RATS - any suggestions other than poison

[Moopmoop]

Invite friends around and ask them to bring their dogs. I have 2 dogs and this seems to work for me as I never see any vermin in my garden. Hope you get it sorted either way.

[veggiechicken]

just to let you all know, the EH and pest express have served everyone in the firstr half of our row with a notice to enter the properties to find the nest/s and sort it out, fingers crossed we can go back in our room soon

Good news, Lisa. Hope you're back in your bedroom soon

[Sheneval]

Once the ratcatchers have completely finished and reported the all clear get yourself a good cat - when I was young in the Gotbals we always had a cat which was a good ratter and our neighbours used to borrow them whenever they had a rat problem - I only ever remember two rats in the house and one was dead killed by the cat. Good Luck!

[Two_Sheds]

I'd be inclined to shame the neighbours into cleaning up their hovel. Film their filthy garden and post it on youtube (anon, natch)

[Aberdeenplotter]

bit like poking them in the eye though and if becomes apparent that the filming has been done from Lisa's garden that could escalate matters and create other problems.

Just a thought Lisa, I've heard it said that rats are terrified of fire and will move out at the first signs of smoke. I've even heard of rats being scorched and set free to spread the message . That would be extreme and anyway you'd have to catch one first and then probably face criminal charges. However, you could have a bonfire in your garden and after it burned down, save some pieces of charred timber and place close to the house. make sure all signs of fire are extinguished and bear in mind I have no idea if this actually works.

[veggiechicken]

Borrow a Jack Russell terrier - my neighbour's dog is very fond of rats

[veggiechicken]

Interesting article about how many rats there are and is there really a rat only 6' away?
BBC News - Are you never more than 6ft away from a rat?

[Aberdeenplotter]

extracted from that article

"It's pretty rare that rats are inside our dwellings. Less than half a per cent of dwellings have rats," he says.

In those cases, "it would be just a couple of rats."

1. No consolation there for Lisa with rats under her floor

2. two of them is all it takes for them to breed. Do the youngsters leave home?

[Lisamcflisa]

well they been out, and they said yes there was possibly a rat, but if there was its dead, they actually think its mice in huge numbers tho. well tell you what, if it is mice they must be Chernobyl mice cos i've never heard a mouse make the gnawing/wood tearing noise they were!!!

the skanks got told they should clear the garden up to prevent any more problems, what a joke... i've lived here 9 yrs soon and i've NEVER heard a hoover until the last couple of days and its been on constantly cos there place is disgusting!

anyway, we've moved back in our room and gonna keep baiting inside and out and hopefully it will stop.. *sigh*

[Bigmallly]

Glad to here things are happening both on the rats front & the rats front...........

[Two_Sheds]

We had scratching behind our skirting boards in a rented house: you could hear them running all round the room, through the skirting.

It was mice, in the end. I saw them myself, under the cooker hood one morning. The landlord lived next door and refused to believe there was a problem. So we moved out.

[lottie dolly]

glad you getting sorted,and hope things are still improved for you all,mice can make a hell of a noise,sounds echo,a few years ago,a property near where we lived then,was knocked down for a rebuild,it was apparently riddled with mice,the elderly person had took no notice of them,have heard that a traped rat will chew it's own foot of to escape,scary stuff

[Lisamcflisa]

we're still hearing it occasionally, nowhere near like it was for that 7-10 days... we're baited up to the eyeballs both inside and out so hopefully it will all sort soon, i've lost all faith in EH for what they said about our neighbours etc, but thats a different story!!

[Two_Sheds]

... for what they said about our neighbours

come on then, tell !

[Lisamcflisa]

they said their house showed no sign of a problem, then proceeded to tell me she had a cold and couldnt smell anything at all!!! yeah course there's nothing wrong in there thats why i heard a hoover none stop for 4 days and i've never heard one in 9 yrs before, and they dont move anything so how the hell do they know its ok in there?? there's so much stuff they cant see if its ok, they are an absolute waste of time