Rats...

[Elderdude]

We have had roof rats recently, (Norwegian, I was told,) our numerous trees provided access to the roof for them. We threw rat poison in packets, (available from Home Depot,) into the attic. Unfortunately, they worked and we had quite a stench for several weeks. Our attic has no flooring or pathway across the almost inaccessable rafters which are filled with insulatation. I located 3 of the rather large carcasses. We could smell others but I couldn't find them. I was hanging from the rafters and digging around the pink stuff. A pest guy gave us some kind of a nuetralizing oder packet that we hung up there where we thought the source was. It helped some, along with some smell good sticks down in the affected rooms that we bought at the grocery store.

But no pitter patter or smell for quite a while now and we have trimmed back alot of the tree branches since then. Good Luck.

 

[TromboneAl]

it had been nesting in my attic for some time because it had gone to the bathroom up there

Wow, you have a bathroom in your attic.

 

[freebird5825]

Mechanical rat traps with peanut butter as bait...

I only have field mice here in the country. RATS? No way.

Don't forget disease control when playing exterminator.
Please make SURE you wear disposable rubber gloves when handling traps and being anywhere near the non-breathing versions of THEM.
I use a plastic grocery bag to hide the bulging eyed little corpses from direct view when I empty the trap. Seeing THEM absolutely gives me the shivers.
Undo the trap, tie the plastic bag closed and drop in garbage.

I put PB into a separate small sealable plastic container labeled FOR MICE ONLY and use throwaway plastic knives to bait the traps.

Now I've got the willies.

 

[brewer12345]

Wow, you have a bathroom in your attic.

S/he does now.

 

[calmloki]

I've considered that. I live in a suburb of Chicago, so it would have to be an undercover job...... Carry the live trap into the garage and sit it on a stack of wood (in case the bullet passes through the animal), close the door and shoot it. Then dump the animal out of the trap and into a garbage bag.

It's not easy to find places to transfer animals to around here since moving animals is technically not allowed and you have to do it sneaky fashion. I used to take them to work with me. The plant bordered a large soccer field complex with grassy, wooded strips between the fields. I'd park at the edge of our lot, take the live trap out of the truck and dump the animal, then just go on into work....... Now I have to drive miles to a forest preserve at a time when there isn't much activity.

Transfered animals seldom do well. They're the "new guy" wherever you take them and probably will struggle to become established in the new territory. So dispatching them at home would probably be easier on both of us.....

When we were dealing with nutria here I live trapped them, dumped them in a 32 gallon plastic garbage can out in the dirt alley, stuck a 22 rifle barrel in the can and popped them. They were quite obliging about sticking their little faces into line - did a number of nutria and one possum that way. Cut Xes into the bullets hoping to maximize damage and keep the lead in the critters. Very fast. Now I'd be a bunch more nervous.

 

[MichaelB]

This seems like a situation I’ll need to face again, so I guess I should learn to deal with it myself – although having a pro come out once might be worth the money.

Brewer, I have my father’s .22 but no hunting license.

I’ll go up tomorrow and scout around – see if I can profile the enemy.

Live trapping sounds like fun, especially with Velveeta, but we live in an association with houses close together and don’t want to pass this problem along – and I’m not going out for a drive with a rodent – so I’m thinking glue traps and poison. Would this be the recommended option Control rodents with d-CON® baits and traps products. The odor might be a problem – better to deal with this before it really heats up around here.


Thanks all for the response

 

[FIREd]

I use a plastic grocery bag to hide the bulging eyed little corpses from direct view when I empty the trap.

Empty the trap? Those things are cheap enough, I pitch them with the dead mouse... Use a broom and dust pan, push the loaded trap onto the dust pan and in the garbage it goes. I ain't touching it - even with gloves!

 

[Gumby]

For a couple months, I heard noises that sounded like mice or squirrels up in the attic. I finally went up and dumped a bunch of mothballs all over the attic. I haven't heard any sounds since.

