UKH

Having been rat free for a couple of years, we had a few sporadic ones in traps at the start of the year and now we appear to have a whole family squeaking away under the kitchen cupboards. 

Back to ripping up the house and garden to find where the wee sods are getting in this time!

Grrrrrr! Horrible critters.

Oh, and the highly reactive dog which we have, who will go nuts at most things, doesn't even bat an eyelid at ratty noises! He's no deterrent at all!

You need the plant nepenthes truncata in your life.

http://icps.proboards.com/thread/675

Or if you want a more humane plant try nepenthes lowii where you can at least persuade the rats to use the toilet 

https://www.livescience.com/9666-pitcher-plant-doubles-toilet.html

I suppose, mildly on the bright side, a reactive dog rushing about without aiding the catching of the rats could have compounded thing?

https://goodnaturetraps.co.uk/humane-rat-traps/

Oh but they are such amazing intelligent little creatures! Genuinely my favourite animal after dogs.

Admittedly, that's little comfort if they're pludering your home blind though.

PS, good luck in getting rid of the rats.  I was just thinking about the hecticness. 

One of the most fascinating links ever posted to UKC.

Thought of some cats to prowl around the house?

I don't like cats, and the dog likes them even less! 

Interestingly, not all cats will catch mice and rats.

I figured if he barked enough it might well keep them scared and keep them away.

He'd certainly go for them if he saw them!

Wow, crazy plant! Might not survive in the cupboard under the sink though! Lol

You need to get the cat farm back up and running. Rats - cats - pelts etc.

How about getting a Jack Russell? Could get a bit messy however

Poke you dog under the floorboards for a couple of days, he'll soon take an interest then. He's not a lurcher is he?

Do you know what's attracting them?

Do you know how they get in and out of the house?

I'd suggest finding the entrances they use, bait them with poison then block them. Also if there's something in particular that's attracting them, try and eliminate it.

My Mum was bothered constantly by rats in her old thatched cottage and she tried everything. Then she tried leaving some used kitty litter in a tray in the attic and.... no more rats.

I had them.... and a lodger.... one died under the floor boards in his bedroom .... he wouldn't let me get the floor boards up to retrieve it. Stank like hell, for ages, and he did!! He went to work smelling of dead rat.  What was more amazing was his posh girlfriend would stay the night. 

They were well established in the house for about 10 years before we moved in, so they keep coming back because it is a well known rat home!

We found their previous entrance under the front door step, there was a pipe under the step to allow cables in which they used. 

I think they are coming in the back this time, might need to lift all the back slabs to find runs. They are always underground. There is also a chance the entrance is next door, but he denies that he has a rat problem (he does!) and won't let pest control or us help him look into it.

Interesting! I could try and get my hands on some and leave it under the floor.

Thanks for that suggestion

Oh my, hideous! It's not even just the stench (although that is obviously awful), but the flies as they decompose are horrendous too! We have had some die in cavity walls, so no way of retrieving them, and the flies are incredible.

Our floorboards are a bit low for him. He's also got enough anxiety issues without sticking him under the floor! He'd hate it! Lol.

No, he's not a lurcher, just a brown dog.

Bummer about the neighbour.

Have you got a webcam?

If so it probably has some motion detection software with it. If so you could try monitoring the areas you suspect and see if you catch them on camera. With the short nights they no doubt move in and out the house in daylight hours.

We have all rat tracking tech going. Even have footage of ratty going from our loft into neighbours. He still doesn't want to know. They don't move around the garden at all, we have had camera in garden a lot

A couple of thought -

is it possible to block up the way the rats go from your loft to the neighbour's loft or is the connection between the lofts too large. If it a small gap then a sheet of perforated metal would keep them out but preserve ventilation.

if you have done all you can to prevent entry in your house and garden and as you have evidence of the rats coming from next door, I'd speak to the local authority. Given the potential health implications of an infestation of rats I think the authority might be able to take action against the neighbour.

I realise involving the LA might be difficult for relations with your neighbour but if the rats are coming from next door, whatever you do will be to no avail.

Dave

We have now blocked the gap between lofts, this footage was from a while ago. Can't access the subfloor next to his side though, and I do hear them going along the front wall to his side. They must go in there, but can't get cameras in to prove it to him. 

