Score! While our Hav-a-heart trap continued to fail us and no visitors were registered inside the house last night, Eric from Pro Pest came today and removed one juvenile rat from under the house.
If you want to see the rat we caught, go below the jump. Otherwise, don't spoil your lunch...
Eric and his crew then proceeded to plug up all the holes in the house and set more traps inside and out.
On disgusting note, they found the door into the under-the-roof area (above) and said there were tons of droppings there. To quote Eric, "It looks like you've had hundreds of rats going through here over the years." Ugh.
Pro-Pest is back on Monday to see if anything else shows up. In a way we hope they find more and take them out, but on the other hand we also don't want them to find any.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Maxwell--google on mouse/rat droppings and human health problems when you get a chance. There's a toxicity problem even if you don't touch them and dried urine etc can be airborne. Bleach the heck out of any area you think they might have been. All kinds of grossness. Children are really susceptible. We had a mouse problem a few years ago and wouldn't let our daughter in the kitchen until we fixed it--plugged up all the holes with steel wool and metal mesh because they ate through the foam we put in the first time. Ick!
Mind my asking how much Pro Pest will cost ya? Rat Busters is coming to my house on Monday and I'd like to do some comparison shopping. Thanks!
Ellen,
Pro Pest runs $50 a visit and then some extra depending on how many holes they repair, etc. For us with 6 visits they are estimating $450. Do tell me about Rat Busters...
Ahhh yes, lovely rats. Just one more reason to never live in attached housing, in my opinion. We lived in a townhome several years ago. The buildings were built in the early 70s, were ugly, drafty, and let's just say we didn't have the cleanest next-door neighbors. We also had termites and rats.
My artsy fartsy husband sliced right through a dead one when he was cutting a hole in the dining room ceiling looking for the source of a water leak. Yikes. That image stays with you for a long time. Poor guy. Hope your rodent problem isn't too hard to remedy, Maxwell. That's a bummer.
~Monica
So been there. Just remember, for every one you catch, there are quite a few more. They can fit through any hole as large as a quarter - you have to find the points of entry and plug them up with steel wool.
Good luck. EWWWWWW.
Becky
So Rat Busters came to my house this morning to give me an estimate. First of all, they were extremely punctual (actually, a bit early), which I very much appreciate. There's nothing that annoys me more than having to wait around for a contractor, making me even more late for work. Second, they inspected the peripheral area around the house (finding two "holes), underneath the house, and the attic. Most of the droppings seemed to be underneath the house, and none were in the attic. Rat Busters said that they would plug the two holes, attach a metal door sweeper to the bottom of the door leading underneath the house (sealing the crack underneath the door), and set traps all over the place, focusing underneath the house, and come back 5 times to check on the traps. All this the grand price of $675. This comes with a 1 year guarantee. The price sounds kind of high to me so Ill have to think about it.