[Help] There's a rat in mi kitchen ...

[Eric the meek]

We had a rat problem some years ago. They were nesting under the shed, coming down the path, chewed a hole in the wooden frame of our utility room (where we stored food) and were having a party.

We got Rentokil in to deal with it. They said to be aware that rats like to come inside in the autumn as the temperatures drop. Try to find the route they take across the garden to get in. They like to stay under vegetation, next to walls etc, to avoid predators. Try to find their way in, and block it off. Waste pipes, and holes in the brickwork around them etc.

Then to deal with the immediate problem, Rentokil set poisoned bait in a number of places, that they thought were on the rats' route. Long story short, it worked. The clean up was hard though.

 

[Anger]

What am I going to do?

You’re gonna fix that rat that's what you’re gonna do,
You’re gonna fix that rat.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Try the Council first - if they have outsourced this service they will usually give some recommended suppliers to you.

In Worthing, they got rid of the local team a few years ago so the guys set up their own business but don't have the details with me at the moment

 

[stewart12]

nothing is more effective than getting a cat in my opinion

your new feline friend will either carry out rodent genocide or your unwanted visitors will naff off to someone else's house the second they twig that there's a cat in the gaff

 

[worthingweird]

Borrow a Jack Russell

 

[cheshunt seagull]

My daughter's student house in Colcheste, had a rat a few years ago and they called a pest control company. Being the nearest parent (always a mistake) I was called to locate and bury the corpse. I felt sorry for the poor thing which had crawled into a Tesco 'Bag for Life' to die and was a sptting image of Luis Suarez.

 

[Gwylan]

Used this company back in 2020. Got rid of a family of mice over a three week period and addressed entry points around the house to stop re-infestation. Weren't particularly cheap (must have been the going rate at the time as I would have checked) but efficient and got the job done.

Full Service Pest Control & Managment, Pest Removal & Bird Control

Do you have a pest problem in Brighton or Falmouth? Contact Terminate Pest Control. Please call 01326 377470 for Falmouth & 01273 358565 for Brighton

www.terminatepest.co.uk

They're the company that responded. Came within 30 minutes and baited the place. Very efficient

 

[keaton]

Pest control via your district council is , imo, really good. Mine is LDC. They've helped me with rats/mice (don't ever tell them its mice - they won't come out for that. insist its rats) and its free. They come out recently for me within a few days, basically provide and lay industrial good quality traps/poison (thats ok for dogs etc) around problem areas, do follow ups and get rid of it.

Yes, had to request from LDC a few times but they're pretty quick and reliable . And free

 

[swindonseagull]

Screwfix sell some stuff that you put in the rats run, worked wonders when one ( or more lived under the shed) pet friendly or not I dont know.

 

[Albion 71]

Non lethal Pest Control Services Covering UK & Europe

Pest control & prevention services. Humane non-lethal pest control of foxes, birds, rodents and many more species covering the UK and Europe.

humanewildlifesolutions.co.uk

Really good nationwide company-means other creatures don't die too as with lethal methods for rats.

 

[Monkey Man]

From bitter experience ...

Putting poison down if the rats are already in the house isn't a long-term solution. (I'm using the plural as I'm afraid it's never just one.) Sure, they'll swallow the poison, and then die in a part of your house you probably can't access, and the smell will be excruciating, for weeks. You might also be dealing with hundreds of flies that have hatched from the corpses.

Snap traps baited with peanut butter or chocolate are effective, but it's not always a clean kill. We've found dying rats in traps that had been there all night and it's not a pleasant thing to deal with. Also one rat who managed to tear itself free of a trap, and clearly had brain damage, and was staggering around the house afterwards.

Poison, or traps, could potentially wipe out the colony in your house. (We caught SEVENTEEN in one 24-hour session once, with five traps – plumbers had failed to seal a pipe where an old toilet had been and there was a direct line to the sewer.) But the pheromone trail left by the now-dead rats will eventually be picked up by a new rat, and its family, and your problems will begin again. Not just in the winter months, either.

