There's a rat in mi kitchen!

There are some horrible video reviews on Amazon.
I've just bought some snap traps.
I'm not sure they'll be big enough for "it" and I cant bear the thought of the job half done.

Years ago we discovered a mouse in our laundry room. Probably due to the fact there was a lot of bird food in there, sacks of nuts and seeds.

We got humane traps and DH ended up driving to a local wood and let them run off.

My son, who would have been about 6 at the time was distraught. Convinced himself that Mr Mouse had a wife and family ( which was probably true) and they'd be separated. He got quite upset despite reassurances .

After a few days the traps were empty and we assumed we were mouse free.

Unbeknown to us our little man was setting his alarm for 4am, heading downstairs and releasing any mouse found, into the garden.

Good luck MissAdventure!

I feel for you Miss A. Our whole Cul de sac had a problem a year ago. We tried calling the council, they charge £70.00 here for 2 visits but l was told it would be 2 weeks before anyone could come out.
We ended up paying £180.00 to a private pest control company. They came out numerous times until all rats had gone from our garden.
Unfortunately we have had to stop feeding the birds.
The other neighbours just put down poison but l was dubious as we have a dog and felt we needed professionals to come in.
Good luck Miss A, l hope you can get the council to sort out the problem for you.

Ahh, thank you all. I think it's a losing battle really, the whole building is rickety, holey, and falling apart, and so is my flat.
and me!
As long as I can keep my flat clear of the lighters, I'll be happy.

I know I've got mice in the garden shed. I know this because they ate through the cable on the garden fairy lights leaving me with dozens of 6" strands with just one light on each piece. Then they ate through the packets of seeds left over from last summer. Then one had the audacity to run over the back of my hand when I picked up my garden trug. My shrieks frightened the life out of my neighbours.

Ooh I live in fear of one jumping out at me or on me.
I'm not really petrified of them, it's just the thought of them in my home, scurrying around, building nests, even.

Can you borrow a Jack Russell he will despatch the rat for you MissA
I sympathise, I hate rodents as well.

I only know one person with a jack russel. and he be useless and more likely to poo on my floor and bite me.
You're right though, I need a terrier dog to do the trick.

Ooh my spelling.
Eyes and phone combined..

Yes, a jack russell would sort it. Given the increase in infestations, the cost and time involved in pest control, maybe some young farmer could have a good business giving his terriers some work they love.

Did you survive the danger if ratty over night miss a

My goodness, you are a brave woman.
I would have decamped to a premier Inn by now.
Hope you manage to sort it

Katie59

You really should not poison rats in your house, the stink lasts for weeks, bait and trap them. OK for sheds and outhouses not the house.

This is correct. You run the risk of attracting more rats into your house if you attempt to poison them indoors.

A trap is the only answer if you don’t get a swift response from the council and I wouldn’t be bothering with a humane one.

I have been using the plug in sonic deterants, not sure if tbey work but I fear finding rats in my house , good luck must be horrible x

My Jack Russell is disappointed she hasn’t spotted any rats since we’ve moved to a town. They probably know she’s arrived so are steering clear.

I had rats in my house about 5 years ago. They actually chewed a hole in the kitchen wall and another in the hall and got into the house that way. They can chew through stone and brick. I bought a large rat trap but they would not go in. Do you know it is illegal to trap a rat and release it somewhere? So then I bought rat poison and put it into the holes. A dying rat appeared in my kitchen and I had to call a man for help. He put it in a plastic shopping bag and went off with it. I put the rest of the poison pellets down the holes and got the same man to fill the holes. To date I have not had any more rats.
However I have had mice and they are so bold they actually run about in the daytime. I have caught several in humane traps. Luckily I don't have any at the moment.

When I had a rat , visiting under my kitchen sink, I kept putting poison down - after about 4 nights no more poison was taken Mr. Ratty was no more...........but interestingly enough the whole packet of poison was taken each time!! And then I saw a mouse in my sitting room a few nights ago - it was grey and fluffy but it had to go..........again I put down 2 lots of poison and the next morning both had disappeared completely..........have put more down anyway. Maybe its this time of year...............good luck everyone! I've had a dead rat in my basement (I live in London) a few times and the smell of decaying rat is positively evil but there is some very good gel stuff you can buy which sort of absorbs the smell - I can recomment that! If anyone wants to know the name of it, message me,and I'll look it up.

You need a professional to deal with this. Don't try to do it yourself as a friend of mine did. She put down poison, rats died under her floorboards - dreadful smell, maggots, bluebottles.She had to move out for weeks.

Many years ago while I was staying at a friend’s in the country, I opened the dishwasher and a mouse shot out.. It didn’t seem to bother it that two cats and two dogs lived in the house. Don’t ask me how it got in there but she said it was an old machine and it had come up through the water pipes.

I don`t want them in the house, but I quite like rats and mice, so won`t kill them. I used to take mice off Mia before she could hurt them, then set them free on the river bank at the front. The last rat I saw was a very large, furry one, came out from behind one of the wheelie bins, I presume it was a water rat, as we`re on a river bank.

First check your bye-laws. Here it is illegal NOT to report rats to the municipal authorities.

You need to catch the rat, find out how it was getting into the house, and whether there are more rats. There probably are

We have an ongoing rat problem where I live - due to people (not my neighbours) feeding the pigeons seagulls rooks, crows etc etc. Although we haven't caused the problem in the first place the council are quoting over £180 to do something about it. And they won't do anything about the people putting food. I caught one man putting meat, cheese bread dough and all other manner of things in a public place to feed the birds.
I despair sometimes

I would get pest control in. They will check where its got in and block any holes. To me, it's too big a problem to tackle yourself.

The Pest Control Service has now been stopped with no plans for this to be replaced.

This, on the council website today.

I’m sure there will be private pest control services in your area, try Google.