal up all the entry points.