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Thread: Rat in the loft!

  1. #1
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    Rat in the loft!

    Not sure this should be in air rifle as it's probably not an air rifle solution ... unless you convince me otherwise.

    I live in a three bed semi. I have Ivy growing all over my house and it goes up to the gable end. In a storm last winter a piece of the 'concrete' on the gable end ( size of a housebrick ) fell out ( and landed on top of my caravan ).

    I'm dreadful with height. The bloke two doors away fits guttering for a living and he climbs on rooves for fun. He said he would pop on the roof and fix it. It'd take him 5 minutes.

    I've been waiting a year.

    Anyway ... girl one side of me ( not attached ) said " Ooh ... You need get that sorted. Rats will climb up your Ivy and get into the loft ". I thought ... " What a load of b0ll0x ".

    Anyway ... bloke next door ( attached ) came around last night. He says he's had the council pest control in as his missus keeps hearing something in their loft. Council bloke goes in loft and says he can see rat droppings. He says he's put something up there to sort rat ( neighbour didn't know if it is trap or poison ... I'd of thought the latter ). He's popping back in a few days and apparently he is allowed to make 4 visits ( what happens after that? ).

    I'm wondering if the rat did climb up the Ivy and got in that way?

    Council bloke said that once in the rat will be able to make his way freely between their loft and into my loft and all around the cavity walling of both properties.

    Apart from obviously get that gap filled ASAP just in case, are there any suggestions.

    I'm presuming shooting this fella in the loft is going to be tricky, so traps/poison is the way to go?

    Any comments ( other than ... You should have got that gap filled sooner )?

  2. #2
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    Id say rats get into the loft via wall cavity's from under the ground floor. Especially floors that arnt solid and have a cavity or low cellar. I've seen rats literally dig under the foundations of houses to get in then use the wall cavity as a motorway around the house. Holes in the roof more likely to cause water ingress. I'd prefer to use traps, at least you get the body rather than rotting in your house from poison. I've had rats in my garden for years, shoot and trap them constantly. Once you are on a sent trail very hard to stop, good luck

  3. #3
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    Yes they will climb up the ivy, saw them climb up curtains in a restaurant in Hong Kong....I cleared some climbing plants from the side of a house before Christmas, & found dead mice in it, the lady owner freaked out when i told her....
    Don't see why you can't shoot it in your loft, i would.

    Rob

  4. #4
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    Cheers Peddy.

    I said to the neighbour that poison sounds a bad idea as the corpses will need recovering or the smell will be bad.

    I'll go up my loft and have a look for droppings.

  5. #5
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    Cheers Rob

    I'm not opposed to shooting them in the loft, but I just don't see it as practical. It's a three bed semi. The loft insn't enormouse ( couldn't resist ).

    The loft door is in the centre of the loft space and there is probably just a few yards in every direction from the centre of the loft. I can't see Rattus coming out to eat just a couple of yards from me sitting there with an air rifle. I'm also not keen on blasting away with 12fp feet away from a plastic storage tank and loads of copper pipes.

  6. #6
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    I'll keep a couple of the big ferrets in the loft for a few weeks.

  7. #7
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    Got one "in the kitchen don't know what I'm going to do"

  8. #8
    Turnup's Avatar
    Turnup is offline Dialling code‎: ‎01344
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    Shooting them in the loft is really difficult. How much time are you prepared to put in waiting for him to turn up? - and can you get a clear shot anyway?

    Rat poisons cause desiccation of the corpse so there is no smell, but I don't think you can get the good stuff unless you are licenced vermin controller.

    Trap is by far the bet option. Killing traps are cheap - live traps are slightly dearer - take it outside and dispatch at your leisure.
    True freedom includes the freedom to make mistakes or do foolish things and bear the consequences.
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  9. #9
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    I think a trap is your best option.
    A mate of mine had a big rat in his loft and he used a trap to kill it.
    As he went into the loft to install the trap, something moved under the lagging right by his feet.
    He quickly hit it with the trap as hard as he could. He pulled back the lagging and there it was, a dead rat.
    He was well made up with the trap - thought it was money well spent and because it was sort of unused, after a bit of a wipe-down, he now uses it to take his butties to work in.

