Rat problem

[worgeordie]

12 minutes ago, sandyf said:

If you bait the trap good, not too much of a problem.

A few years back one of the neighbours rented a piece of land the other side of our wall and put up a chicken coop, shortly after we had rats in the roof space. Wife bought a trap and we started catching them and she would take them out and set them free. Seemed to be endless turnover and then one day one got the tail caught in the trap door and bit it off. Wife got rid of it and I couldn't believe it when it reappeared a few days later, we had been trapping the same ones over and over. Apparently they can find their way back some distance, wife started taking them somewhere there was already rats and the numbers stared to decrease. Guy never paid the rent on the land so chicken coop disappeared and been rat free a few years now.

BTW I had put a camera in the roof space with motion activated recording so I could see what was going on.

Rats are one of the nastiest of vermin, just look at how many people have

died throughout history because of them , 

You'll get no sympathy for them from my wife whose father died because of

leptospirosis ,rats pee disease , the only good rat is a dead one.

 

regards worgeordie

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Ah, so nowhere of any authority or particular accuracy, then...

"ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022, and gained attention for its detailed and articulate responses ... However, a notable drawback has been its tendency to confidently provide inaccurate information".

How stupid of me to ask such question to an AI that searches all information to it, whe I could have asked some senile octogenarian with one foot on the grave and another on a banana peel. . 

The information is good, and my advice to the OP to ;

"Have you spoken to the landlord? He/She sounds like a reasonable person I am sure you can both come to a reasonable solution. " even better 

Edited June 21, 2023 by sirineou

[proton]

2 hours ago, PattayaKevin said:

I've tried rat traps and poison but they haven't worked.  The landlord mentioned that her other house is infested with termites and she made it sound to me that the tenants pay for the exterminator. I can't have cats because i have 4 dogs. I have seen a few more snakes than usual. All have been golden tree snakes and kukri snakes. Most of those tend to climb up over my wall which has an electric fence on top so they get electrocuted except for a few who sneak in.

 

On a side note we had an agreement that she would build me a swimming pool in the yard. That got to the point where the swimming pool company came drew up the plans and gave her the price and she said it was too much. If she built the pool my rent would have gone up 7000 baht a month. 

I'd rather have the rats than 4 dogs, why on earth do you want 4 of them? The anti rat sprays seem to work combined with poison. 

[sandyf]

8 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Rats are one of the nastiest of vermin, just look at how many people have

died throughout history because of them , 

You'll get no sympathy for them from my wife whose father died because of

leptospirosis ,rats pee disease , the only good rat is a dead one.

 

regards worgeordie

I wouldn't disagree but my wife and her family take a different view.

[Liverpool Lou]

11 minutes ago, sirineou said:

How stupid of me to ask such question to an AI that searches all information to it, whe I could have asked some senile octogenarian with one foot on the grave and another on a banana peel. . 

 

Hope you feel better after that gratuitous insult.

[giddyup]

3 hours ago, realfunster said:

We always get rats this time of year in our roof space, I think the rainy season tends to bring them inside. 

 

We have the annual cat & mouse (or maybe rat..) games every year and manage to catch quite a few with the trap-door cage traps and the dogs pick off a few stragglers around the garden.

 

Do not use glue traps if you are tempted...

 

Eventually, they <deleted> off and we look forward to starting the cycle again next year...

 

Aside from self-catching action, good advice above on keeping your house/yard clean.

 

Of course, you can talk to your landlord who may want to help. I understand its frustrating but I think rats are a common and solvable issue here so it seems rash to talk of changing house for this reason alone. 

We had a rat problem in the ceiling a few years ago. Was setting 2 spring traps every day and catching (dead) rats. Then I heard about mothballs, so scattered a couple of handfuls in the ceiling space, and hey presto, rats disappeared and never came back.

[Gandtee]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why not?  They're very effective.

 They inflict a long lingering death. No vermin deserves that. I saw numerous rats glued down when in Brunei. They were alive and screaming. You then have to dispatch them. When I had rats I used cage traps and give the rats a flying chance, by releasing them on the lawn. My dogs at that time dispatched them quickly and humanely. Some did make it into the undergrowth to freedom, so fair dues. Cats are OK, but they just kill everything, including the birds and lizards.

[Jackbenimble]

Get a cat..........or a dog that hunts. Problem will go away. Buy the more expensive of the sticky plates too............they work. 

