Pest control...

Has anyone ever had to use pest control before, in particular for rats? We have had rats in our ceiling ever since we bought the house, which we thought we had got rid of when we insulated and did the major renovations, but since we had the heatpump in, it's getting colder outside and therefore warmer inside, they have come back with a vengeance. We have bait out and traps, but the bait is getting eaten and they either aren't dying, or there are heaps of them. They're even eating the cheese off the traps without the traps going off We don't leave any food or food scraps out, the rubbish is taken out to our green bin every night before bed, there's nowhere for them to make nests except in the insulation in the ceiling...

So it looks like we are going to get an exterminator, cos it's not safe, or hygienic, and quite frankly it revolts me. They've only been really bad over the last week, but that's too long for me. Has anyone had to use one before? What do they do to get rid of them? Are we going to have to move us and the girls out while we do it?

I just want them gone

I would get a proper pest control person to do it.

I'll ask my bestie as she works for rentokil! but im pretty sure you will have to be out of the house for a certain amount of time.

Sheena - yeah we are going to have to get a professional to do it, our traps and bait aren't doing anything to solve the problem and it's pretty much the extent of what we can do.

Peanut butter is going on the shopping list in that case!! I'm willing to try anything until we get the professionals in. It was so bad last night that they woke me up by running across the ceiling (well, whatever they were doing, it was loud). I'm also really paranoid that they're going to get into the girls' cots

nkap - I have no problem if we have to be out of the house for a few days, we have a number of places we can stay, but I just want to be prepared ahead of time (and it means I can plan it around work etc).

Also putting 2 or 3 traps all lined up side by side so that if they jump over one they hit the next one. They are really good at flicking bait off traps so try gluing it on.

When we had rats in the ceiling the pest man just threw his bait up into the roof cavity and that was it. Worked though cause we didn't get anymore rats!

You need to buy a product called Storm. I can find out for you where you can buy it from (I think Bunnings).

You put it up into your roof space, the rat/mice eat it and they pretty much die within a day or two. It works by drying up their blood.. kills them quick.

My partner is a Pest Controller

They will put bait stations around the house and in the ceiling. You won't have to move out at all. (bait stations, kids and animals can't get into them but rats and mice can)

And let me guess you bought Talon from the shop.. Rats and Mice love that stuff as its food to them and very really does it kill them.

DH says get decent bait (not supermarket stuff) preferrably stuff you can nail down- apparently you can get stuff with holes in it. Often if you get loose stuff and just throw it up there, they won't eat it, they'll pick it up and take it back to their nests to stock up for winter. If its nailed down they have to nibble at it and can't save it for later...

We get rat bait for our maize stacks, and we get it from RD1 they are blue blocks, sorry cant remember the name but definately try RD1