Whatever it takes, you have to find the access point(s) and block them up. Until that happens, rats will see your home as a viable option, regardless of how many of their friends and relatives you've killed.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Anyone know any good rat removers?

Milwaukee got the GOP to leave.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

We’ve used PGH Pest Control for Rat eradication. Their website says that they cover East Sussex. Ours have all been outside as we live next to a wood and near neighbours have chickens. Believe me if you see one rat it’s coming from a nest and you really don’t want to see Mama Rat as she’ll be huge and a match for most cats.

 

[Silverhatch]

From bitter experience ...

Putting poison down if the rats are already in the house isn't a long-term solution. (I'm using the plural as I'm afraid it's never just one.) Sure, they'll swallow the poison, and then die in a part of your house you probably can't access, and the smell will be excruciating, for weeks. You might also be dealing with hundreds of flies that have hatched from the corpses.

Snap traps baited with peanut butter or chocolate are effective, but it's not always a clean kill. We've found dying rats in traps that had been there all night and it's not a pleasant thing to deal with. Also one rat who managed to tear itself free of a trap, and clearly had brain damage, and was staggering around the house afterwards.

Poison, or traps, could potentially wipe out the colony in your house. (We caught SEVENTEEN in one 24-hour session once, with five traps – plumbers had failed to seal a pipe where an old toilet had been and there was a direct line to the sewer.) But the pheromone trail left by the now-dead rats will eventually be picked up by a new rat, and its family, and your problems will begin again. Not just in the winter months, either.

Whatever it takes, you have to find the access point(s) and block them up. Until that happens, rats will see your home as a viable option, regardless of how many of their friends and relatives you've killed.

Brought back shivers this story. We had a rat infestation the source of which was only discovered by Southern Water’s Rat Man. Rentokil, council contractors failed to spot a tiny/minuscule hole in our sewer inspection chamber that led to a bigger hole in the chalk foundations. Rats chewed their way into the house through a foot of ground. Smell from the corpses under the floor from baiting was unreal. In the end the entire Victorian inspection chamber had to be dug out and replaced.

 

[METALMICKY]

View attachment 185986
Bit of peanut butter sorted this one out in my kitchen...

For potential future reference crunchy or smooth?

 

[Gwylan]

Brought back shivers this story. We had a rat infestation the source of which was only discovered by Southern Water’s Rat Man. Rentokil, council contractors failed to spot a tiny/minuscule hole in our sewer inspection chamber that led to a bigger hole in the chalk foundations.

Our Rat Man suspects that they're coming in through the sewers. He suggested getting a drains company to put in a one-way barrier so waste can get out but rats can't get in.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Our Rat Man suspects that they're coming in through the sewers. He suggested getting a drains company to put in a one-way barrier so waste can get out but rats can't get in.

Word of advice - make sure they double check that the barrier's been put on the right way.

Trust me.

 

[BiffyBoy]

They're not all bad and very, very smart.

I once watched a documentary about a young rat called Remy who went on to become an award winning chef.

 

[zefarelly]

Borrow a Jack Russell

This, rats are too large and clever for cats. You don't want ourJR though, at 14 she's not quite as nimble as she once was.

mice are a doddle to deal with with traps and cats

Foxes like a juicy rat, but like most of us, come with their own baggage! Plus most of them in towns are stuffed full of chips and cat food because people feed them.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Looked at them - they don't cover Brighton unfortunately

get a humane trap , bait it with a piece of bread covered with peanut butter and/or nutella. If you poison them they will a) die in your house at a place you can't get to but will smell b) die outside and then poison some other creature as well or in your case your dog. I have successfully caught rats in the garden (10) and mice in the house (4 of them ) which came in when i opened up the the cavity on the outside. Clearly you need to know if it's a rat or mouse as the trap is very diferent in size.