Our place was over0run by the pesky things about 7 years ago. We didn't realise how bad the problem was until we found one in the oven.....with its babies......alive and thriving. (we never used the oven) 

I pet stoat or weasel will get rid of them too in no time at all. 

[Denim]

In our old house I trapped 8 rats myself in heavy duty sprung traps. Almost instant death. Rats were active at night in the space above kitchen ceiling. When a trap was sprung there would be loud and noisy thrashing around for about 6 or seven seconds then silence. Made sure to retrieve the bodies next day for quick disposal with the rubbish.

 

I would not recommend using poison at all. When the rats feel unwell they like to go to a dark inaccessible place to die. The resulting smell of the decomposing body is horrible and can last for several weeks until eaten by insects. 

Don't use the puny wooden traps....slow noisy death. The heavy duty metal once do the job properly but take great care when loading the trap if you want to keep your fingers. Use heavy duty gloves too.

[Reginald Prewster]

I had to give up my Backyard Aquapoinics System after I tried everything.

Glue works for young rats but also only for a short time

Traps worked for 2-3 Rats at all

Snap Traps the same 

I trained my dogs, never seen a dog with wrinkled eyes after an entire night hunting getting one

 

Rats are fast learners.

The only thing I found out was that the rats were not after the crayfish food but they love crayfish like we do and in fishtanks they are easy pickings.

 

We dismounted the system

I put a hose on the exhaust of my Enfield and gassed the holes under the house out

It took quite a time until it worked...

In our contract in Pattaya it was also the Landlord but because its was our system we never asked... 

 

Chicken on our farm is now the same.

The rats quickly found the food sealed in blue containers and they need not more than a night to grarl through the plastic containers.

 

This time I hired Rentokil (12000 a year) and they sorted it in less than a week... 

 

[giddyup]

8 minutes ago, Denim said:

In our old house I trapped 8 rats myself in heavy duty sprung traps. Almost instant death. Rats were active at night in the space above kitchen ceiling. When a trap was sprung there would be loud and noisy thrashing around for about 6 or seven seconds then silence. Made sure to retrieve the bodies next day for quick disposal with the rubbish.

 

I would not recommend using poison at all. When the rats feel unwell they like to go to a dark inaccessible place to die. The resulting smell of the decomposing body is horrible and can last for several weeks until eaten by insects. 

Don't use the puny wooden traps....slow noisy death. The heavy duty metal once do the job properly but take great care when loading the trap if you want to keep your fingers. Use heavy duty gloves too.

Mothballs will make them disappear immediately. Works for other vermin as well. Wouldn't use them anywhere a child or a dog could ingest. The rats don't eat them, they just can't tolerate the smell.

Edited June 21, 2023 by giddyup

[Denim]

Just now, giddyup said:

Mothballs will make them disappear immediately. Works for other vermin as well.

Good idea. How to you catch the moths ?

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, Denim said:

Good idea. How to you catch the moths ?

By the balls.

[puck2]

(Lovely black) Cats solved the problem!

 

Since we accepted them a few years ago, we never heared and noticed cats on the roof of our house. Problem solved.

 

Of course, cats like different food, not only rats.

Edited June 21, 2023 by puck2

[fredwiggy]

Had this problem when I lived back in Texas. Tried everything as far as traps and poison. I used glue traps but couldn't kill them myself afterwards, and I'm a deer hunter, so I let them go in a field across the street. Mistake. They just come back. Why? Because when they live in your house, they're smell from pee and feces attracts other vermin. Poison works for some, but some aren't killed by it, and those are strong animals that breed. A contract for a year sounds right, because they do return, UNLESS, you seal the house from them being able to get in AFTER you kill what's there. A cat is good, but they learn to avoid, and those rats get bigger. Plus, not sealing your home lets them return anyway. It took be quite awhile to find any ways they can get in, and they can squeeze through a spot a lot smaller than you'd think. 20 mm for a rat, 6 mm for a mouse. I finally got the house sealed, after killing the rats with poison and spring traps. The contractor gave me tips after he tried himself with traps, and it was mainly the sealing which worked.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, PattayaKevin said:

My contract doesn't mention anything about pests just that I need to maintain it like my own.

Think that covers it.. your problem

But lots of inexpensive ways to stop rats.

Cleanliness is the biggest issue, they're looking for food or secondly somewhere to nest.

Plenty of cheap rat baits online or try an electronic sounder which also puts them off.

