This has been the worst month or even summer in a long time. The last few weeks I've been hearing scratching noises in the walls and ceiling. It wasn't too bad at first but in the last week I've barely slept. I started hearing them right above my head in bed at night, so I moved to the den to sleep, first night was okay but next night I heard them there. 3 nights ago I came out to the living room to sleep and it's the same thing. They scare the crap out if me. Poor Pickles is petrified too. My fearless dog freaks out and looks like he's going to have a panic attack. Anyway, already had one company come out and give me an estimate and today another one came out and I'm going with this company. They are doing more and costing less. All my vents in the roof have to be replaced and other holes around the house. I have regular Pest Control but they weren't catching them. Would set traps every 3 days and nothing. Have to fix where they are coming in. When I moved here, my neighbor said to make sure trees are trimmed because they've seen Roof rats...I didn't believe them. I've lived all over and I've never even seen a mouse. It's 111 degrees here, my attic must be even hotter, why do they want to come in at night?? It starts at 8:00 PM and I go around hitting where I hear them with a broom, I've found scary cat meows on YouTube and play them....nothing helps and I fall asleep around midnight and up a few times during the night Then up at 4 am. And Pickles is petrified and he's usually ready to kill a cat if he sees one. They quoted me $500 which is a good price but unless someone cancels they can't come til Aug. 6. In the meantime, any helpful hints?
Wish I could suggest something Chrissy sounds bloomin awful for you On a lighter note - you could try playing Cliff Richard records .........................................
There are traps you can use; but I am guessing that you do not want to be setting traps and catching the rats yourself, @Chrissy Page . One thing that might help you right away is to get one of the ultrasonic rodent repellers. Maybe even a couple of them since you have a large house. If you have a way to get one up in the attic yourself, that would probably be the best place to put it; but otherwise just plugging it in as close to the ceiling as you can might work. Even if this doesn't totally scare them away, it might get rid of them until the pest control guys can get there and seal everything up for you. My experience with the sonic repellers is that the cheap ones are totally useless, so do not even waste your money on one of those. Amazon has some in the $30-$40 range that look like they would work. Another thing is to be sure that it says it is specifically for rats, and not just bugs. different frequencies seem to work better for different pests, and what might work on some bugs , might not disturb a rat.
My regular Pest control guy has been setting traps every 3 days, Yvonne and he hasn't caught one yet. He says that before coming to my house they've probably eaten some dog food left out at a neighbor's house. Most of my neighbors have dogs and cats so it's possible. I have no food outside whatsoever. I've tried some of the ultrasonic repellers that I found on YouTube without success, don't know if I want to spend any money and have it not work. Hopefully they can come sooner, there is a person that hasn't confirmed with them yet and I hope they don't, then I can get it done earlier. Another issue I have is that I'm only home here for the next few weeks at the most, so the holes have to be sealed and traps put down for any that were hiding. The thought of me leaving for 5 weeks and having a dead rat stuck in my attic in this heat isn't appealing.
We had that rat problem when we moved in to this house in 2001. This was a 20-year old house and somewhat neglected such that we saw rats playing in the stairway when we first checked on this house for sale. And before moving in, my husband spent for the rat poison that killed countless of rats, literally too many to count. And after moving in, we thought the rats were gone but we were wrong. There was the scratching in the ceiling. We had to hire a carpenter to remove one panel of the ceiling to be able to lay the poison trap (and close it afterwards). We did that laying of the trap several times until we noticed the pungent odor pervading the living room. Again, we called the carpenter to clean up the 2 dead rats. I think it took 6 months before our house was totally rid of rats. By the way, the hole in the side of the house was located and patched with wood so there is no more entrance to the ceiling. Until now we sometimes see a rat prowling in the backyard so we are still on the lookout.
I hope they solve my problem sooner than that. So far,there's no indication that any are in the house, just the attic. My house was built in 2001 but I have no idea why the area has rat problem. It's a new subdivision but maybe because there are a lot of nut trees and fruit trees here...in orchards. In fact the other side of my subdivision there's a huge orchard with either nut or fruit trees. Our Pest control companies aren't allowed to put poison down, but my guy said he would do it for me if I bought the poison. I thought about it but then if a rat doesn't die right away and goes out, an owl might eat it or even a cat. Plus until I get these screens on all the roof vents repaired they will keep on coming in. They can fit through a hole the size of a quarter.
@Chrissy Page "In the meantime, any helpful hints?" Actually, no, but will tell of our experience in Missouri. 100 year-old farmhouse, large room 2nd. story in "witches' hat" roof type. They were Pack Rats, large, light gray colored, the old garage was teeming with them. Mostly out there, I'd come upon a couple by chance when entering; they were fearless, perched up on top of the top-plate of the wall. I shot a number with a .22 caliber revolver, which of course pierced holes in the already leaky roof. They "stole" small bright or shiny tools, socket wrenches mostly, out of my tool cabinets, a fact I learned when I found immense nests of sticks, leaves, dirt, with tools mixed in! An old pickup I left sitting a few months had the entire under-hood area packed with nest material, the engine hardly visible. There, they had chewed the entire wiring harness to smithereens. Even chewed through a battery cable, severing it! But on to the house. Numerous, like dozens of holes where they could get in, they chewed and scurried in the walls and ceilings nightly, sometimes very noisily. I feared most the chewing-through of electrical wiring, starting a fire. I attempted to close all the holes I could find. Within a week or so, they had chewed through the urethane foam I had sealed with, re-entering and leaving the structure. Our cats, acutely aware of the scurrying, never tired of staring up at the ceiling, pinpointing the source location. They likely knew more about the number and quality of these vermin than we did! We never got rid of them. I feared poison also poisoning us. Frank
I feel so much better now. Mine aren't that bad yet so I'm glad about that. Now I'll also be paranoid about my car, I'd die if I'm driving and a rat is in the car.
The company I went with are coming Thursday morning, I can hardly wait. I got 3 quotes and the company that was the cheapest is actually doing more than the one company that would have been $200 more. In fact...a lot more. This company is owned by a woman and her daughter and it was the owner that came and did the looking for all holes. The fault is with the contractor who built these homes, shoddy work. Screens on vents in roof that are flimsy. Dryer hole too big. Etc She's going to put new ones and double them and is doing all of them wether they have a hole or not. So far I'm impressed, hope it does the job.