Rodent problem.

[rugrat]

So we have rats and / or mice in our walls and roof. They are not in the house itself - as we have two excellent cats who love nothing better then to catch mice and rats (and snakes and rabbits, etc). We constantly have dead ones left at the front door and around the front yard, which our cats have caught outside. The problem is "what do I do about those in the walls and roof?"

We don't really want to bait for two reasons. One, because if our cats catch one of the baited mice they could get very ill. Two, dead mice and rats in the walls is not an appealling thought, particularly if we get a hot day.

We will put some traps in the roof, but aren't expecting to be able to catch them all this way.

I am also concerned about the damage they might do to the wires and such.

Are there any other options I haven't yet considered??? Any suggestions??

 

[Kinnon Bell]

Put your cats in the ceiling? Seriously though, we had a mouse problem too and we got those traps that don't kill the rodent and smeared peanut butter in the end of it. Worked well, even with the one we pit on our ceiling cavity and we no longer heard the scraping noises shortly after.

 

[jaycee]

Put your cats in the ceiling? Seriously though, we had a mouse problem too and we got those traps that don't kill the rodent and smeared peanut butter in the end of it. Worked well, even with the one we pit on our ceiling cavity and we no longer heard the scraping noises shortly after.

Pest Controller ?

 

[Graingrower]

I would not rule out baits. Racumin paste is excellent. The rodents have to have several feeds before they die, with most of the poison passing through their system before they die. They are one of the preferred baits to protect owls that eat the dead rodents. We use these when we have a problem. I just put a few baits in each place and replace what have been taken each day. When they stop taking baits thats the end of the problem. Apparently they will cart the baits back to their nests to feed their families.

As for the dead rodents, you might find one or two smellies. Maybe the rest move out to die. Do you have any overhanging trees that might allow rodents in through your eaves?

http://www.bayeranimal.com.au/default.aspx?Page=50&ItemId=49

 

[RumpledElf]

We actually did put our cat in the ceiling when we had baby starlings up there.

Problem was getting the cat OUT, she thought it was the best place in the entire universe.

Our current rodent problem is being *caused* by our cat, who catches mice down the road, brings them home and loses them inside. We've caught 4 of her lost mice in the last couple of days, one of which she had already re-caught, brought in to show us and promptly lost again. Grrr cat.

 

[Nards]

We have also recently had this problem..its not much fun . We tried the rat traps, discovered that often the rodents dont get immediately killed by the trap leaving it to either die slowly (awful) or be found by you in the morning and have to be somehow euthanased by you (worse!). We had to tie the trap to something to stop the poor thing runing around with a trap...anyway, didnt take us long to decide trps weren't much fun. You can buy "live traps", but that still leaves you with the fun job of euthanasia, so we gave those a miss too. I have seen pest controllers use these traps, and I believe they drown the rats, but I don't have it in me to do that myself! In the end we used poison. It was all over rather quickly and the rats seemed to leave the house to die, so no smellies for us. The owl/pet friendly poison sounds like a good option!

Cheers,
Nadia

 

[lenny]

We had a rat problem last year and hated the idea of potentially half killing them with traps or using baits as they die slowly and painfully.

We ended up getting a rat zapper. It's a humane, mess free way of killing them and works just like it says it does. We got 4 over 4 nights of using it. It is expensive though at around $90-100 so I'm hoping it'll last a while.

We got ours direct from http://www.ratzapper.com.au/index.htm however the website doesn't seem to be working too well at the moment. This site http://www.derwenttraders.com.au/contents/en-us/d142.html displays a fair bit of info.

 

[wylie]

Hi Lenny. I like the idea of the rat zapper but the first link says these are no longer available. I might try to get hold of one from somewhere else.

I'm curious to know if you have used them in the roof space or elsewhere.

We had our pest man place possum proof traps into our ceiling to rid us of rats in the ceiling. We ended up killing three possums . Obviously the possum proof traps weren't really possum proof.

I sit here at my computer listening to sickening scratchings and I'd love to get rid of the rats without hurting the possums.

Are these rat zappers too small to allow a possum to get their noses in? I'd hate to kill another possum.

 

[KidsInheritance]

Recently found 2 LV downlight globes in daugthers bedroom ceiling dislodged, got up in the roof to find one LV wire eaten through & rat droppings about the place. Never had an issue before we got a Jack Russell Pup........reckon she has scared the bejeezus out of any rodents that were living at ground level & this rat decided to move to higher & safer ground......
Anyway, chucked 4 throw packs of ratsack up there, all of which had been fed from several days later & the lights have now remained in place.
Had a look for the dead rat & found the nest in an insulation batt but no dead rat & so far no smelly's...... In hindsight thankful the Pup did not find the dead rat either for fear of her getting poisoned.

 

[fernfurn]

Solved this problem in two different houses. Open up the manhole, throw rat pellets all around. Rats eat it and then go to find water and die outside. Problem solvedl within days

 

[KidsInheritance]

Ended up finding the dead rat, the pup had dragged it our from under the house & left on the lawn out the back but thankfully had not eaten it!