Rat under the house

[MyNameIsUrl]

At least, I assume it’s a rat – there is a border of chippings round the house, with a hole leading downwards. The chippings are a few centimeters deep, on a thick plastic sheet which has clearly been gnawed away at the edge to a diameter of about 40mm. Too big for mice I suspect. I’m a bit surprised it (they?) can get under the wall but presumably there’s a gap.

I’ve put a bait station with a trap in it against the wall close by. Should I try to put the bait station in the hole itself and backfill with gravel to force the rat to use that route?

I haven’t filled the hole as I’m afraid this might force the rat to find a way into the house. I understand rats are nocturnal – would it be sensible to fill the hole at night, blocking its re-entry, or should I be sure to catch it first?

[richlist]

I'd try the bait station as you have done already and if that don't work call out the professionals.

[mc2fool]

I'd repeatedly set the trap until no more are caught, then again for a little while to make sure, and then only fill in the holes after that. Last thing you want is the creature(s) getting trapped into some inaccessible to you part of the building and dying and rotting there....

[GrahamPlatt]

Towards the end of the evening light last night, caught sight of some animal moving cautiously along the wall at the end of the garden. Approximately the size of a cat. Thought “it’s a cat”. But it was a bit “slinky” so I got the big torch out and floodlit it. Stared at me for a bit and then sped off and disappeared under the fence adjoining the wall. 90% sure it was a stoat.

[88V8]

I have some poison pouches. When we get rats... every few years, they like the suet in the bird food... they dig a warren in the front garden and alongside the house, and I stuff some pouches in the holes ... and they die.

V8

[Dicky99]

At least, I assume it’s a rat – there is a border of chippings round the house, with a hole leading downwards. The chippings are a few centimeters deep, on a thick plastic sheet which has clearly been gnawed away at the edge to a diameter of about 40mm. Too big for mice I suspect. I’m a bit surprised it (they?) can get under the wall but presumably there’s a gap.

I’ve put a bait station with a trap in it against the wall close by. Should I try to put the bait station in the hole itself and backfill with gravel to force the rat to use that route?

I haven’t filled the hole as I’m afraid this might force the rat to find a way into the house. I understand rats are nocturnal – would it be sensible to fill the hole at night, blocking its re-entry, or should I be sure to catch it first?

Unless you have a victorian house, which commonly have very shallow foundations, they will be at least half a metre deep below ground level and however deep they are the footing will project out from the base of the wall about a quarter metre. Seems unlikely that a rat would negotiate that.
Could it just be a squirrel looking for its nuts or perhaps a cat who's mistaken your pea shingle drain for a litter tray?

[Mike4]

Notwithstanding all of the above, does it particularly matter if a rat is living in the space under the floorboards?

Provided it stays there.

[bungeejumper]

Notwithstanding all of the above, does it particularly matter if a rat is living in the space under the floorboards?

Provided it stays there.

I don't know whether you've ever had a dead rat under the floorboards, but it's not something you tend to forget. It doesn't matter whether it was poisoned or just died of old age, the smell is the same.

It starts with a sort of heavy wet-wool aroma, and then it becomes a searing, keening, nostril-exploding awfulness that lasts for two or three weeks. I'd do everything within my power to snap-trap it outside the house, rather than letting it expire within.

A friend did set poison traps in her garden, but the ailing rodent crawled back to the safest place it knew, which was under her living room floor. Sometimes you can't win.

BJ

[servodude]

Notwithstanding all of the above, does it particularly matter if a rat is living in the space under the floorboards?

Provided it stays there.

I don't know whether you've ever had a dead rat under the floorboards, but it's not something you tend to forget. It doesn't matter whether it was poisoned or just died of old age, the smell is the same.

It starts with a sort of heavy wet-wool aroma, and then it becomes a searing, keening, nostril-exploding awfulness that lasts for two or three weeks. I'd do everything within my power to snap-trap it outside the house, rather than letting it expire within.

A friend did set poison traps in her garden, but the ailing rodent crawled back to the safest place it knew, which was under her living room floor. Sometimes you can't win.

