Author Topic: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?  (Read 14736 times)

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #50 on: 12 March, 2019, 06:35:20 am »
Some of this may be slightly out of date info but around 3 - 4 years ago there was a change in the law regarding what quantity and quality of rat poison could be purchased by the general public. In theory it was an attempt to reduce secondary poisoning up the food chain particularly with birds of prey.

With this in mind I don't have much confidence in the rat poison available to the general public. I would consider finding a local company to come and put some decent strength stuff in or look online.

Or if you have a way of dispatching the buggers such as an decent power air rifle I would recommend cage traps. If you are going down this route feel free to PM me as some traps on the internet are rubbish.

These can be set anywhere as have advantage that non target species can be released unharmed. You will need these checked regularly. Check the exact law on this but we don't want control of pests to lead to cruelty.

Lastly those ultrasonic things. I used to sell them in my work. Some people swore by them, some swore at them. Might be worth a try.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #51 on: 12 March, 2019, 09:46:04 am »
Don't use poison.  Post-Brexit, rats will be a valuable protein source, and you may need to keep some aside for bartering with an allotment-owning neighbour or a FOAF who keeps chickens.

<Discworld> Rat onna stick? </Discworld>

With ketchup.

You disgust me, its english mustard.  What else?

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #52 on: 15 March, 2019, 10:22:12 pm »
One splatted rat , outside in the garden.  A trap in the loft was spring & the bait taken, but no kill.


I tiled the gap where the heating pipes come down.  Apparently earlier this evening there was a lot of scrabbling noises from that area.  I'm now thinking of undoing the tile work, popping a couple of traps in & doing a temporary cover with a piece of wood or something.


My sister was not pleased by me sending her a Youtube clip from "1984" of Winston in Room 101  :demon:
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #53 on: 16 March, 2019, 01:38:46 pm »
if a trap is sprung with no victim and the bait taken, it can be clever rodents tugging the bait off sideways/upwards which mayn't spring the trap; it is advocated that you tie the bait onto the trap if you can, eg if you use bacon rind as bait. However it might just be mice; they can sit within the arc of a rat-sized trap and set it off without necessarily coming to harm.

cheers

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #54 on: 16 March, 2019, 01:50:13 pm »
Don't use poison.  Post-Brexit, rats will be a valuable protein source, and you may need to keep some aside for bartering with an allotment-owning neighbour or a FOAF who keeps chickens.

<Discworld> Rat onna stick? </Discworld>

With ketchup.

You disgust me, its english mustard.  What else?

Yebbut only the supermarket own-brand - there's no way I'd waste Taylor's on a rodent kebab.  :demon:
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #55 on: 18 March, 2019, 03:11:07 pm »
Don't use poison.  Post-Brexit, rats will be a valuable protein source, and you may need to keep some aside for bartering with an allotment-owning neighbour or a FOAF who keeps chickens.

<Discworld> Rat onna stick? </Discworld>

With ketchup.

You disgust me, its english mustard.  What else?

Yebbut only the supermarket own-brand - there's no way I'd waste Taylor's on a rodent kebab.  :demon:

This Unit has had French's Spicy inna-squeezy-bottle recommended to it, as it disguises the taste of the rat.  It's also as pikey as Rogerzilla's old Beemer ;D
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #56 on: 18 March, 2019, 07:37:48 pm »
Don't use poison.  Post-Brexit, rats will be a valuable protein source, and you may need to keep some aside for bartering with an allotment-owning neighbour or a FOAF who keeps chickens.

<Discworld> Rat onna stick? </Discworld>

With ketchup.

You disgust me, its english mustard.  What else?

Yebbut only the supermarket own-brand - there's no way I'd waste Taylor's on a rodent kebab.  :demon:

This Unit has had French's Spicy inna-squeezy-bottle recommended to it, as it disguises the taste of the rat.  It's also as pikey as Rogerzilla's old Beemer ;D

French on an English rat!!!!!

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #57 on: 20 March, 2019, 11:10:43 am »
Don't use poison.  Post-Brexit, rats will be a valuable protein source, and you may need to keep some aside for bartering with an allotment-owning neighbour or a FOAF who keeps chickens.

<Discworld> Rat onna stick? </Discworld>

With ketchup.

You disgust me, its english mustard.  What else?

Yebbut only the supermarket own-brand - there's no way I'd waste Taylor's on a rodent kebab.  :demon:

This Unit has had French's Spicy inna-squeezy-bottle recommended to it, as it disguises the taste of the rat.  It's also as pikey as Rogerzilla's old Beemer ;D

French on an English rat!!!!!

French's != French, as they were keen to point out when la Republique declined to partake of bush 2’s Land War In Asia.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #58 on: 20 March, 2019, 09:46:34 pm »
Well we appear to have made the kitchen rat proof.  The little fuckers are now trying to tunnel through the floor in the hall.  A hole in the laminate flooring for a radiator pipe has been considerably enlarged by something.  Now blocked with a plug of steel mesh & some traps put down in the one area we can get to in the underfloor void.   


Another kill in  the loft.  I've shifted a lot more cardboard boxes & found a lot more rat shit & evidence of them tunnelling into the insulation.  The thin chipboard in that part of the loft is breaking under my weight so I'm being very careful.


I left the dead rat for my father to dispose of.   He chucked it onto the roof of the adjacent electrical sub-station.  You stupid fucker, says I.  That's just going to attract more of the cannibalistic little bastards.  :facepalm:
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #59 on: 21 March, 2019, 10:01:39 am »
Just in case you thought it might resist them, expanding foam insulation does absolutely nothing to slow them down, it just means they make even more noise chomping their way through it.

