Rats in Roof tips

Dr Techno on 13/02/2023 - 14:25

I think about 2 years ago I put a big single box of Ratsak up in my parents house Attic since they reported regular gnawing sounds in the early hours of the morning which were decently loud and we have seen a lone Rat venture outside during Covid lock down before. So assume Rats are present. They did quiet down for awhile after the poison but now they are back. I'll need to recheck poison to see if they finished it or not.

Does anyone have any tips to get rid of them once and for all ?

Thinking of trying nooski rat trap outside and not in the attic, maybe a different brand of poison in the attic. etc.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 13/02/2023 - 14:28
    +3

    Might be worth getting up there assuming no asbestos to see if any big holes?

    I still reckon ratsak is best, been using it for years in my shed.

    • freefall101 on 13/02/2023 - 14:43
      +4

      I concur, last time I went eating random things in Jimothy's shed I spent a week in hospital. Definitely did the trick.

  • AngoraFish on 13/02/2023 - 14:34
    +3

    Rats will get in just about anywhere. Unless you're willing to try to make the roof just about airtight the best you can do is bait and make sure there isn't food left lying around.

    Gnawing can also be possums, so worth getting up there and having a look around.

    Also, be careful with baiting. Bait is a food source, so you can in the end attract more rats and mice. Best to keep the bait outside the house rather than insiude it if you can.

  • Caped Baldy on 13/02/2023 - 14:51

    I'd get a rat trap bucket and leave it up there for a bit.

    You should look into plastic containers for food as they'll chew through boxes and thin plastic.

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 13/02/2023 - 15:47
      +5

      IE a Plastic 20l pail from Bunnings. Put a Roller at the top, and 1/2 fill with water.

      Rats also love Peanut Butter so if possible put it around, especially near some containers or jars, so they think it's safe.

      The big Black traps I found worked best. We lived next to bushland and I once caught 3 small rats in the 1 trap. Just remember with Ratsak, if you can't find the body, invest in Nilodor.

  • original15 on 13/02/2023 - 15:14

    Rats leave a trail/scent, so once rats have been there others/they can follow the trail back.
    Try and eliminate access points: obv looks for holes in the roof but try and cut back overhanging trees and remove any easy ways they can gain access to the roof.
    Keep the surrounding yard clear, rats would prefer tree and long grass coverage to run around, vs in the open (which they can still do but less ideal for them).
    If there are areas in the yard you suspect they might be moving thru then put some outdoor bait stations there: typically along fence lines or behind shrubs against a barrier. If it goes untouched for a couple of months, move it.
    If you can hear them gnawing They can do serious damage to your wiring so definitely investigate.

    If you put a kill trap in the roof check it regularly (or a camera type set up? Lol) but get some bait and put it around. Rats are meant to be cautious of new things and have good sense of smell so make sure you don’t touch the bait or box with your hands as they’ll smell you on it, wear gloves. One time we had some up and I dropped some of the bait with an attractant in it (tbh it smelled like a lolly) and they night they/it was active as running round to (I assume) get the new good bait so recommend a bit of a mixed approach with bait in the roof, bait outside (in an outdoor box) maybe kill station outside.

    • jv on 13/02/2023 - 15:40

      Rats leave a trail/scent, so once rats have been there others/they can follow the trail back.

      Same as lemmings.

      • original15 on 13/02/2023 - 16:15

        I mean, surely right

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 13/02/2023 - 15:49
      +1

      Rats teeth arve very sharp, and can gnaw away at Brinks, concrete, corroded metal.

      • original15 on 13/02/2023 - 16:23
        +2

        +skin

      • ESEMCE on 13/02/2023 - 17:00

        True, story from my working past. (mice, not rats, but same same but different)

        We had a mouse infestation. Holes in the floor of our bitumised floor warehouse.
        Warehouse was resurfaced with fresh bitumen and 2 days later, we had holes again!

        We eventually found the nest in an insulated wall panel Steel/Polystyrene Foam/Steel thanks to an inattentive forklift driver taking out a corner.
        It was like an apartment block, tunnels through the Polystyrene every 10cm the entire way up the paneling.

        After that was dealt with, (along with a fresh baiting program) we shortly thereafter had no further problems.

  • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2023 - 15:29

    Rats don't like the smell of mint so your parents can try growing it outside to deter rats from accessing the property.

    Another natural deterrent is soaking chalk in peppermint oil and placing it in various spots around the house. We've placed the chalk in a plastic tray just inside the attic entry point for easy retrieval as you need to reapply the oil every month or so. YMMV as you have already detected the rats taking up residence within the attic.