Rats like to have multiple entry and exit points and are wary of getting themselves stuck, so if we manage to find all entrances on our side then that should limit the likelihood of them coming through if they are getting in his side. I have identified another possible point at the back but struggling to access it at the moment. There is a small step by our patio doors which has a vent brick in it. If there's a vent brick in the step then there must be some sort of vent into the house too. I can't get the top slab off it at the moment, so my husband is bringing an angle grinder home from work to try and get it out. We blocked up space under the main back door step last week!! It's just relentless!!

Modern houses especially timber-frame are wrapped internally in an industrial version of Goretex and are then tested for air-tightness as part of the building warrant approval. I wonder what happens to the air-tightness when ratties begin chomping through the membrane in search of warmth and food?

I presume they are no longer air tight!! Membranes are no match for ratty teeth, especially when rats have been hanging around for more than 10 years! It sounds like a herd of elephants sometimes along the front of the house, I can't imagine they would run so enthusiastically so often to a corner which they can't get through. As has been commented on upthread, they are way more intelligent than that.

Rigid Raider said used cat litter! I had forgotten that I also used to put pins sticking through tape that I put over the holes, that worked well. Then there's plaster of Paris mixed in with dry food. I'm not sure how or if that works. 

When I was a little boy my mother told me a story about an old lady who made some scones but mistook plaster for flour. The scones proved predictably unpopular with her family so she took them down to Inverleith pond in Edinburgh and fed them to the ducks. They all sank to the bottom and that is why there are no ducks in Inverleith pond.

Love it!

Wow

Do you think if you crossed them you could create a man-eating toilet??

But remember the minnows? We used to feed them the bread presumably meant for the absent ducks and then scoop them out in handfuls.....maybe they were so prolific cos they feasted on the dead ducks??

When I was a little boy I lived near Inverleitg pond. I would be taken down there with a little fishing net and a jam jar with some string round the top to hold it by so I could put my catch in the jar and take the minnows home for a day. One fine day while fishing I leant to far forward and fell head first into the pond. My mother took me home and changed me after which I begged to return to the fishing. My mother took me back complete with net and jam jar. Ten minutes later I fell I head first again. This time my mother did not allow a return journey.

I also remember my sister floating on her back in a red duffle coat in the same pond. Again, my mother fished her out.

When my mate was in charge of rural studies at school he had a few "trusties" who were allowed to stay in his classroom at lunch-time. He once discovered them trying to feed day-old gerbils to a large venus flytrap.

I would be VERY reluctant about blocking vent bricks - if you don't vent your subfloor void your floors will rot very quickly.

^^ This seems like very sound advice to me.  Could you cover the vent with steel mesh instead?

That's almost the scene from Don't Look Now. Is your mother Donald Sutherland?

That's making me think of my own mother, and my sis in law as mothers and their reactions to similar events all at once.

Oh no plans to block the vent, just trying to see how they are accessing the vent and block it! Sadly, having cut the slab, there is no obvious access point. So back to square one. 

One of the pitcher plants is call ‘jamban’ which quite literally translates to toilet from native Indonesian. It looks exactly like a toilet!

 https://images.app.goo.gl/dN6GawFrBnF3xJkd6

other nasty versions are the ones covered in razor claws for grabbing flapping things..

https://images.app.goo.gl/9SPqMSs7dd8jf67t8

https://images.app.goo.gl/razygtBodoATSyiP7

In our back yard we have had loads more birds this year than previously. At the same time, our aging cats are bringing in much less of anything and spending even more time on our bed. This may be coincidence.

Further to the nepenthes truncata suggestion, it appears there's a significant enmity between rats and pickles you might be able to exploit:

youtube.com/watch?v=Odekn9XiPI8&

Our first house was infested with mice: droppings under floor, in cupboards in stud walls, loft. We were mid terrace so the half brick size holes between sub-floor spaces in adjoining properties and lofts were enabled a free run. In addition of course rats and mice can climb up brick/rough walls so entry to roof space is often possible. 

We caught about 10 in traps in first days we were there but unfortunately only poison did a reasonable job and of course infestation could restart from neighboring properties. The best effect was after spraying rot treatment chemicals under floor including water based masonry dry rot fluid all over the ground beneath (earth, not concrete, in our case) which must have created a sort of mini toxic wasteland.

I can’t speak for using those on rats, but they are an absolute waste of time & money on squirrels.

However, a mk4 Fenn trap (in an appropriate enclosure) with a bit of melted snickers bar on the trigger plate works an absolute treat.

Failing that, finding somebody with an old chainsaw turned into a smoker & a few decent terriers should do the trick.