I resorted to that desperate measure professionally many years ago - won't make that mistake again!  We had rats making their way through the cavity walls of a terrace of houses, along about 5 houses, to terrorise one poor tenant of ours.  Why they didn't hassle the tenants of the one that was causing the issue by handling and badly storing Chinese food ingredients, I do not know.
Wombat

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #60 on: 21 March, 2019, 09:22:53 pm »
They have received a Letter From The Council , saying that The Council is aware of complaints of rats in gardens in their street & from a 1/4 mile around.   The Council do not propose to do anything about this unless they pay them Moar Money ......   so whats the £2.2K council tax for then ?  >:(


Traps in the garden have had the bait removed untouched.  Traps in the loft haven't been disturbed & they've heard no further scratching noises.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #61 on: 23 March, 2019, 07:38:36 am »
I was about to say that if there are rats in your parents' place then there's probably a hell of a lot more. A quarter mile radius is an awful lot of rats.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #62 on: 23 March, 2019, 09:56:51 am »
if there is a large population of rats locally, then there has to be a food source for the rats.  All it takes is one homeowner to have a food source available to the rats (pet food, bird food, bad bins, a non-rat-proof home, etc)  and it will be rat central. They are capable of breeding at an incredible rate; in theory a pair of rats can increase to a population of 15000 in a year.

Unless the food source is removed or is made so that it is no longer accessible to rats, you will likely always have a rat problem in the neighbourhood.

cheers

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #63 on: 27 March, 2019, 02:06:48 am »
When we had a rodent invasion (mice, wood rats, squirrels, bat (Fledermaus)), we learned that:
   They like to raise families in fiberglass insulation in the attic or under floors
and
   Copper wool seems to work better than steel wool for packing openings
and
   Mice can enter through a space 1/4" high or wide; they deform their jaws so as to flatten out.
     

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #64 on: 27 March, 2019, 09:30:49 am »
I used to keep bees; the recipe for keeping mice out of a hive over the winter (whilst allowing bees access as needed) is to ensure that the front opening of the hive was not larger than a 1/4"  slot, or a series of  5/16" round holes. Adult mice can't get through either.


cheers

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #65 on: 27 March, 2019, 10:14:14 am »
Little bastards got into the parental bathroom  :jurek:


Removing the panel from the corner bath and there are a couple of floorboards missing, right at the back.
Can’t get at those without removing the bath, and the incompetent idiot who installed it didn’t fit isolation valves.  :facepalm:


The idea of accidentally torching the place & claiming on the insurance is becoming more attractive every day.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #66 on: 27 March, 2019, 10:31:28 am »
can you make up a sheet metal 'cover' for the hole, and screw/glue it to the wall/nail it to the floorboards?   If you make a piece of sheet metal that has edges that are folded up where they meet the wall, with holes where needed for screws/nails, this ought to stop the blighters.

cheers

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #67 on: 27 March, 2019, 01:22:42 pm »
There is occasional tree rat activity above the ceiling of my barrack room at Fort Larrington.  I suspect they're getting in through one of the myriad holes for Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.)'s solar installations.  Still, it's better than the wasps' nest he had up there a few years ago.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #68 on: 27 March, 2019, 01:42:34 pm »
Frankly, I'd prefer the wasps. At least they die in the winter.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #69 on: 27 March, 2019, 03:08:06 pm »
When I was there the other night I noticed what looked like a hole at the edge of the roof, so will have to cut an inspection hatch in the correct part of the roofing felt to check.  What’s the best stuff for sealing the felt back up? Some flavour of duct tape ?

Edit: Evostik Flashband the right stuff ?   There are a couple of other splits in the loftspace that need to be fixed anyway.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #70 on: 27 March, 2019, 04:18:57 pm »
do you mean felt as in flat roof, or felt as in what goes  under a tiled roof?

 If the former then you can get roofing felt adhesive (mastic based), and the usual method is to patch any damaged/cut area with more felt and lots of the adhesive.  Lap joints work well with roofing felt, butt joints don't.

cheers

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #71 on: 27 March, 2019, 04:40:57 pm »
The latter, it’s a tiled roof with felt underneath. Some stuff I’ve read suggests that the felt doesn’t actually have much purpose, but I’d rather not leave open holes in it.
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #72 on: 27 March, 2019, 04:48:09 pm »
Roofs did not have any sarking felt for hundreds of years, so don't get too hung up on patching it. The older stuff tends to degrade anyway, particularly along the eaves.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #73 on: 28 March, 2019, 02:44:14 pm »
Frankly, I'd prefer the wasps. At least they die in the winter.

Not when they start coming through a crack in the ceiling plasterwork, you wouldn't.  All the tree rats do is scamper around in the middle of the night.  Well, they're probably up to other squirly crimes as well but that's not my problem unless it was them that b0rked the magnetic filter on the heating system.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?
« Reply #74 on: 28 March, 2019, 06:03:12 pm »
Frankly, I'd prefer the wasps. At least they die in the winter.

Not when they start coming through a crack in the ceiling plasterwork, you wouldn't.  All the tree rats do is scamper around in the middle of the night.  Well, they're probably up to other squirly crimes as well but that's not my problem unless it was them that b0rked the magnetic filter on the heating system.

Never underestimate rats.  If they can wire plugs[1], they can do plumbing badly.


[1] O'Brien, R. and Bernstein, Z. (1999). Mrs. Frisby and the rats of Nimh. New York: Aladdin Books.