    Seriously though, a trap is your best option in a loft.

  10. #10
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    Put some traps up in the loft and get rid of the ivy its a PITA and damages cement and brickwork. Rats and squirrels will climb anything like that, i used to live in a sandstone cottage and rats and mice regularly scaled the sandstone to get into my loft.

  11. #11
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    rat in the loft

    "I've been waiting a year." maybe you should have offered him a bit of cash or a bottle of his fave tipple,,,,,,No one climbs on rooves for fun we do it for money, prevention is better than cure when it comes to vermin getting in your house.I'd get that ivy off too before it causes more damage to your property.I had it on a small wall up to my garage roof on the side of my house.It forced it's way into the edge of the roof in the end & blocked the gutters. that was only a 6ft by 8ft patch & cost me £60 to get removed! I fixed the minimal damage myself or it'd have been a couple hundered quid to do it all.Ivy looks nice on some houses but I'd NEVER let it grow up one of mine again. Best to cut through all the base of the vines & poison it first, when it's all brown & dead it will be a hell of lot easier to remove.
    Last edited by junglie; 20-01-2018 at 11:56 AM.

  12. #12
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    Yup I think a trap is the best bet.

    Well ... update ... it's the next door neighbours that called in the vermin control from the council. They reckon they have heard rattus mooching about at night. It was the council pest controller that said I should be told about it as he had seen rat droppings in their loft, and said the rat could easily get through to mine, if he hadn't started in mine.

    I've just popped up there to look for droppings. No need worry about droppings as evidence. My old pair of cricket pads are in the loft and something has nibbled through the thin plastic coating and started pulling the stuffing out of the pads. So ratty has been in my loft. The thieving of the padding suggests he/she is nesting?

    I did offer the lad money to sort that hole in the gable end. He's a neighbour of many years and I've done him loads of favours re lending him tools and also helped/done the odd job on his car. He refused to accept payment. After a couple of weeks went by I talked to him again and politely suggested that if he was busy then I would pay someone to come and do it as it needed doing ASAP. He said not to get anyone else in as he would do it for nowt.

    It's a bit more complicated as there is an old caravan that can't be moved at the moment on that side of the house. So you can't get at that hole on ladders up the side of the house. You have to get on the roof from the front of the house and do it leaning over from the roof. He actually popped ladders up at the front when I first asked him about it. He was on the roof in seconds and leaning over the hole. He said " There you go mate ... I'll have that done in 5 mins ... I'll bring some stuff in the van tomorrow and sort that ". Never happened and I forgot about it.

    Anyway ... First job. Sort rat out. There's no way I'm shooting it in there. Too confined and too many obstacles and ratty isn't going to come out 6 feet from me and stand still whilst I shoot him.

    I took the Ivy off the front of the house last year and started removing it from the back just before Christmas. To be honest it came off really easy in the parts where I have removed it. It does look nice and I have several pairs of sparrows living in it so it will be sad to see it go, but it is going.

  13. #13
    Silver Captain Guest
    Hi bud take a look at these....or make yourself a rolling pipe/ barrel trap....real easy.
    Last edited by Silver Captain; 20-01-2018 at 09:02 PM.

  14. #14
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    Rats or mice ? I've got mice in the loft, or did have but none in the traps for a while, & even a mouse scratching about in the loft sounds loud in the night.

    put a couple of traps down, but remember to check them.

  15. #15
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    Thanks Silver Captain. I'll take a look.

    'Bear ... I can't see droppings ... just the munching on my cricket pads. The neighbours told the pest man that they'd heard a mouse. He looked in loft and said he'd seen droppings and they were rat droppings ... not mice.

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