Zoraida Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Is there anyway to get rid of a rat without using poison or a trap. I have an indoor cat and our dog is in the house at night so I don't want to harm them. Also, using a frying pan to kill a rat will not be an option. Blessings Zoraida Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Your cat isn't going after it? You may have to call an exterminator. They should have something pet safe yet effective against your unwanted critter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Do you know where the rodent goes? We just got rid of some mice in our attic. Our exterminator gave us these sticky things like flypaper. He put a dollup of peanut butter in the middle of it and laid it on the floor. As the mice went to snack, they got stuck to the sticky residue. Before that, we had a humane trap that closed behind the mouse as it went in to snack but after our 3rd capture, it seemed the mice learned how to get the peanut butter cracker out without getting caught. That's why we called the exterminator. Of course, the sticky thing won't work in a home with pets unless you're going to put it somewhere they don't have access, like we did with the attic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula in PA Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Your cat isn't going after it? You may have to call an exterminator. They should have something pet safe yet effective against your unwanted critter. Most typical house cats won't mess with a rat. My sister had a great mouser who wouldn't go near them when she had this problem. I have one who would, but then he isn't typical, he's a former stray and huge. :tongue_smilie: A trap is how my sister ended up handling it. An exterminator would be my choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Rats like peanut butter if you're thinking of a trap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoraida Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 My cat was a witness to the rat when it zoomed out of my bathroom closet last night. She just sat without budging. A little while ago, I was in the bedroom making the bed when I heard scratching sounds in my bed room wall. I have no idea how it would have gotten into the wall. There are no holes in the wall except for the electrical outlet. We have been living in this house for 23 years and as far as I know we have never had a problem with rodents. I didn't have a problem with seeing the rat flash past me but the scratching noise is slightly freeking me out. I banged on the wall hoping to scare the rat, it got quiet for a few minutes and than started scratching again. My kids thinks it might be making a nest. Does anyone know if those electronic devices that you plug into the wall really work? I was online looking at Wal Mart and they sell them for 50 something dollars. Blessings Zoraida Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaNY Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Snap traps are actually the most humane way to get rid of rats. Poison is the worst way. They suffer, and then *you* suffer when they die in the wall. Glue traps are also inhumane. They basically starve to death. Get a bunch of them, and line them against the walls where they most likely travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Are you sure it was a rat? Did you see it? Ugh, we had a mouse scratching in the walls at night and with my insomnia it was murderous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Rittenhouse Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'm sorry sometimes the title line of a post just shouts out for a snarky remark. As for the four legged vermine, I think you've got the best suggestion....snap traps and lots of them. If you're sure it's a rat, get the rat traps but be careful. Demonstrate to your children that a properly loaded rat trap will break their fingers if sprung by curious hands. (Use a old BIC ball-point pen or a wooden pencil for demonstration purposes.) Best of luck to you in getting the rat outta' yo' life!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 My advice - MOVE!!!!!! Seriously - that would freak me out!!!! We had bats in our last house and I had a VERY hard time sleeping even after "bat man" came and helped us get rid of them. Sorry no other ideas for you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 oh man, we had rats--lots of them--when I was a kid. Of course we lived in a mud brick house with a grass thatched roof so it went with the territory. I remember one time this rat got only his nose caught in the trap. It screamed, bled all over the place, and my dad chasing it in his bvd's all over the kitchen trying to smash it with a shoe. Another time our dog caught one. It would go and sniff hard in the corners, under furniture, etc. to chase it out. We were in the bedroom packing for a trip and it ran hilly nilly over everything with our big dog chasing it. I was up on a chair screaming. . . Want another memory? They loved the bathroom. I remember my mother going in there and hearing swacks and wacks and seeing her come out with one she'd killed, while sitting on the john, with her shoe. ick, ick, ick. I never slept well in that house, even with a mosquito net tucked in around my bed. I was terrified of rats, flying cockroaches, driver's ants, bats, and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaS Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 My experience with those sonic things.....we had mice building nests right beside them in our drop ceiling. Save your money.