There's a rat in mi kitchen!

Do a trail of chocolate from the washing machine out of the back door and watch. Like mice they can't resist it.

Oh my..I was just listening to that song!
Phone the rat catcher at once!

I like a 'fancy' rat & have had them as pets but not sure I'd want a wild rat in the house!

Call the council. They will have a pest control person.

Call the council pest control department, they respond quickly. Ours was free but recently I paid I think £30. Worth every penny. This was a rat in the garden . A friend saw a rat in her kitchen. Unhappy story, terraced houses, next door refused to pay for pest control so the problem escalated. But the council rat chap blocked every poss entrance between the houses
I’ve recently reluctantly taken my bird feeders down. The dogs told me there was a rat by following sniffs from bird feeder to behind the shed. Then I saw it. Yuk.
Best of luck miss A. Can you block your kitchen door to keep it in the kitchen and great idea about chocolate Shandy57

I had a long standing to do with the council last time we were infested.
They insisted it was the responsibility of the tenants, but I found a clause which said "unless it is caused by the landlords failure to maintain the property".
So, guess which route I'll be taking tomorrow?
Behind my washing machine is a total no go area.
There is a huge space behind it, with rough pipework.

It can only be accessed by disconnecting the cooker, pulling the machine out sideways, then crawling behind it.

Needless to say, I don't feel inclined to do that!

I'm just shocked at how big the thing was - I thought it was a cat at first.

I havent got a door on my kitchen.
I'm all jumpy now.. horrible!

Eurgh! I feel your horror MissAdventure; we had an infestation of rats in our house a few years ago. A neighbour kept chickens and the rats were attracted to the chicken feed that he stored along the fence between us. As soon as the weather got colder, they got into our house and made a nest in the space between the cellar ceiling and the living room floor; we could hear the scurrying around over our heads and under our feet. The council's pest control came and put square blue cakes of poison in the space and the rats eventually all died. The stench of decomposing rats was unbearable (not envy)

I’d be demented Miss A
Good that you found the clause
Hope you find a way to block your bedroom door.

Years ago, we had floods, rats came out of the drains and discovered back gardens. The rat chap put poison where my 3 dog’s couldn’t get it, mr i away, I’m in bed with flu. Stagger down to make lemsip. Let dogs into garden. My huge dog and even bigger foster dog find the dying rat, play throwing it to each other, catch in mouth, head back throw rat. The responded to ‘drop it - come in’ then the daft foster ran back, bringing rat into back porch/tiny utility. Course, straight behind the pipes.
I secured the dogs. Closed the doors, put on wellies anda coat over my nightie and asked my neighbour to help. He’s a retired police office I felt confident he’d have dealt with worse things than s dying rat. I think if I’d not been so clearly ill, he’d have told me to crack on, he said he hates rats, fears them. Anyway, he used my very thick gardening gloves, wrapped it in several black bin bags and the rat man called to take it away. It was thankfully dead by this time
Good luck miss a

Thank you.
This is war, now.

They're definitely on the increase at this time of year because they'll breeding I expect. My friend was painting her garden shed last week and 2 ran out from under it. <<shudder>>

Oh no, we had a big hole in the wall behind the sink we couldn't see because of the back of the cupboard... The back didn't go all the way to the top so easy access. It was a hole that wast on the outside but down to the drain in the gap between the walls

We put poison under the kick boards and the problem did go away.

We then had those holes filled when the kitchen was done so it can't happen again

we have had awful problems this year, they have been in my loft, have dug up and made a nest in one of the outbuildings and all sorts

put all your food in tins
if you dont have a cat or dog, put poison/bait boxes down and try and seal any hole along water pipes, even if it is just with wire wool for the time being

Last time they were found nesting in the loft.
That was nice, but this thing... I could hear it's feet scrabbling on the floor.
I've put down my electronic mouse trap, but I think the "thing" was too big to fit in it.

Still, last time I had my daughter calling me wicked and cruel. I imagine the grandson will be more amenable to dispatching them (humanely)

Not nice. Mice!

Mr Dog has bird feeders in the back garden, and took to putting chopped up bacon rind on the soil around them when he'd just filled the feeders. I've told him to stop it in case it attracts rats, but he seems to think I'm talking nonsense. If we see one, I will chop him up and put him on the feeders!

We’ve just come to the end of 2 months with a mouse problem.
The little critters defied every food stuff known to man. I think they laughed at the professional traps.
My OH caught them all by hand, 6 of them. The last one came out while he was cooking and he just happened to have a metal spatula in his hand: splat !

One thing I do know about rats through someone who studied them, is, they follow the same run from coming into a building to where they want to go.
You need someone with a Jack Russel.

Southend council said they no longer have an environmental health dept. Told to phone citizens advice ?

That'll learn him Doodledog!

Chewbacca

That'll learn him Doodledog!

He needs learning?

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.

Poor Mt doodledog will be chopped up soon enough

We had a mice problem not long ago due to our dear cat bringing them in through his catflap.?

Doodledog

Mr Dog has bird feeders in the back garden, and took to putting chopped up bacon rind on the soil around them when he'd just filled the feeders. I've told him to stop it in case it attracts rats, but he seems to think I'm talking nonsense. If we see one, I will chop him up and put him on the feeders!

Oh dear, poor Mr Dog. Mind you, I’d do the same to Mr M if that happened to us.

MissA I hope you get the problem sorted, and soon ? ugh!

You're not wrong Katie59, the smell of a dead rat is almost as bad as having the damned things alive in the house. It's all pervading.