Community Chat

[bikerbabe]

Please don’t use poison! So much wildlife and feral cats are killed and die a horrible death from eating rodents that have been poisoned.

[River Song]

The green cube the HVAC man was talking about is an anticoagulant rodenticide.  Home Depot has several brands to choose from.  Just be aware that squirrels and raccoons are attracted to this bait and will eat it.

It's best to store bird seed in a galvanized metal garbage can with a tight fitting lid.  Mice and rats can chew through a plastic garbage can to get to the seed.

[spumoni99]

Your local electric/water companies may come out and have a look for free, you need to be careful if like you said you have a water leak near elecricity.

[gidgetgh]

Two pieces of advice for you.

Let the pest control specialist do their job.

Stop feeding the birds. The bird seeds attract rodents.

In our old house I heard something in the attic. Pest control came and said there were rats in the attic and he took care of those. He walked around outside, pointed to our bird feeders which hung from our deck and said "get rid of those". And we did and we were never bothered again. 

Nothing to be embarrassed about, but you have to take steps to get rid of them and make them feel unwelcome at your house. I'd stop feeding the birds. 

[JeanLouiseFinch]

Oh the mice stories I could tell you, @JoyFilled Warrior.  🐁  Bats too. 🦇  And I can toss in a snake or two. 🐍 

We live in a subdivision in a rural area.  Our property has a wooded area between us and the neighbors. Varmints are part of nature and sometimes they forget to stay where they belong. And yes, I've freaked out too.  Your pest control person knows what to do,  Just make sure you tell them if you have pets so they can take instruct you on where any poison is, if yiu go that route, so you can keep them away.

And let me assure you, if you're thinking you're a dirty homeowner because of this you are not.   It happens.

[sunshine45]

if you have a major mouse presence, they can also get into your cars and chew on the wiring.....more issues, more money. if you do have them you will notice them/hear them much more during the colder months.

[occasionalrain]

If the bird feeders and seed is outside, why would the mice come inside? I've had three bird feeders in front of my living room windows for years and have never had rodents inside my house.

I keep the seed that's inside my house in a plastic container. 

[We rescue cats]

Please ask your exterminator to use only "first generation only" poison if he must use poison. That way if the rodent eats the poison and a bird grabs the body the bird will not be poisoned. It's what we need to use in the camper over the winter. We also feed the birds, our birdseed is kept in galvanized garbage cans. We live in a rural area and have 20 acres of ground that is 1000 feet off the road so we have plenty of critter visitors! Today we have workers here starting a new roof project so we have zero critter visitors!

[JoyFilled Warrior]

Update:

The Pest guy came & went in abt 15-20 min, most of which was me telling him all the whole story. 

He placed these big oblong, (8" x 11") looking, somewhat enclosed boxes around at 3 places, Back Porch, only 1 of 2 Crawl Spaces, & Garage where rodent access hole was seen.       Maybe he placed one at the attic, at my request.  I wanted more put around, & I pushed, but he said all he did was sufficient.

Surprisingly, no hole, no droppings in the Pantry.  WHEW!!!    (There's no food in there)  I expected one, but he said the outrageously loud scratching betw the Bedroom & Pantry, one night, was them going inside the wall!!

  (But I did find my Breadmaker in the Pantry.  I forgot I put it there.)

    I also checked on my Vitamix, WP Electric Pressure Cooker, & bunches of Lock n Lock, that I knew I put there. No chewing thru their cords!  phew

But I still need someone to go under the house & check for chewed pipes & whatever else damage, incl under house blockage to cold water to my Washing Machine. 

   As suggested above, I'll talk with the City.

Interesting, I lived in a 1960s house, only 1 street over, for 20 yrs!     and here for the 1st of 6-8 yrs and NEVER had a hint of any of these problems until the last weeks/month.  No rodents.

Unless because it's my only "rodent City paradigm," I swear all this is because of the tearing down of those 3 condemned houses up the street, the most recent is only 5 houses away, on the Side Street, across this Main Street.   (rumor: because of that house's outrageous plumbing problem.  ?? any possible rodents looking for another place??). 

So, next step.  Onward & upward, to the outrageous water usage/bills/leakage under the house.  And any "remnants" from the Mouse Traps.  

I dont see how cats or larger animals could get any of the poison, I assume is inside these traps, unless they tear up the black box its in.

BTW, the Pest Man said he treated a house once,  whereby their active Living Room Sofa was FILLED with RATS, and their cats just slept on top of the Sofa!!  These "things" are nasty! 

     I thought bugs, (which I ABHOR), would outlive us all.  I guess rodents too!?

[Burnsite]

Glad to hear that the inspector began his plan; these folks know what they are doing.

I had a rat problem in my kitchen.  Rats have proliferated in my neighborhood due to my least favorite neighbor (lives next door,sigh).  He poisoned all the racer snakes (also known as "rat snakes").  The snakes are unaggressive and do no harm to anything but the canal-loving rats nearby.  Now we are overwhelmed by them.  My little cat May was quite interested in them, but just watched the rat-show as if it were a TV Special.

I called the right rat catcher, as he saw at a glance that the rats were in my kitchen because they often love to live in the narrow area behind the dishwashers.  They had come down from the attic.  He meshed all small holes that would admit them--and I have an old house full of little cracks.  He told me the dishwasher had to go--in fact, it had stopped working awhile ago (rats had gnawed at the wires).  And when it was removed, the tiny alley behind it was like a horror movie.

All quiet on this front for five months--so they can be controlled.  I found this problem incredibly depressing, but it is possible to stop the infestation. They had started in the attic and had come down into the area behind the dishwasher.  It was next door to my hurricane supply under-cabinet--and if we didn't find water bottles, apparently untouched yet gnawed into from the very top of the bottles--all my water was gone, but the bottles were apparently OK on a quick glance.  The rat catcher, something of a philosopher, reacted to the emptied water with the comment, "All rats have a PhD in survival."