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaS Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Want another memory? They loved the bathroom. I remember my mother going in there and hearing swacks and wacks and seeing her come out with one she'd killed, while sitting on the john, with her shoe. Oh! I can't stop laughing! I'm so sorry-I just can't imagine. Your mom rocks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 How about a mouse in the car! I was coming home from the dentist (probably the only time I'm in the car by myself), and a mouse ran over my HEAD! I screamed and screamed going down the interstate. I even wondered if it warranted calling 911. I called my grown son instead and had him meet me at the next exit. I drove his car home and he drove my SUV. I called his cell, and he was screaming! Every time I got in the car, he tried to run all over me - it's a wonder I didn't wreck and kill myself and my kids. This mouse took weeks to get rid of - we tried everything humane we knew, but ended up with poison. Then we couldn't find the thing and my car stunk for weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 This thread is giving me the heebie jeebies. My darling 12yo has a rat in a cage and I just stay out of her room. I can't stand the thing. Anne, just wanted to say your post made me :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn of ns Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 We have had rats in this house over the years. Thank goodness we're moving in two weeks!:) First off, find where they're coming in. Chances are it's a Norway rat and they generally come in from around the foundation. Check around any pipes or wires that come out of the walls, under the siding with a mirror, etc. Ours were coming up a drain pipe into the basesment. When you've found an entry point stuff it with steel wool. Go inside and check around the entry point and see if there's a place to set a snap trap. It's the easiest, cheapest and most humane trap and it works. We just had our last one last week. We'd sprayed insulation foam all entry points but not done the steel wool thing at one point. We set traps and listened to the bugger crawling in the walls but after a few days my husband went into the basement and found the poor thing labouring to breath on the floor. Isulation foam is toxic. He put it out of it's misery with a pipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeOnTheRanch Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Well, my only experience has been with a mouse trap and a big stick! Our dishwasher started leaking and it looked like a mouse had been nibbling on the drain. We set a few mouse traps behind the dishwasher and pushed it back in place. A few nights later while DH was gone I heard the trap snap. I pulled the dw out and saw a very stunned rat. EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK. I pushed the dishwasher back in place. My babies were asleep and I certainly didn't want this thing running into their room or crawling off to die in a wall. I ran and got an old ax handle that DH kept under the bed. Yep. I did. I still can't believe it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I went back to the kitchen, pulled the dishwasher out all the way (the rat stirred) and started whacking the rat. I decided I was going to keep hitting it until it quit moving. So, I was hitting and yelling and yelling and hitting for what seemed like ages. Then it occurred to me that the rat may have been moving from the force of me hitting it. I paused. Oh, it was no longer breathing. I poked it with the stick just to make sure. Dead. Good. I pushed the dw back in front of the opening so I wouldn't have to see the bloody mess. Then I went back to the couch to read my book. A few minutes later I heard noises. IT HAD A FRIEND!!!! I immediately paged DH to ask him where the rat traps were stored. I could hear his eyes rolling over the telephone. "Just what makes you think we have a RAT?" I told him. He was impressed. I got the rat trap, set it, and pushed it back near the dead rat. When DH got home I told him I only kill 'em and he had to clean it up. He did. "Remind me never to sneak up on you in a dark alley," he said when he was done cleaning up the mess. Never in a million years would I have thought I could or would do something like that. It was empowering. For what? I'm not sure. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) We tried a snap trap at first but when we went outside the next morning we found the rat alive, with just its foot caught in the trap. I wanted my dh to hit it with a shovel but he didn't have the heart to do it. I didn't want to hit it with the shovel either but mostly because I didn't know how hard I'd have to do it and I didn't want a rat mess on the cement. So, I used the shovel to pick it up, trap and all, and threw it into a bucket of water. After that we were through with snap traps so we bought a rat zapper at the hardware store and electrocuted its friend. (The rat zapper is a nice tunnel device that runs on batteries and is non-toxic and inaccessible to bigger animals.) Another time, we saw our dog playing with something out in the yard. We thought he was tossing his Kong toy around. But it was a rat, and a dead rat when our golden got through playing with it! Edited February 11, 2009 by Laurie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Testimony Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Is there an epidemic of rodents? I saw one in my house last week. I screamed when I first saw it. I have never seen one in my house ever. I want to tell you that the first thing that you should do is plug up any holes that you may have. I found out that the best thing is metal. Now, are you sure that it is a rat? Rats are bigger than mice. Mice can get into your house if you have a hole the size of a dime. Rats can't contort their bodies like mice. Rats are smarter than mice. They know how to avoid traps unlike mice. Here's the joke. I called an exterminator. They charged me $187 to put up traps and glue boards. We had this old rat trap that we never used. We put it along the wall, right by my gargage door. It trapped the mouse within minutes. That was a week ago. We have no seen anything since. We got rid of the mouse and we sealed up the holes. Blessings, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alicia64 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 