Rats - co council or rentokil?

Neverends

Suspect we have rats in garden. Wondering is it best to get the county council or a company like Rentokil to come sort them out - the latter obviously costs more than the coco (free?) but would we get better service from them and is the coco likely to try and rip up our deck or something!!Thanks!

nb1967

I had rats in the garden a couple of years ago - they were attracted by a compost bin that I carelessly threw some old bread into I came home one afternoon to see a rat tunnelling in under the bin.

I have a ditch on one side of the garden and I was fortunate enough to spot where they were coming in through the fence so I went to Woodies, bought some rentokil poison (treated grain - approx 10 euros) and watched them feed on it for about 2-3 days (I saw 3 at once - see the attached pic - yecch!). After that the bait was left untouched and I haven't seen any more rats since.

Maybe I used two boxes of bait I don't recall but still cheaper than a professional.

edit - nice thing about the poison is they went somewhere else to die - no rat carcasses for me to dispose of

RebelRebel

I had a probem with rats last year and again a few weeks ago. My house is at the end of a row and there are two drains with covers in the back garden. I noticed that there was a hole in the lawn going down into the drains.

There was no food or compost at all in the garden but I saw them going into next doors garden.

Last year I bought rat poison in woodies and put it down and there was no sign of them after a couple of weeks. I dug up the hole in the garden and filled it in.

Unfortunately I had the same problem this year. I put more of the poison out and did find a dead rat down the drain a couple of days later (which was pretty disgusting!). I've put more poison down and dug up and filled in the hole in the lawn again and there has been no sign since. The rat poison remains there untouched.

I intend to check the drains and continue to put poison down there on a random basis cos I don't want to have the same problem next year.

So maybe try the poison first unless you feel you have a lot of them and it's a major problem.

the GALL

go the hardware and buy 'storm' place it along the rat run (put it in a tube wavin maybe to stop other animals eating it ) leave for a couple of days if its gone put down some more until they stop eating it. The rats love the taste of it and bring it back to there lair to feed on and kill off any ofspring in the process.

RebelRebel

Yes... Storm... that's the stuff I used - couldn't remember the name of it. Works well.

The Hill Billy

I got the council in earlier this year & they did a grand job. They won't go ripping your garden to shreds. They'll come & lay poison & keep on topping it up until it doesn't get eaten anymore. (Coz all the rats are dead.)

Neverends

thanks, I have young kids though so am nervous about doing DIY poisoning, or will the council only do the same thing I'll do?

The Hill Billy

They put the poison in hard to access containers. Obviously you would need to keep an eye on the kids if there are rats around anyway.

Neverends

Well theres no uncertainty any more, sitting eating our dinner last night and saw two rats looking in at us in our back patio door :eek:

Apparently they were young ones cos older ones wouldn't be so brave/silly. As you can imagine we are mightily unimpressed although our kids thought they were cute.

Obviously theres a lot of them now though cos they're breeding and its been ages since the holes started appearing.

So, the Storm poison went down under the deck last night and we're getting covered boxes to put it down on flower beds today.

I just hope theres no way they can get into the house?

I've tried calling the number the council gave me to get them in next week but no answer so far - maybe its their busy time of the year.

RebelRebel wrote: »

I noticed that there was a hole in the lawn going down into the drains.

Rebel/rebel, we've been advised to get a CCTV drain survey done by the likes of Dynorod(there are cheaper options than them though) as we have drains under our deck and its possible they've opened a crack in the sewer and might be coming up from there so survey will show that.

Sympathy please!!

the GALL

dont be worring about it the storm will get rid of them just keep putting it down after a while (a week maybe ) they'll be gone. I know they look disgusting but it's nature keep the doors closed you'll be grand.

Neverends

thanks the GALL, have to admit everyone makes a huge fuss when they hear about rats it feels like the plague has hit or something! Hopefully they'll be gone soon alright.

RebelRebel

Hey Neverends, Thanks for that. I checked the drains a few days ago and the poison was gone again so I put more down. So perhaps there is a crack somewhere in the drain where they are getting in. You might have a point.

Let me know if you go ahead with the the CCTV drain survey. I'm wondering if they do discover a crack how difficult/expensive it would be to sort out or is that the responsibility of the council.

For the moment I'm just going to monitor the situation and keep putting the "Storm" down. At least they are not comming up into the garden and haven't tried to dig any holes.

Hope you get rid of your shortly too. Keep us posted anyway.

