Several nights ago, I awoke to the sound of scampering and scrabbling just over our heads. I sat up and listened to the pattering, gnawing noises and the next morning told Mr. Pug we must have rats in the attic. He slept right through it all and dismissed my report as a dream or imagination or something. The next night, I heard them squeaking loudly in some sort of rat fight. Again Mr. Pug slept on and I didn’t tell him as I didn’t want to be accused of hallucinating.
But last night, Mr. Pug was awakened by the sound of what seemed like a rat jitterbug dance over our heads. NOW he believes me! So we’re calling an exterminator today and I get to go home to let him in and get the problem fixed.
Until that happens, I’m considering borrowing a pet ferret and putting it up there, or maybe trying to kill the rats by blowing holes in the ceiling with a shotgun, a la the character Massot from Peter Mayle’s A Year In Provence. It’s disgusting to hear their little scrabbly feet and long tails right above our heads!
My standard mice/rat infestation recommendation: glue traps.
Humane? Not really, but that’s the point.
Fucking little bastards. You have my sympathy. At least they’re only in the attic, and you haven’t started finding their droppings in your cupboards yet.
On Googling, I find to my surprise that there’s a band called Rats in the Attic in Europe. They seem to completely dominate the Google hits for this phrase! The few relevant sites I find state that rats only need a 1/2 inch opening to get into your attic.
Nope, AFG, we’ve never seen a squirrel in our neighborhood. It’s too new and there are no trees large enough to support a squirrel population yet. I could better bear the idea of squirrels up there rather than icky rats, but no such luck.
LOL - we had this same issue. My wife tried convincing me for weeks there were rats in the attic, and I was sure they were squirrels on the roof.
She was right. My penalty was having to clean up the mess and set and remove the traps. Two big buggers. We also sealed the access points.
Some advice:
Do not let your exterminator but poison bait packs up there. The rats will eat them and die in your attic, possibly falling down a wall and stinking for several weeks. We learned this the hard way.
Seal up the access points, otherwise you are guaranteed to have a repeat infestation.
Glue boards worked for us 33% of the time. We caught one this way, and two other boards “walked away.” Traps were cheaper, more humane, and much more effective.
Traps and expanding foam. You may have to seat wire mesh or wire scrubbie pads in the expanding foam if your home is particularly desirable.
If you are squeemish, you can probably find a neighbor that will set and empty the traps for a small fee. Teenage boys are usually suitable broke and limber enough to do it.
Ah, I see. I’ve always lived in high-squirrel-density neighborhoods so every time I’d seen that problem, it was squirrels. I think I’ve seen a wild rat maybe twice in my life.
I have 3 pet rats, but they’re nothing like what you’ve probably got - they’re small and pretty and clean, and won’t go in your attic - I promise.
You remember in The Exorcist, before the little girl got really good and possessed and started with all the thrashing around and growling, how the mother was hearing noises in the attic and she thought it was rats?
Your pugs haven’t been playing with an Ouija board, have they? :eek:
How do you know they’re fucking? Maybe they’re just dancing or playing Twister. (Although, we all know that those actions almost always result in rats fucking, the little pervs.)
I’m so very sorry for you. We have a mouse infestation. The little motherfuckers have chewed a hole through my wall - through the plaster and the 1/2" thick planking at the base of the walls. A hole in a perfect circle, about an inch and a half across. And there’s NOTHING THERE for them to eat! Fuckers.
I don’t envy you your rats. I’d much rather have mice.
Well, I’m home for the day and await the Orkin guy. I don’t believe there’s any kind of wiring up there for them to gnaw on, but I’ve definitely heard some gnawing noises and won’t be happy until we establish they haven’t caused any kind of fire hazard or anything.
Thanks for the tips on not allowing poison, joemama24_98. I’ll make sure we get only traps.
I like pet rats, too, AFG. In fact, I have nothing against wild rats or any kind of critters in the abstract, I just don’t want rodentia living and pooping in the walls or attic in my house.
Urgh! Rats! We found out the hard way about poison as well. We lived with Death Stench for weeks until the blowflies came out. A very vicious cycle.
We tried setting the spring traps but I think we should have gotten the larger Rat Sized Model because more often than not the rats got their tails caught and ran off with the traps leaving us with blood and tails.
Not The Best Way To Be Awakened At Night. …shudder…
Is your A.C. unit in the attic? If so they’re likely trying to get to the water from the condenser or from the drip pans. That’s where I center the glue traps.
Ahhh, rats. A quick poison story. My parents had rats maybe a decade ago. Put out poison. One of the rats eats the poison, gets VERY thirsty (it does that) and crawls up through a hole in the floor to get at the dog’s water bowl. Drinks its fill, gets all bloated, and can’t quite fit back down the hole. The rat gets stuck and dies half in and half out of the floor. Dad finds the rat and tries to pull it out of the hole. The tail breaks off, natch. So, out come the big slip-joint pliers…
Sometimes, being the man of the house really sucks.
Geez, is Orkin a major rip-off. We wanted them because we wanted someone else to crawl around up in the attic to find and plug crevices, etc. What service do they provide for $300? They set a couple of traps up there. He wouldn’t climb up in the attic because it’s more of a crawl space under the roof, not a proper attic, and “Orkin won’t let us go up in this kind because we might fall through”. The service is good for ninety days and they come back to check on the traps, but hell, we could have done that. I can’t see how they can ensure the rats won’t come back if the crevices aren’t plugged. We can’t do that part ourselves, not being the limber or skinny young-uns we once were.
We didn’t hear any satisfying “SNAP” from the traps last night, so we’ll be checking them again this afternoon.