 

[NW-Bound]

Regarding 22LR, there is a 22 shotshell. Yes, tiny little shots loaded into a 22 round. I do not know if the shot is enough to kill a rat, but should not have a problem dispatching mice. If it works, would be safer than a regular round.

 

[REWahoo]

. I do not know if the shot is enough to kill a rat...

It is - that's why it is commonly called rat shot...and used in barns, etc.

 

[NW-Bound]

YES, that's right. I remember the term "rat shot" now.

Now, how about larger "game"? Like nutria and skunk?

 

[REWahoo]

Now, how about larger "game"? Like nutria and skunk?

No experience with nutria and I have a "live and let live" policy towards polecats.

 

[Martha]

This seems like a situation I’ll need to face again, so I guess I should learn to deal with it myself – although having a pro come out once might be worth the money.

Brewer, I have my father’s .22 but no hunting license.

I’ll go up tomorrow and scout around – see if I can profile the enemy.

Live trapping sounds like fun, especially with Velveeta, but we live in an association with houses close together and don’t want to pass this problem along – and I’m not going out for a drive with a rodent – so I’m thinking glue traps and poison. Would this be the recommended option Control rodents with d-CON® baits and traps products. The odor might be a problem – better to deal with this before it really heats up around here.


Thanks all for the response

Snap traps are the easiest and most humane. They now have snap traps that are simple to set and easy to empty, no reason to touch the mouse or rat. Glue traps can lead be horrible and you have to fasten them down as Al said and have to be willing to promptly kill the rat or mouse. Poison has its problems. Slow death. Sometimes rats or mice will move the bait around which can be found by other animals. Snap traps are far less torturous.

This one is good, they make the same for rats:

 

[youbet]

YES, that's right. I remember the term "rat shot" now.

Now, how about larger "game"? Like nutria and skunk?

I have half a box of 22LR "rat shot" in my ammo box right now. Must be 30 - 40 yrs old. I always referred to them as "bird shot" but just a name I picked up someplace. They wouldn't phase a nutria or skunk unless you held the mussle up to their nose. You'd have to step up to a low brass 410 for those bigger critters.

The traps that Martha posted look good......

 

[Katsmeow]

We live in a semi-rural area - (i.e. suburbanish houses on a few acres) and I was totally flummoxed when not long after we moved here my kids told me that the cat was, umm, batting around a baby mouse in the living room. She has since dispatched a few...well not in awhile, I think it has gotten around that she is waiting downstairs.

However, we heard sounds in the attic and found signs of rodents. We have a breezeway that attaches our house to the detached garage which is where our dogs (and their food) stay. Getting a metal can and secure top for the food helped but we do have to actually feed our dogs. So the rodents are attracted and then run up into the top of the garage and then through the breezeway and somewhere there is a hole that allows them to get into the house. We have been battling them on and off for about a year.

We've had the exterminator out a few times. The general recommendation is to set the poison that makes them thirsty so they eat it and then leave the house to expire. That seems to work and all seems well and then a few months later, we hear feet again.

 

[Nords]

Ugh I recall once having to dispose of a mouse in a sticky trap that was alive, with just it's leg stuck. We had winter gloves on trying to free it but the sticky was stronger than bone as we accidentally snapped the leg, what a horrible sound that was.

We stopped using sticky traps when one of the critters chewed off its (stuck) limb. What a mess.

I had a smiliar problem 2-3 years ago...I kept hearing sounds coming from the attic. I didn't know if it was mice, rats or something else. I finally went up in the attic and waited/watched for awhile and finally saw a squirrel near the chimney area in the ceiling. Apparently it had been nesting in my attic for some time because it had gone to the bathroom up there and had literally caused the outside house overhang/venting area to rot through...pretty gross. Anyway, I called an exterminator and he determined that they were coming in through the chimney. He rigged up some wires near the opening where they were getting in and hooked the wires up to electricity. The only way for the squirrels to get in or out of the attic was to go over the wire. I think I ended up with 2 fried squirrels....not a very humane to get rid of them but at least it worked. After they were gone, he closed up the hole and repaired the roof overhang that had rotted through.

