Rodent exclusion

justin_bliar

I've been having a rat issue in my attic for sometime now. I have hired a pro in the past and he has helped me with exclusion, however I'm still getting rodents every few months. These are roof rats and I tend to hear them in the attic when it rains really hard. I have put screens in my down spouts, put a pvc sleeve on the conduit that leads from my carport, replaced the crawl space door with a new tight fitting one. Filled all holes with 1/4" steel mesh. Still I have an issue. The only two ways I can find that they could be getting on the roof are the power/utility lines. There is one power line, two unused phone lines, and one cable tv/internet line. The only other possible way would be jumping from my carport to the house which is about 2.5 feet. I'm tempted to buy some sort of camera system to monitor those. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop these critters? I don't sleep very well hearing them romp above my head at night and they aren't going for the traps I put up there.

PAbugman

I have no experience with roof rats. What are you baiting your traps with? I’m assuming you are using rat snap traps? Live trapping rats is difficult if not impossible. Smear peanut butter on the trap trigger and then place peanuts or bird seed on the peanut butter. This will add a visual appeal as well as aroma.

dougp23

I sympathize with you Justin! I had a mouse infestation that took me a couple of months to finally shut down. Depending on where you live, it might be cold at night now, so they are REALLY motivated to get indoors. Don't rule out the possibility they are coming in someplace low, and then going up through a wall to get to the attic.

I agree with PABugman about the traps, don't show any sympathy, live kill traps are the only ones worth anything.

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justin_bliar

Oh no, I don't have any sympathy for these guys! I am using peanut butter and snap traps. I did have a professional for 3 months. He helped me with exclusion, I am pretty sure most of the lower entry points are sealed up. The pro was just going to trap and charge me I can do that myself. I think next stop is to get a camera and try to find these buggers.

Hardway

Forget the peanut butter. Get new traps, wear rubber gloves. Use bacon; put the bacon on with a string. If you catch any, wash the trap and leave it out side a few days.

justin_bliar

I will wait a week and see if the rats get used to the traps, if peanut butter fails I will move to bacon. Still I want to do this right and keep them from getting up there in the first place. Any suggestions? I noticed the guy wires on the utility pole don't have sleeves like most do. Wonder who owns the poles...

Hardway

don't forget they can get thru a small hole.

Hardway

this may help

http://phoenix.about.com/cs/desert/a/roofrat01.htm

Arcadia Neighbor to Neighbor web site