had a little visitor pop his/her head up from a gap in the floorboards under the kitchen sink last night – my delightful toddler had stashed a potato underneath which Martin (the rat) was after). Needless to say, the offending food has been removed to the safety of the bin…but…

which tyres for killing Mr Rat?

In all seriousness, what are folks experiences in getting rid of them? Building is 1940s block of flats, we are on the 1st floor – I know downstairs had had some problems with rats inside their flat, so I am assuming the little blighter has made his way up through the walls and into the space below the floor boards.

We, well all the neighbors (we use a dustbin to put our bags into) store their rubbish in bags on their balconies (which is whats attracting them – working on the neighbors, but they are just so indifferent, you would have to see it to believe it). What success would I get from:
1) bait box (remembering we have toddler, so loose granules are out – he will eat anything – after watching him drink shampoo and then go back for a second big swig last week before being sick, even the taste of bitrex wouldnt put him off I am sure)
2) large rat trap of the squishy-ratty variety (not going fo rhtis humane trap nonsense – killed enough rats in my time at work to dislike them)
3) sonic repeller (heard they eventually become tolerant of the noise)

incidently – this is the first time this has happened – have seen them in the garden before, but never inside the flat – always sweep floor daily (we didnt nickname our boy the rat for nothing) so no old food lying around to attract them

cheers for all advice

Could you phone the local council about the rats and they would speak to the neighbours as well?

Yep call the concil. I have also found peanut butter on a trap to be very effective.

I think you’ll need to trap them rather than poison
They will stink for a while after dying – with them being under the floor boards, I can’t imagine it will be a good idea

I guess an expert would factor that in though

getting one of these might help?

Cheers.
I figured council – gonna speak to my neighbours downstairs and see what they did about it (which should be a joy as we dont see eye to eye over a few things)

roper – nice idea – bit warm for this weather, do they do a version with short sleeves?

For you or the Mrs then, depending…?

The sonic things are useless. We had one rat and it didn’t put it off at all – they are habitual so will do all they can to follow existing trails.

As said above – a dead rat smells foul, but the poison makes them need water so they (generally) go to their usual water source and die there.

I would suggest professional help – making sure they know about your young ‘un so they will have to ensure they put the poison out of his reach.

Then make sure everyone does all they can to remove the reason for them to re-visit – ie, everyone put rubbish into a bin like you do.

I’d look lovely in that get up. Does it come with the whip?