  • Bafranz on 13/02/2023 - 15:40

    I'm a rat I'm a rat I'm a clever clever rat

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 13/02/2023 - 15:48

      @Bafranz
      Are you thinking what I am B1?

      • Bafranz on 13/02/2023 - 15:53

        I think I am B2!

  • cashless on 13/02/2023 - 16:07
    +3

    Get a cat and throw it up there. Don't let it out until it's finished the extermination

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 13/02/2023 - 17:36
      +2

      I put our cat up in the manhole once, expecting it to go hunting etc. Poor fella sat there for 20 minutes by the edge, meowing to come down.

  • dirtybigbjelke on 13/02/2023 - 16:09

    I had this issue a long time ago, Poked my head in the manhole and saw the rat walking along a particular roof beam. I went back later and nailed one of those wax blood thinner blocks to that same beam where it was walking. The Rat was not heard from again after that so it seemed to work.

  • EightImmortals on 13/02/2023 - 16:25

    Instead of Ratsak use Talon, those blue waxy things. Also, if the manhole is accessible just put a couple of traps inside where you can reach them and check them every morning. Usually if someone is home they'll the trap go off. Rats will always come back eventually, though I suspect we have a snake in our roof as we haven't had any rat problems for a while now.

    • HardQuiz on 13/02/2023 - 18:50

      So your advice to the OP is get a snake ?

      • EightImmortals on 14/02/2023 - 07:14

        That would my first choice, if that's not possible then traps followed by poison. The main problem with poison is that the rats often find a nice inaccessible wall cavity to die in and they get smelly for a few days. :)

  • shaybisc on 13/02/2023 - 16:42

    "Does anyone have any tips to get rid of them once and for all ?"

    Only one way - seal the entrances. You can wipe out one mob of them with poisons but if there are ways for them to get in, sooner or later another mob will. At 3am one morning.

  • ESEMCE on 13/02/2023 - 16:53

    I get those waxy pellets and just chuck them (individually) around the roofspace from the manhole.
    They recommend one block every 3m (or similar), so I try to throw them for roughly that spacing.

  • subywagon on 13/02/2023 - 17:09
    +1

    Best solution I've found is buying a few boxes of the 4X50mg Ratsak bait stations from Bunnings, then chucking them towards all corners inside the roof cavity. I do this a couple of times a year and at best I've heard the occasional scratching but then nothing in the following days as the bait does it's job. I became vigilant after after rats chewed through my NBN cable 5 or so years ago and haven't had rodent problems since.

    Now it's important to chose your active ingredient wisely. I ensure that the bait has brodifacoum as the active ingredient as I've read rodents have built up a tolerance to warfarin. Unfortunately I've also read that brodifacoum poisoned rats can cause issues with other wildlife eating their bodies and being poisoned also, including insects etc as apparently it it has a long half life.

    Good luck.

  • Daniel Plainview on 13/02/2023 - 17:23

    C'mon OP, hardly a unique situation that needs specific info i.e rats are rats, you're dealing with a 2023 v2.1 Rodent, the same stuff from last year to last decade will do them in.

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 13/02/2023 - 17:34

    Here's a Podcast

  • thatonethere on 13/02/2023 - 21:29

    My recommendation is to not fling baits all thru the cavity. Target areas they walk thru but make sure you can remove or refresh the bait after a year. Otherwise it turns to food

    Remove all branches and vines they can use to climb up to the gutter line. If they can get there it is very hard to seal all the holes.

    Bait all along the sides of the house.

    Seal all holes you can find around the house so they cant get under or into the walls.

  • Sinnerator on 14/02/2023 - 08:16
    1. Get Cat.
    2. Don't feed cat.
    3. Put hungry cat in attic.
    4. Profit.
  • Dr Techno on 14/02/2023 - 09:00

    I got some Blue Wax blocks that has brodifacoum. I'll give that a go. Roof has been repainted & sealed not long ago so don't expect holes at the top. There is a manhole that doesn't close properly.. maybe they are getting underneath there and then up the walls perhaps.

  • AlienC on 14/02/2023 - 21:22

    Ratsak worked for us.

    Spent a lot on it but they all died in the end when they had no more kitchen scraps to live off.

    That took a lot of cleaning to fix up.

  • wsqwin on 21/02/2023 - 16:37

    I hired a pest control guy years ago, he put poison in the ceiling and 2 days after, rats fking bite the water pipe and my ceiling got water damaged. He told me the poison doesn't kill them instantly, rather it makes them thirsty so they would go out to look for water and die outside. My rats were smarter, they found water pipe instead.

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