Help! Rats!

[Kristobel]

:help: We have just moved in to our new house and despite it being beautiful and re-done and very clean we have rats! I can hear them running around (so cute!) however my boyfriend and flatmates wont agree.

My boyfriend has promised not to use traps and that he will try any way I want that wont hurt them but I have NO IDEA! Has anyone got any ideas? I know you can get those things that let off a high pitched beep but do they ever work?

If anyone can help me I'd be so appreciative!

Kristobel
xx

[lirpa1]

what about the "humane" traps taht just trap them inside alive, and then you could carry them far away to a big field and let them go free?

[stephles]

I've had this problem in my student housing but with mice, such a dilemma.

I purchased an ultrasonic repeller, which emits a continuous unpleasant whining sound at a frequency that only rodents can hear. I can't say I think it works - I had it plugged in the whole time and simply found the little critters scuttling right past it, seemingly not phased by it. I have heard that you can buy some that work with electromagnets which work to put them off too but I haven't tried one.

We have bought humane traps as suggested by lirpa1 - they're a good idea and work well as long as you bait them with something tasty, and make sure you check them regularly. I don't know about rats, but mice sometimes die in the traps (of fright/stress possibly?). I think this is the most ethical way of getting rid of them :)

[sybaritik]

I've never had to deal with this problem so I've no idea of what works and what doesn't....all I know is that if the humane options didn't work, I would call in pest control because I would not want to share my house with rats carrying infection.

If you do a search though, there's a few threads on this subject that might give you a few pointers.


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[erin84]

Also check if you can find the entry points. They are persistent but if you make it harder for them to get in, maybe they will go somewhere easier?

Thats not really helpful, sorry!

[Kristen4382]

I don't have anything helpful to add, the closest I've ever come to this was finding a dead, squashed [not chewed!] mouse in my dogs kennel. Whereabouts are they? In the roof? in the actual house a la spiders and ants?

I like the idea of the humane trap. I wonder how large you can get them. Could even be something exciting like a possum :D (Now my imagination is running away!)

[Kristobel]

Thanks so much!!

They have sudeenly gone very quiet (psychic rats?!!) hehe.
I hope they have moved elsewhere. My boyfriends going to climb up in the roof and check! I really hope they have gone because I don't want to have to be mean to them!!!

[Indieorganicveg]

I have the same problem, but my parents bought these traps that kill them and make them writhe in pain in the process. My parents don't like rats.:mad:

[lirpa1]

:eek:


I like the idea of the humane trap. I wonder how large you can get them. Could even be something exciting like a possum :D (Now my imagination is running away!)

ha ha ha I remember a few yrs ago (when Ilived in USA) i was heading to our kitchen and I saw the kitchen cupboard door below the sink slowly opening up and a small nose peeped out, then the head.... I started screaming my head off and ran the opposite way... the possum scrambled back into the cupboard and under the house inthe hole it chewed under the sink...

for the next week or so, I'd often catch them coming and going under the sink until we got the hole found and fixed.. some were babies ha ha... but whew, i thought it was a massive rat when I first saw it..

sorry for the off topic comments