BJ

The rat poison I'm most familiar with works by dehydrating the wee sods - with the intent that they head outside to try and get a swally and die in the process or are so dessicated when they go as to not be too fetid
I quite like the wee things but when they climb the insides of the internal walls at night it's just too Lovecraftian for me

[garfsuncle]

We've had rats in the garden for some weeks now. Pretty sure they're coming from a neighbour four doors up the road who will not stop feeding the pigeons, which encourages the rats to come looking for food. We bought a couple of rat traps and a friend has been helping us by spiking them with rat poison, but this appears to be having little effect as the rats keep coming back for more. We don't see them often, although my wife spotted one disappearing under the summer house a few days ago. Problem is the food continues to be eaten, but no dead bodies are ever in evidence.

Professional help is expensive - we were quoted £240 + VAT - and they're not our rats! The Council used to help, but they stopped some years ago now. We have reported the neighbour to the Council, who said they would write to her, but she cotinues feeding the pigeons. What to do?

Alan

[bungeejumper]

We bought a couple of rat traps and a friend has been helping us by spiking them with rat poison, but this appears to be having little effect as the rats keep coming back for more. We don't see them often, although my wife spotted one disappearing under the summer house a few days ago. Problem is the food continues to be eaten, but no dead bodies are ever in evidence.

Which food is gettng eaten? Do you mean the stuff in the rat traps, or are they snacking on your garden produce? If they're eating your stored food, then you've got a real problem.

Okay, you seem to be sure that they're not squirrels, which are getting to be a pain in many places these days. And it's a bit too late in the season for them to be field voles, which can invade gardens during hot weather and which especially like to tunnel under your lawn.

We've had success against rats with these sonic repellers, which are the only ones I know that can be tuned to deal with a particular class of animal. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PestBye-Ultras ... 00FXSU2WK/. They're not so good against squirrels, which I suspect are too clever to be fooled. And keep the repellers well out of range from hamsters, pet rabbits or any other rodents that you actually like.

BJ

[mc2fool]

We've had rats in the garden for some weeks now. Pretty sure they're coming from a neighbour four doors up the road who will not stop feeding the pigeons, which encourages the rats to come looking for food. We bought a couple of rat traps and a friend has been helping us by spiking them with rat poison, but this appears to be having little effect as the rats keep coming back for more. We don't see them often, although my wife spotted one disappearing under the summer house a few days ago. Problem is the food continues to be eaten, but no dead bodies are ever in evidence.

I've seen good results with this kind of trap (not specifically that one) as well as the bigger mousetrap kind (ditto). The best food to bait them with seems to be cooked meat, especially something with some fat on it.

With the first type, as it traps the rat alive, if so inclined you can take it some distance away and release it. Alternatively fill a bucket with water and drop the trap into it...

[kiloran]

I've seen good results with this kind of trap (not specifically that one) .

Those traps are also very good for catching squirrels, magpies, pigeons, sparrows.....
viewtopic.php?t=11913

--kiloran

[mc2fool]

I've seen good results with this kind of trap (not specifically that one) .

Those traps are also very good for catching squirrels, magpies, pigeons, sparrows.....
viewtopic.php?t=11913

--kiloran

Bonus! I recommend https://www.stockfood.co.uk/images/1199 ... aised-peas

[didds]

Notwithstanding all of the above, does it particularly matter if a rat is living in the space under the floorboards?

Provided it stays there.

Problem is there is never ONE rat....

[bruncher]

We bought a couple of rat traps and a friend has been helping us by spiking them with rat poison, but this appears to be having little effect as the rats keep coming back for more. We don't see them often, although my wife spotted one disappearing under the summer house a few days ago. Problem is the food continues to be eaten, but no dead bodies are ever in evidence.

Which food is gettng eaten? Do you mean the stuff in the rat traps, or are they snacking on your garden produce? If they're eating your stored food, then you've got a real problem.

Okay, you seem to be sure that they're not squirrels, which are getting to be a pain in many places these days. And it's a bit too late in the season for them to be field voles, which can invade gardens during hot weather and which especially like to tunnel under your lawn.

