Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
shylad,
make double darn sure that that dirt your seeing isnt a result of termites. They love to bring mud tunnels inside where they make runs. If it is loose soil,whats under it,the hole?? Dryer vents are notorious for allowing rats and mice inside. FIRST advice is use ONLY solid metal pipe,NOT flex plastic pipe. Once mice or rats are inside,they quickly chew thru it and they are inside your house. Secondly,the metal flapper kind is the worst for letting them in. A scrap of lint keeps door open a fraction and they can scurry in. The kind that rises 'up' when air is blowing out helps keep them out. gravity drops it back down. occasionally put your hand in there and wipe out lint rems.
If you have alot of mice,,,a revolving tin trap that repeats many times helps. Put popcorn in it for bait,cheese etc. the wind up like an old time alarm clock
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We have trapped all or most of them, sealed up everything outside of our OLD house. It has a stone foundation with a dirt floor. I have found a tunnel in the dirt, stuffed it with insulation to see if it was active, few days later checked again and the insulation had been dug out. The crawlspace is very tight...lower than 12 inches. In the past I had worked in the building trades and we would often use a vapor barrier and gravel in a crawlspace. I have also heard of people using sand. Would these be effective in blocking out rodents? Concrete would be very hard to use for a rat slab due to the tightness....gravel or sand won't be any fun either... Some of the dirt is dug out so that it is on different levels and I have dirt "walls" so to speak. I thought I might use some wire mesh and mortar to cover them. Any thoughts are apprecitated. Also what do I do with this hole...some say leave it alone until the rats are definitely all gone. I cannot find the other end of it on the outside.
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