 

[blackcab]

Rats and other infestations are absolutely the responsibility of the tenant, unless explicitly agreed otherwise in the lease.

 

You have 4 dogs. There is conflicting advice on this, but are the rats attracted to the dog's faeces? Some websites say rats are not attracted to dog faeces, while other websites say they are.

 

I don't know the answer, but if you have a patch of land with a concentration of faeces on it and the rats are attracted to it then you will keep getting more and more rats, no matter how many you catch.

 

Apologies if this doesn't apply to your circumstances.

[PattayaKevin]

Wife has a soi dog that lives outside. Inside I have 3 lazy dogs that basically sleep and eat a disabled French bulldog,  an English bulldog and a pug. Their feces are always cleaned up outside. 

[chilly07]

5 hours ago, sirineou said:

In Thailand, it is generally the landlord's responsibility to take care of any pest control issues, including rats. This would be outlined in the rental agreement between the tenant and the landlord, Have you spoken to the landlord? He/She sounds like a reasonable person I am sure you can both come to a reasonable solution.

Not if the tenants behaviour  causes the infestation. Landlord probably responsible to carry out building alterations to prevent rats getting in with  tenant responsible for extermination  

 

[scottiejohn]

3 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

I have 3 lazy dogs that basically sleep and eat a disabled French bulldog,  an English bulldog and a pug.

They can't be that lazy if they can eat a French bulldog,  an English bulldog and a pug!

[PattayaKevin]

I looked up above the ceiling into the space up above in between the ceiling and the roof, and I can see tons of light coming in all over in which rats could get in. 

[bradiston]

3 hours ago, sandyf said:

If you bait the trap good, not too much of a problem.

A few years back one of the neighbours rented a piece of land the other side of our wall and put up a chicken coop, shortly after we had rats in the roof space. Wife bought a trap and we started catching them and she would take them out and set them free. Seemed to be endless turnover and then one day one got the tail caught in the trap door and bit it off. Wife got rid of it and I couldn't believe it when it reappeared a few days later, we had been trapping the same ones over and over. Apparently they can find their way back some distance, wife started taking them somewhere there was already rats and the numbers stared to decrease. Guy never paid the rent on the land so chicken coop disappeared and been rat free a few years now.

BTW I had put a camera in the roof space with motion activated recording so I could see what was going on.

Like, ratporn? There must be money in it.

[fredwiggy]

14 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

I looked up above the ceiling into the space up above in between the ceiling and the roof, and I can see tons of light coming in all over in which rats could get in. 

That's why I suggested sealing up every crack. They will never stop coming in until this is done.

[newnative]

I would say it's the tenant's responsibility but you might see if the landlord would agree to split the yearly cost of an exterminator.

[MrJ2U]

6 hours ago, PattayaKevin said:

The landlord usually is very good at fixing problems in the house and property. 

 

I couldn't imagine any landlord shouldering a 12,000- 15,000 baht a year vermin problem.  Perhaps go half.

 

Every time we have a rat problem I put out poison pellets mixed with fragrant rice.

I also put out some sticky traps along the walls.  It always does the job until the next invasion.

 

Good luck! 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by MrJ2U

[bradiston]

1 minute ago, MrJ2U said:

I couldn't imagine any landlord shouldering a 12,000- 15,000 dollar a year vermin problem.  Perhaps go half.

 

Every time we have a rat problem I put out poison pellets mixed with fragrant rice.

I also put out some sticky traps along the walls.  It always does the job until the next invasion.

 

Good luck! 

 

Dollars? Really?

[MrJ2U]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Cleanliness is the biggest issue,

Totaly.

 

Took ages to get my wife's mother to stop leaving bits food and dirty dishes around the house and outside.

 

It was like living with a caveman (cavewoman).  No idea about hygenic conditions! 

Edited June 21, 2023 by MrJ2U

[MrJ2U]

2 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Dollars? Really?

Whoops!   Fixed that. 

Edited June 21, 2023 by MrJ2U

[fredwiggy]

10 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Dollars? Really?

I think he meant baht lol If it cost 12-15,000 dollars I would make pets from the rats and teach them tricks.

[steven100]

you have 4 dogs,   a reasonably good landlord,   and you want her to pay and get rid of your rat problem. 

geeeze,  some folks just create there own problems.

forget the rats,   i'd be thankful she lets you stay there with 4 dogs ....