We've had success against rats with these sonic repellers, which are the only ones I know that can be tuned to deal with a particular class of animal. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PestBye-Ultras ... 00FXSU2WK/. They're not so good against squirrels, which I suspect are too clever to be fooled. And keep the repellers well out of range from hamsters, pet rabbits or any other rodents that you actually like.

BJ

Has anyone had any success deterring foxes with sonic repellers ?

[mc2fool]

Which food is gettng eaten? Do you mean the stuff in the rat traps, or are they snacking on your garden produce? If they're eating your stored food, then you've got a real problem.

Okay, you seem to be sure that they're not squirrels, which are getting to be a pain in many places these days. And it's a bit too late in the season for them to be field voles, which can invade gardens during hot weather and which especially like to tunnel under your lawn.

We've had success against rats with these sonic repellers, which are the only ones I know that can be tuned to deal with a particular class of animal. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PestBye-Ultras ... 00FXSU2WK/. They're not so good against squirrels, which I suspect are too clever to be fooled. And keep the repellers well out of range from hamsters, pet rabbits or any other rodents that you actually like.

BJ

Has anyone had any success deterring foxes with sonic repellers ?

To the contrary. We tried https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06VSP873S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00 and returned them after a month 'cos they had absolutely no effect. The foxes would walk and play right in front of them. Two of my neighbours have tried similar ones too, also with no effect.

One of them is kind of a local fox expert in that he has CCTV around his house and can identify specific individuals and their habits, and he reckons that the foxes pretty quickly work out that, yeah, there's a noise but no consequence, so they just ignore them. Dunno how true that is but, as I say, nobody in our immediate vicinity has had any success with them at all.

He did have some success with a motion operated jet spray, I think this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004YCUT4W/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1, at at least keeping them from digging holes in his lawn, but they still come into his garden and they now know to avoid the lawn area where they'll get sprayed....

[bungeejumper]

Has anyone had any success deterring foxes with sonic repellers ?

To the contrary. We tried https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06VSP873S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00 and returned them after a month 'cos they had absolutely no effect. The foxes would walk and play right in front of them. Two of my neighbours have tried similar ones too, also with no effect.

O/T, but thanks for the recollection anyway. Fox-lovers may wish to look away now.

We were watching the local TV news one night, with our two cats sitting contentedly on our laps. Up came a news item in which a local chicken farmer had settled a long-standing war with a vixen. He'd created a tape loop of a rabbit's distress cry (yes, apparently they have one), and he'd played it for barely 20 minutes when the fox turned up. Whereupon he shot it. Job done.

I imagine that our experience of the broadcast was different from what the TV news team had expected. The sound of the rabbit distress call coming over the airwaves was enough to turn our two loveable moggies into instant ravening killers. They both dug their claws into our laps (ouch ), then quite literally flew across the room and launched themselves at the back of the telly in pursuit of the invisible prey. Where their little heads collided with some force. It was hard to say who was more unnerved by the experience, us or them.

BJ

[bruncher]

I favour the shooting solution but Mrs Bruncher is opposed to having weapons in the house. According to reviews, 'Scoot' and 'Get Off' are as good as any and are recommended deterrents by foxproject.org, but if anyone has better ideas please post.

[Bouleversee]

Where do you live? Here in Bucks and surrounding areas, there is a plague of glis glis. I heard scampering noises in my roof area and called in a pest catcher. He set several traps (not cages) using apples as bait (that's all they like apparently (didn't touch the balls of rat poison which were also put down initially) which is probably why my espaliers haven't given me a decent crop of eaters this year and over a few weeks caught around 12 in a large eaves cupboard. Seems to have done the trick as no bait has been taken for over a week. He said he had caught over 100 in one house. They do start to hibernate underground at this time of year apparently.

For those who, like me, had never heard of glis glis, they are like a small squirrel but apparently go out at night and come in during the day, which is rather strange. It's illegal to catch them unless you have had training and have a licence. They are quite sweet and it is sad to have to kill them but the numbers have increased dramatically because some people were catching them in cages and then releasing them some way from their own houses. At least the traps used here were very powerful and caused immediate and hopefully painless death.