Neverends

well the new update is that lots of the poison was taken the first night and we think we heard loud squeaking coming from the nest (in flowerbed right beside our back door we think) this morning which makes me cringe and its really cruel, but what can you do. Nature and urban dwelling just don't mix well, it might be different if we were out in the country with a huge garden but we just can't leave a load of rats living inches away from our door.

Rebel/rebel as far as I know the drains are the houseowners responsibility inside the property lines but someone else might know more about this. Guy from county council told me rats aren't supposed to be able to come into the drains from the main sewers because theres some special cover between the house drains and the sewer but if this is left off (during building work maybe) or damaged then they can come in and then can even chew through the walls of the drain (I know!) to get out into the garden. I'm no expert on all this but if we get the CCTV thing done we'll be getting them to make sure that cover is still in place out at the road sewer and checking there are no major holes in the domestic sewers. Reckon if there is damage it will involve getting builders in to fix. Don't like the idea of them having access to pipes that lead into the house.

workaccount

Absolutely rotten. Best of luck getting rid of them. I couldn't even look at them.

crankyoldgit

Where did you buy Storm (in Dublin)

I think I have rats in the sewer which runs under my kitchen. I heard splashing from the drains late one night recently - no rain - and no water running anywhere in the house (end of terrace). I have heard the same splashing intermittently since - ususally late at night or early morning.

No sign of rats in the garden. Have put out some baits (grain stuff bought in Woodies - but its untouched for a couple of days).

Any idea where I might get the parafin bait blocks I can put inside a manhole?

Someone suggested I pour a couple of bottles of Lidl bleach into the manhole before going to bed might help (so it sits there till following morning while no flow in sewer). Thoughts?

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

the GALL

you'll buy storm in any good hardware put it down where they would make their run
All this talk of rats here and rats there you'd swear it was Hamlin
Put the storm down if it's gone the next mornin put down some more the morning you come out and it's still there that's the morning your 'rat' problem is solved

Mizu_Ger

Unfortunately I've had to search for this thread! Had some rat holes at the edge of my garden last year and got a pest control guy to have a look. He put down poison and everything seemed good. However, lately I've noticed holes starting to appear again and am wondering if the rat ever went away (he said last year that it looked like just one rat).

I've put out some poison (no Storm mentioned here) and set traps (traditional wooden style) and no joy. Rat seems to be able to eat the bait (bacon or peanut butter) without setting off the trap or getting caught in it. It's doing my head in. I think that the rat (or rats) has made a home under the concrete path in our back garden and is using it as a base to get food in other gardens as our garden is basically bare.

I'm going to try the storm posion and if that doesn't work get the pro's in (we've no kids or pets). Could anyone recommend a good pest control service in the west Dublin/Meath area?

Head wreckin'!!!

Joey the lips

Neither, get the big cheese rat traps they are brilliant and set with your feet. They look like one of these bear traps and the beauty is you can put a box over them with a rock on it if you have kids,

Caught 3 rats in one night with one of them

RO 06

Caught a nice big rat this morning with a wooden rat trap with some easter egg as bait. He has been around for a while living under the shed and the jack russell has been going mad. Lifted the sunken cobble to find his rat run and placed trap there and covered over.Have picture of massacre:D

workaccount

RO 06 wrote: »

Caught a nice big rat this morning with a wooden rat trap with some easter egg as bait. He has been around for a while living under the shed and the jack russell has been going mad. Lifted the sunken cobble to find his rat run and placed trap there and covered over.Have picture of massacre:D

Strangely I find myself curious to see this picture. Post it up.

RO 06

Here is the pic if anybody wants a look

gsxr1

RO 06 wrote: »

Here is the pic if anybody wants a look

good shooting.

hate the dirty feckers.


I used ratbait to good effect a few weeks ago. I was expecting a smell in the garden but it looks like they died somwhere else.

Joey the lips

As i was saying earlier I would never use poision around kids. Get a box put the trap under it and put a big weight on top. That way its kid proof environmentally proof, no smells an you see what you caught

Poision, Bad for kids, bad for the environment, Rats rot under the deck in water areas usually and the only way you know nyou got them is you dont see them.

Its not reliable

By the way - For all you electronic gadject plug supports, I hear that rentokill has asked europe to ban them cause they have been proven useless, no better than the emperors new clothes so to speak!

Mizu_Ger

Success!!! I've caught 3 rats in the past 2 days using peanut butter in a trap (rentokil rat trap, seems to work better than the traditional wooden one). I have the traps exactly where they need to be now, so just keep resetting and checking them. Hopefully, Ill be rid of them soon