I wonder if the STW masses can help with this one please;

200 yr old farmhouse in rural area, which was completely renovated/rebuilt last year, with modern insulation, wiring, heating, lighting, etc, etc.

Outside walls consist of 3ft thick stone walls, which appear to be a stone inner/outer wall and a rubble filled void in centre. Inner wall is 50mm kingspan, lined with a vapour barrier blanket. Some inner walls are stud walling. Ceilings are std floorboard/joist/plasterboard affair. There are a couple of small voids near window bays.

We’ve been in the house 6 months. 3 nights ago we heard scratching behind one wall….rats. Tonight we’ve heard more scratching/scrabbling behind same wall, also near window void and also in ceiling near void. It sounds like there are three or four rats.

Looking on the outside wall, I’ve found a old pipe exit hole approx 2″ diameter. Looking in the hole with a torch I can see through the wall void and to the back of the vapour blanket! No way of telling for sure, but it seems very likely this is where the rats have gained entry. Bizarrely I’ve never noticed this hole before and I’m a bit pi&&ed off the builder left the hole unsealed.

I’ve now borrowed a lobster pot type rat cage trap from the farm next door, baited it and have blocked the exit hole with the trap (the only way they can get out the hole is via the trap). 12 hrs later no rat caught yet.

Anyway…presuming there isn’t another entrance hole somewhere else (which there may be, despite me looking) how do I get rid of these rats??

They are definitely multiple rats in the wall and ceiling so I can’t use poison and there is no way of setting traps in the wall voids, apart from cutting open the wall and creating an access panel, then laying traps in the voids. But before I go ripping apart the walls of a newly rebuilt house, which i really don’t want to do,, anyone any experience of this kind of problem?? Any advice??

We have a cat, which is currently going ballistic and jumping up at the wall where the noises are. So hopefully it will catch any that make it actually into the house itself.

Maybe it’s a case of just waiting until the trap outside the entrance hole catches them?

Cheers

Napalm… or nuke from orbit

It’s the only way really!

Napalm… or nuke from orbit

would love to, but the bike shed would take the full force too

I have been told by the Rentokill man that poisons make them thirsty and they leave the confines of a building to look for water. That said, not sure poison is the answer here.
Had issue at work, tried to sort this ourselves, no real joy got professionals in no problem since.
They know what to look for, they know how to deal with them.

Thanks TheDTs, I’d really like to avoid using poison if possible, as once outside there are dogs, cats, etc around. Also the risk of them dying in wall cavity with the resulting smell.

I’ll call a professional in next week if no progress, but would like to see if a DIY approach can work first.

If you’re any good with a gun get yourself a Crosman Ratty and fill a brick frog with custard and wait. They can’t drag away the custard unlike something more solid and they’ll find it hard to resist…in theory. In reality you’ll probably get about two of them before they get wise and won’t come back for a day or two. If you get the parents the young will venture out and they make for an easy target as they’re not too smart.

Only if you’re a good shot, though…

teasel – have used an airgun before on rats with good effect, but these are in the walls, inside the building. I’ve never seen one outside this house.

That’s why I suggested luring them out with the brick. Get a lamp and sit behind it and wait. If you put it close enough to the the hole they’ll eventually come out. That is unless they have a closer source of food.

They have to be eating something. You need to identify what that is and eliminate it.

Other than the noise is there any other evidence its rats. I live in a similar vintage house thats stud-walled inside in more or less the same way.

Same noise as you describe, but its bats not rats.

we had rats and the only way of getting them out was an electrocution cage with cooked smoked bacon inside it… worked a treat

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victor-M240-Electronic-Rat-Trap/dp/B000LNX06C

Other than the noise is there any other evidence its rats. I live in a similar vintage house thats stud-walled inside in more or less the same way.

Same noise as you describe, but its bats not rats. No evidence I’ve seen of droppings etc, but the noises are very clear. I’ve stood right next to the wall and you can hear the rat on the other side of the plasterboard scratching and gnawling whilst splintering wood. They also make a scuttling noise as they run along the length of the void, which surely can only be a rat.

Other than the noise is there any other evidence its rats

Didn’t think about that. Getting all gung-ho on their arse…

Could be Glis Glis – they’re starting to head indoors as the temperature drops and favour roof spaces and walls etc.

Could be Glis Glis

1100ft up on the pennines?? Only the hardiest animals survive up here 🙂

I lived in a similar sounding house a couple of years ago.
We got a jack Russell terrier. They are awesome dogs, they will solve all your problems.

1100ft up on the pennines?? Only the hardiest animals survive up here

🙂

Okay, probably not those pesky bleeders.

FWIW my parents had a similar situation and tried everything before eventually using poison and putting up with the ensuing stench for however long it went on. Seemed lengthy at the time but how long can something that small stink for…

Seemed lengthy at the time but how long can something that small stink for…

apparently a long, long time 🙂

Best not, then.

Flamethrower in that hole you’ve just blocked up or fill the void with shit loads of expanding foam… and then use the flamethrower.

We had a similar problem recently. Bought one of those pest repellant ultrasonic things. Sorted it out within a few days. I was amazed as I was very sceptical. Good luck.

Poison.

Inside a 3′ length of plastic sewer / down pipe. Leave near the entrance/exit and weight it down with bricks / blocks.

Act before they take up residence.

Expanding foam in the hole once the scrabbling stops.

Expect to have to repeat every few years.

Could be field mice.

Rentokil and wait. It may smell for upto a week. Stay elsewhere for a week..

Problem solved.

Had same problem last year and tried all the traps and electronic things. But poison was the only thing that worked in the end.

We had them a while back. They were coming in to my newly built extension via a hole from next door left by her builders on her recent extension. I had to rip down some new plasterboard and cut an access hole to find this out. Cemented up the hole to next door and they dug through the cement while it was drying! Put some traps in the void and caught a couple, that plus the blocking hole (grip filled a tile over it while the cement set) and they’ve not been back. There was a lot of poo in the cavity so I’m quite glad I opened it up and cleaned it out even though it was a pain to destroy a new wall

We have similar but mice. Sometimes leave a trap outside entrance hole. Should get round to filling hole but I’m concerned there may be more than one so I wouldn’t know where to put the trap if problem continues!

My mother had them occasionally over the years. The man her sorted it for her said that she got them as they were on a route between main food sources. They could enter through an extremely small crack (he said a 10p piece size was enough for a full grown rat) so the opening you’ve identified might not actually be the one. They can eat concrete so a bit of foam isn’t they solution to blocking up a gap.

Poison was the only way to get them inside the house and when they died we had to open the walls to get at the bodies. You could identify where they were by the smell! On one occasion we couldn’t find the body even though we had a quite specific location. The smell got increasingly worse so we were given a can of “Rat Deodorant”. It really worked!!!!

I can recommend TomCat poison (available from Amazon) if you do decide to use poison. We had rats, traps and B&Q poison did nothing. Put the TomCat stuff down and there was one more night of scrabbling and then nothing, and no smell, fortunately.

As above, don’t use expanding foam, they’ll just eat it. Mix up some concrete, mix it with screws, nails, broken glass and tiles and fill the hole with it. And put some chicken wire over it.

quick update, went out to the rat trap last night and a field mouse was running around inside, so looks like it’s field mice rather than rats, which is a big relief. Although I’m finding it difficult to believe such tiny animals can make so much noise!

Never looked after hamsters then skydragon?

We did once. Never again. I think they would have made less noise digging out the foundations.

Glad you are getting it sorted.