We had a zebra dove find an odd cranny around a fascia board (it overhung an adjacent roof) and start "nesting". The space was 10 feet long and about a foot square, but it packed the whole thing with nesting materials. Quite a mess when it came time to paint up there.

We find cute little fried geckos in our outside breaker panels all the time.

But my favorite critter problem was a huge 440VAC breaker panel behind one of our military training buildings. The building had two separate power feeds so that the Public Works people could shut down one or the other for maintenance or repairs. One morning they announced a shutdown and switched us to the "other" feed. When they shut down the first feed, the building went dark.

When the PWC electrician arrived, he checked the panel's exterior labels to make sure the "correct" feed had been shut off. Looked fine. The next sentence he uttered was "Eh, rats, brah." Then he started unscrewing the bolts to open the panel.

As a crowd of [-]kibitzers[/-] submariners gathered I noticed that all the enlisted electricians had subtly, without apparent motion, managed to fade into the back of the crowd. They didn't know what was going to come out of that panel when it was opened, but they were going to let all the mechanics & torpedomen absorb the first firebal. I caught the eye of the senior chief electrician and started to open my mouth to comment-- but he just frowned and shook his head, somehow managing to teleport a few more feet to the rear.

The panel was opened, the electricians tensed & relaxed, and nothing happened. No critters this time. Upon closer examination of the breaker labels inside the panel, it was determined that the exterior labels had been [-]incompetently[/-] accidentally switched.

 

[MichaelB]

Rats. Roof rats to be specific. I'm off to the local HW store for some traps for the attic, and a couple of bait stations for outside. I also need to find a way to clean the attic. Yuck...

 

[TromboneAl]

Another thing I do with the mouse snap traps is superglue a peanut to the trigger. It lasts a long time.

 

[freebird5825]

Every time I read this thread, a "Little Johnny" in school joke keeps popping into my head. I can't tell it here.

 

[TromboneAl]

Is it the one that starts like this?

One day, Little Johnny's class was reviewing the alphabet. His teacher knew that he had an ''advanced'' vocabulary for his age, so she was trying to avoid calling on him. When the teacher asked for a word beginning with "A", Little Johnny raised his hand. The teacher knew he would say "ass" so she called on Mary Lou, who said ''apple". This continued through most of the alphabet, because his teacher knew that there was a cuss word that Johnny would say for every letter of the alphabet. Then she got to ''R''. She thought for a moment, but couldn't think of any cuss words that began with R, so she called on Johnny....

 

[freebird5825]

Is it the one that starts like this?

One day, Little Johnny's class was reviewing the alphabet. His teacher knew that he had an ''advanced'' vocabulary for his age, so she was trying to avoid calling on him. When the teacher asked for a word beginning with "A", Little Johnny raised his hand. The teacher knew he would say "ass" so she called on Mary Lou, who said ''apple". This continued through most of the alphabet, because his teacher knew that there was a cuss word that Johnny would say for every letter of the alphabet. Then she got to ''R''. She thought for a moment, but couldn't think of any cuss words that began with R, so she called on Johnny....

That's THE ONE !

 

[Martha]

OK, I had to google little johnny cuss word joke. Rats.

 

[easysurfer]

Rats...Yikes! I just had to say that.

 

[tryan]

Had the best luck with d-CON mice poison. It de-hydrates them so they exit the house looking for water. Then, well, ... bye-bye.

Worked side-by-side with many exterminators (in the early days). This one you can do yourself. Hard if have pets or little kids around the poison. Need to place it where they are not.

 

[JPatrick]

My usual spring problem of possums, racoons and ground hogs digging under the porch and patio to make dens has started already. Later it will be squirrels chewing on lawn building and wrecking the bird feeders. I do use live traps for all these as I haven't been able to locate anything to do a more "permanent" job with animals this large. But it's a pita driving miles away to relocate them when I could just be dropping them into a garbage bag and then into the trash.......

Many folks around here swear by mothballs tossed under decks and such.
I've got acres of woods for them to live in, (and most do) but I've got one skunk that did not get the memo---hoping mothballs help.