Rats in my loft! Advice needed please. UPDATE page 4 & 5

[Rac20]

OP... you are so brave. I’ve barely been in the kitchen since we saw the evidence of the mouse. Never mind doing any blocking of holes etc.
We have pest control insurance with British Gas who were supposed to come out yesterday and then again today and haven’t. Which I’m obviously not happy about. If it had been a rat I’d have been moving out I think!

Hope they sort your problem out OP..👍👍

[Guest]

Originally Posted by JoB

UPDATE
Found out on Friday morning that the rats have gained access to the kitchen now. They have been eating the cats dried food. I found and blocked a small hole with tin foil and wedged it with tin cans. This held over night. Yesterday I was able to explore further and have discovered that the boxing in of the soil pipe is where they are gaining access into the kitchen. The rats had collected the cat food and stored it under the kitchen sink cupboard. I cleaned the area and sealed the hole with wire wool and covered it with wire mesh. The noise last night was awful. I could hear them chewing it. The rats have chewed through the mesh and made an access hole.
The pest control man can not come until Monday at the earliest. I am hoping he will be able to seal the access point in the kitchen and find the access point in the loft.
The traps I set in the loft have not tripped yet and to be honest I will not be going up there until I know there are no rats.
The noise is dreadful and it sounds like they are getting to us via the partition wall. Neighbours are not concerned.
House insurance does not cover rodents either.
Knowing they have got into the loft is one thing but discovering they are inside the house with us is really frightening.
Thank you for all the replies, lots of them have kept me smiling instead of crying!
Joanne

See more...

so they have stored the food, whack poison in with that food, pop to a " DIY store " ( B&Q sell poison ),

as for blocking up holes, wire mesh and expanding foam works very well, they cannot see day light though it, but will chew the foam then come up against the wire and stop ( at least thats what the pest control guy told me )

[JLH]

Originally Posted by Lisbon

Do you know anyone with a jack Russell
Rob

See more...

we have a jack Russell cross , we had pet rabbits and Guinea pigs that he used to play with . I thought he was harmless until he saw a rat in the garden once , he was on it in a flash

[anniebee65]

Oh OP that is horrific 🙈🙈🙈

We had rats get in through a hole in the wall of our downstairs bathroom when I was a child. The noise!

There was an entire family nesting under the bath. 40 years later I remember it. We poisoned them and the screams were horrific. My Dad ended up dispatching 3 of them in the bath with a hockey stick wearing a pair of wellies.

Some visuals stay with you forever!

[ziggyzag]

Don't read Stephen Kings book!

Use poison and get one of those sonic noise things till the rat man can come out

[Gilly120]

Originally Posted by JoB

UPDATE
Found out on Friday morning that the rats have gained access to the kitchen now. They have been eating the cats dried food. I found and blocked a small hole with tin foil and wedged it with tin cans. This held over night. Yesterday I was able to explore further and have discovered that the boxing in of the soil pipe is where they are gaining access into the kitchen. The rats had collected the cat food and stored it under the kitchen sink cupboard. I cleaned the area and sealed the hole with wire wool and covered it with wire mesh. The noise last night was awful. I could hear them chewing it. The rats have chewed through the mesh and made an access hole.
The pest control man can not come until Monday at the earliest. I am hoping he will be able to seal the access point in the kitchen and find the access point in the loft.
The traps I set in the loft have not tripped yet and to be honest I will not be going up there until I know there are no rats.
The noise is dreadful and it sounds like they are getting to us via the partition wall. Neighbours are not concerned.
House insurance does not cover rodents either.
Knowing they have got into the loft is one thing but discovering they are inside the house with us is really frightening.
Thank you for all the replies, lots of them have kept me smiling instead of crying!
Joanne

See more...

Don't live near Cardiff do you? lol we have a Lakeland terrier who is a great rat catcher, hes a pet but better than the working terriers next door.

[MrsBC]

Did you get sorted out OP?

[JoB]

Wish I did know someone with a rat catching dog!
I was able to have time off work yesterday and the pest control man came and put poison down in the kitchen under the sink and in the loft. None of the traps had tripped and we haven't heard any scratching since he came. Think they were scared off by someone going up in the loft. Usually it goes quiet for a couple of nights and then they come back.
My neighbours are not concerned about the rats even though they can hear them and have had them in their kitchen weeks ago -They did not tell me about it until I went to tell thrm about the rats in my loft. I will give them a couple more days and ask again if they have checked their loft and put poison down like they said they would. The council have said that they could send them a letter but I wanted to give them the chance to sort it out first. Their house and garden are very untidy and they have lots of animals inside and out so the rats must love it there!

Pest control will be back on the 11th to check if the rats have eaten the poison.
Just hoping it will work.
My plug in rat detergent arrived this morning too.
Dibb advice has been really helpful, thank you for all your posts.
Joanne

[TartanTink]

OP I hope this gets sorted soon, I have followed in fear. We had mice a few weeks ago and that was bad enough the sonic plug in things seems to have stopped them returning !

[JoB]

Originally Posted by TartanTink

OP I hope this gets sorted soon, I have followed in fear. We had mice a few weeks ago and that was bad enough the sonic plug in things seems to have stopped them returning !

See more...

Have plugged mine in and have heard no sign of them since Monday.
Hoping they have all run back next door!
Once I am sure the house is all clear I will be busy securing the access points so that it can not happen again.
It has been awful