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01-17-2009, 02:00 PM
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#1
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Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 2
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
I have a rat issue.  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.
Thanks in advance!
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01-17-2009, 02:20 PM
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#2
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Master General ReEngineer
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Chaumont River, Ny.
Posts: 1,162
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
Quote:
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Also what do I do with this hole...some say leave it alone until the rats are definitely all gone.
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Ayuh,...
Leave D-con bait traps around,...
As long as the bait traps have bait in them,... They're Working... If they're Empty, refill them...
And,.. You won't have a Rat Problem again...
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01-17-2009, 02:24 PM
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#3
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Newbie
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 2
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
Thanks for the tip. I won't use poison. They carry it all over and store it. Plus I don't want rotting dead rats randomly laying around and in my walls, etc. causing bad odors, etc. I am using snap traps, I set them out unbaited for a few days, then rebaited and set them and caught 3. Its been 2 weeks or so and I have not caught another since...We do still hear at least one in the ceiling occasionally.
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02-01-2009, 07:01 PM
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#4
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Utah
Posts: 35
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
There is a product on the market that you may have seen TV ads for.
It is a device that you plug into an ordinary wall socket that sends some sort of electrical signaling through your house wiring and is supposed to repel pests.
Havent tried it but I asked an electrician friend of mine and he said that he had heard of the device and that theoretically it could work.
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02-12-2009, 06:16 PM
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#5
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 70
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
Those electronic things dont work..They were installed in my house when I moved in. Caught several mice.
Total waste of $.
Wish they worked..Thatd be conveneint..
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05-05-2009, 10:03 PM
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#6
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Newbie
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 1
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
My husband and I have been having problems with rats and mice as well. We use the glue traps because it doesn't kill them and we don't have to worry about poison in our house. They really work but I don't feel like we are getting them all. We have tried the plug ins...they don't work. But now we are finding piles of dirt in our garage off in one corner by where our dryer vent goes outside. Either the mice or rats have been bringing in the dirt...but how? We live in a fairly new house and I don't want it destroyed by the mice.....HELP!!
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05-06-2009, 01:27 AM
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#7
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Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 575
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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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05-06-2009, 10:27 AM
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#8
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Long-Time DIYer
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: On Albemarle Sound In Northeastern NC
Posts: 1,209
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Rats! Tunneling into my dirt crawlspace!
I've lived on the waterfront of a double-cropped farm for more than 32 years. I have a dirt crawlspace, and get lots of mice and rats when the weather starts to turn cool. They tunnel in under the foundation.
It is "tight" under my house (no pets can get in) and I keep fresh D-Con out under there from early Fall through Spring. 99% of those zapped by the D-Con stay under the house.
Very few (1 to 4 a year) get up into the house itself because they haven't eaten D-Con. I used to use regular flat snap traps inside the house (utility room and kitchen is the only places that I've ever seen them), but I switched to the glue and the round snap traps. The round traps seem to work better than the glue type, but both work. I use cheese or peanut butter for bait on both.
No problems.
Mike
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