Keen to hear people's experiences of what's most effective for killing and deterring pests (particularly rodents/rats) in your home - for example, sonic repellers (plug in power type), baits, traps or glue paper. Anything work particularly well in hard to reach places like low roof cavities?
Thanks in advance!
We had rats and possums in our roof. It cost about $2600 all up to get rid of them. First, the possums had to be trapped and removed, then the entry point had to be blocked up (blocked up once, then we found rats and so opened it again, then again after the rats were removed). The rats were killed with Ratsak and they crawled outside for water where they died, away from our property. The rats were the cheapest to get rid of. Do make sure they have a way to get outside and die, otherwise they'll die in your roof and stink up your house!
We've never failed with the common poison pellets. The ones that the rats eat and then go out into the sun to die. It brings them out into the open, so they don't die inside the roof. Those pellets you can find in any supermarket or hardware store and scatter them all over your roof cavity.
Slingshot
Peanut butter on trap
Rats ask easiest is the sachets just throw them in the roof
a cat
plain ratsak green pellets
I've found carcasses, never noticed the smell.
glue traps, surgical gloves and bin liners. easy and effective.
I have found these traps to be the best.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/the-big-cheese-rat-cage-trap_p30…
The rat stands on the pressure plate to eat the bait (peanut butter).
Being OCD I put the rat to sleep inside the cage and through the whole cage and rat
out and buy a new cage.
I bought 1kg double strength ratsak box from bunnings, tipped into brown paper bags id wiped bacon fat from my cooking pan onto them Nd threw in roof, 3 days later not a rat in my roof.
Bikies
I've never use Ratsak, but had a rat problem in the roof in a house back in England. The council guy came and kindly threw warfarin bait into the roofspace for us.
Noticed a funny smell like wet towels in the bathroom a few days later. It gradually got stronger and stronger, and eventually I had to pull a panel off a closed in space above the bath. The rat had been nesting in there and had died there. I nearly died too when I breathed in after pulling that panel off. I still get shudders now, a whiff of something will trigger it off.
Ratsak bait comes in two formulations http://www.ratsak.com.au/faqs
• Double Strength pellets, area multiple feed Warfarin-based bait. Rodents must consume the bait over a few days to consume a lethal dose. This bait reduces the possibility of secondary poisoning too.
• Fast Action pellets and wax blocks are a Brodifacoum bait and need to be consumed only once to consume a lethal dose, however, most deaths occur between four to seven days.
If I was you, I would set traps. Just stick them next to the manhole in the roof - the rats will come to them, and be easy to remove. As you have low roof spaces, you don't want rats eating bait, running off and dying in inaccessible places.
Note that ratsack and these other poisons cause their body organs to bleed internally. They will end up in your yard, sitting there looking all cute, burning away on the inside and you will have to manually kill them.
I used poison once and will never use it again. It is so inhumane, it's disgusting.
Just buy traps and kill them outright.
+1 for that. Sometimes ours don't make it out out of the roof and spend 30 minutes throwing themselves around writhing in agony
The sticky paper style traps are quite effective but you need a pretty strong stomach to cope with them - they can be quite cruel.
I usually just chuck a few baggies of Ratsak around.