My dh was thinking of using poison to deal with our rat problem, but instead left the fully wrapped poison in our laundry room on a shelf he thought the dogs couldn't access. They accessed. They ate the poison and I had to pay $650 to make sure they weren't going to die. I also learned that if a rat eat the poison, hides and dies and a cat or dog finds the rat -- your pet could get a secondary poison. That's stuff's bad. The glue traps are incredibly inhumane. One idea I heard: use lots of light and music and the rats/mice take off fearing people are around. We also have a very realistic looking fake snake. I keep thinking how cool it would be to let the fake snake camp in the spot where the rats are sauntering into our garage. My dh doubts it would work, but I bet it might. Alicia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoraida Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 Update on my rat situation. The rat is dead. Last night I woke up around 2:00 and needed to go to the bathroom. While I sat up I heard scurrying across the bedroom floor and knew it was the rat. Our cat was sleeping at the foot of the bed so I picked her up and threw her on the floor thinking she would attack the rat. Nope she jumped back onto the bed. So I woke my husband up and told him that the rat was crawling around the bedroom. He told me to just ignore it and go back to sleep. I couldn't of course because I had to go to the bathroom. So I made him get up and deal with the situation. My husband turns on the lamp and sure enough we see the rat run behind the clothes hamper. My husband reaches under the bed for his baseball bat (his choice of weapon if anyone ever breaks into the house in the middle of the night) and goes and kicks the hamper aside and beats the rat to a pulp. Blessings Zoraida Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vettechmomof2 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 I am glad that the bat was helpful for the rat problem. Seriously though our cats are strong hunters(1 is at least) and our dogs would NEVER let something in or out. There are days when mice and chipmunks try and it is not pretty.:glare: You should still ahve someone come in to find the nesting area and help with that. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn of ns Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 That's stuff's bad. The glue traps are incredibly inhumane. We used them once and my husband had to finish the poor thing off. One idea I heard: use lots of light and music and the rats/mice take off fearing people are around. that only works a fewtimes. The rats soon learn there's no threat and become bold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 How about a mouse in the car! I was coming home from the dentist (probably the only time I'm in the car by myself), and a mouse ran over my HEAD! I screamed and screamed going down the interstate. I even wondered if it warranted calling 911. I called my grown son instead and had him meet me at the next exit. I drove his car home and he drove my SUV. I called his cell, and he was screaming! Every time I got in the car, he tried to run all over me - it's a wonder I didn't wreck and kill myself and my kids. This mouse took weeks to get rid of - we tried everything humane we knew, but ended up with poison. Then we couldn't find the thing and my car stunk for weeks. :lol: ROFLOL!!!!! OH MY, I would have had a heart attack.....that's all. You rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Oh! I can't stop laughing! I'm so sorry-I just can't imagine. Your mom rocks.... she does. I want to be just like her and now I know I'll faill....I'm a complete wimp when it comes to rodents. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudreyTN Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Does anyone know if those electronic devices that you plug into the wall really work? I was online looking at Wal Mart and they sell them for 50 something dollars. Blessings Zoraida I don't know if they work for rats but DEFINITELY mice. So probably rats too. I love them!! (The devices. :)) We had been hearing and seeing evidence of mice and I bought the ones at Walmart. Black n Decker they were $20 for a pack of 4. I have one in every single room. You have to give it about a month to really make sure everything is gone, but they work!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Fuggetta 'bout the fryin' pan.....Divorce the sucka' ! I'm sorry sometimes the title line of a post just shouts out for a snarky remark. no kidding! i was gonna say vote 'em outta office ;) When our city had a halloween party a couple years ago, our newly-elected mayor showed up w/ a rat mask. :D no rats, but w've found those snap traps to be very effective in getting rid of mice, and the dog was useless :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gini Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 We've had several big rats in our 150 year old brick farm house. One got so bold as to scamper from the dining room to the kitchen right past where I was sitting at the computer. We tried the snap traps with p-nut butter, but after the first one was caught, no others would come near it. (smart creatures) Then I read where they like the sugary bubble gum like Bubblicious. I put a sticky trap where I thought they were coming out/in and put the gum on the other side. It worked like a charm. We've caught several like that. Now, as to disposing of them....the last one we got, I had to take the rat and board out on the sidewalk, shut my eyes, and dropped a brick on it's head. Killed it right away...no screams, no blood. Moral of the story: rats are sugar addicts :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 I liked this rat thread much better than the most recent thread with rat in the title. 5-star thread, with Zoraida's husband's transformation the high point of the plot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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