Rats in the ceiling

[Roomuck]

With problems like these you are better off asking the local Thais,rather than a farang on a forum.

I just asked my maid what would be the best thing to do.

She said you you should just put them on the grill, with fairly low heat as they are easy to burn.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Roomuck

[Bredbury Blue]

When we used to have a maid, she wanted the big rats we caught and released from the trap...wife wouldn't allow it.

[chard]

I had the same problem and was advised by a Thai neighbour to buy a 'EZI Pest Repeller' you plug it into a socket and it sends out electromagnetic waves, rats, roaches hate it and clear off after a few days. I have been using it for about 3 months now and am very happy with it I don't even see ants in the kitchen anymore. It is also pet friendly, well for cats and dogs I guess your pet rat or hampster wouldn't be too happy. Cost about 600 baht.

[louse1953]

Lift a tile or roof sheet and drop some rat/mouse baits in. Do this once a year, making sure you use a different type each year (They learn!). Problem solved!

Buy the baits at hardware or farm supplies stores.

How do they learn if they are dead.

[dotpoom]

Thanks for your answers! Leaving poison in a place is risky because they don't die immediately, die somewhere-else and are starting smelling like hell so I have to open all the roof to find them and second it is the ground floor. I experienced that once in Manila, a (big) rat died and the whole room was smelling like hell!

Yeah, glue traps! I have tried them, I destroyed a bit of the ceiling and they are working very well, but the animal isn't dying for days. Might be I can put poison in the middle of the trap with a (small) risk that they are escaping with the poison. My problem is I cannot kill them

When necessary, I have used the metal traps and then released them into a field a good bit away from the house....strangely enough, I began to feel very good in myself for taking this approach, compared to the poison and glue ways as mentioned on here already....I actually came to be happy that I was doing my bit to save their lives.......Try it...you might be surprised!

[uthaithanirules]

Just call the in-laws, fire up the BBQ, problem solved

[kiniyow]

I use those Pink Pellets behind the Air con Holes and once they Die in the Attic this gives me an excuse to go to LK Metro hotel and Party for a week

[BKKdreaming]

you can buy the snap traps in Chinatown and also the falling door box traps

the snap traps were 15-20 baht each and heavy metal , be careful as they have lots of sharp edges

But the rats I have around here do not seem to like peanut butter or cheese ,

I bought some raw chicken liver at the store the other day and am going to try that next ,

But it is not as easy as many think to catch them.....just watch Tom and Jerry

[FolkGuitar]

Best way is to drive them away. That way they don't die and stink up your home for months on end.

And the easiest way to get them to leave is with ordinary Moth Balls or flakes. Rodents don't like the smell and leave the area. You probably won't notice the smell, but if you do, it will be gone in a day or two. Only the rodents will still be able to smell it, and they don't stick around.

Just throw several handfuls of Moth Balls around your attic space and no more problem with rats, squirrels, skunks, or any other member of the rodent family. Try and spread the Moth balls into all the corners and along the edges. That stops them from even entering.

I had a massive squirrel and rat problem in a house I lived in in the US. The house was in to middle of the woods, tightly surrounded by trees, with many openings to the attic crawl space. I also had a problem keeping skunks from nesting under the house. One bag of Moth Balls thrown around the attic did the job, but I needed two bags to encircle the crawl space under the house. Never saw another squirrel, rat, or skunk during the next 10 years I lived in that house.

The rodents leave, and they don't come back. Problem solved.

Edited April 1, 2016 by FolkGuitar

[BKKdreaming]

Anyone built a "tiger trap" like on old Tarzan movies ?

a big hole or box with a trap door that goes down with weight trapping the animal ?

I have a rat in the attic that I would like to catch and release far away if possible ,

since the snap traps have not worked

But I have not found a good design for a "tiger trap"

any ideas ?

[Gandtee]

Using poison will ensure months of an extremely unpleasant odour. Use a glue tray as suggested. Find out how the rats are getting into the roof in the first place and deal with that.

as bp states find out where they are getting in,they can climb,a down pipe on the guttering and also if you have a balcony with a 1inch drainage down pipe they can climb up them as i found out when i spotted one. so i think it was home pro where i got a trap,a piece of raw meat[bloodied] will soon catch em.

Fish sauce on stale bread in the trap works for me. They are Thai rats, so, fish sauce

[Thingamabob]

Get a cat.

[sanukjim]

You could try adding "Snakes In The Ceiling".

[Bredbury Blue]

The rat in our ceiling came 'home' late afternoon and was making a load of noise, obviously up to no good. I tried a new approach. I found a YouTube clip of eagles noises. Every time I played it below where the rat was, it all went silent but when I ceased the eagle clip the rat started its business again. I then tried cats howling noises with similar results. I then tried cats fighting noises...the rat noises ceased / went away and 4 hours later haven't started again. Don't know if what I did worked or was a coincidence. I expect the rat will return, if it does I'll try the experiment again. I may try putting one of those tiny bluetooth speakers in my ceiling opening and blasting the youtube clips, maybe it will scare away the rat (s) for good.

[BKKdreaming]

let us know how the eagle or cat noise works out , that might be a way to keep them away

and do you have links to which audio files you used ?

thanks

[meatboy]

let us know how the eagle or cat noise works out , that might be a way to keep them away

and do you have links to which audio files you used ?

thanks

try employing a katoey they make the same noise as a cat and eagle also the rats like a hole to run up.

[Bredbury Blue]

let us know how the eagle or cat noise works out , that might be a way to keep them away

and do you have links to which audio files you used ?

thanks

I randomly typed Eagle Noise, Cars Howling and Cats Fighting in to YouTube and picked the lengthier options that came up.

[Sheryl]

We have the same problem every year. We've never worked out where they get in. They pee in the corner of ceilings in rooms.

A builder can make you a roof access hatch in the ceiling of a bathroom inexpensively, then put in one of those old-fashioned square cage traps you can buy in any thai market, you hang a piece of banana (filed rates love banana) or apple in it, they go in and it snaps behind them (we hear it easily, often minutes after we've set it), then remove the trap and let the rat go miles from home. We once caught a rat and it had 3 babies in the trap with it.

I was having trouble catching them and a Thai neighbor told me to use a piece of steamed mackeral. Worked like a charm.

[dick dasterdly]

I had god knows how many rats around for a few years and they had occasional parties in the ceiling whilst I was trying to sleep.... It didn't bother me until they found their way indoors and, more importantly, into the kitchen - so started trapping and releasing them whilst blocking every hole I could find.

This worked (insofar as keeping them out of the house), but the weird thing is that a couple of months back I noticed they were no longer around at all! Presumably the snakes ate them all.

Edit - I used bananas to trap them.

Edited April 2, 2016 by dick dasterdly

[Bredbury Blue]

^They eat bananas in the fields so I also use banana in our cage traps very successfully.

[dageurreotype]

Better to use glue trap trays. Put some peanut butter in the middle. Then it wont die on roof. You can dispose of it privately.

Glue traps are disgustingly cruel. One of my dogs was a good ratter and in the middle of the night he jumped on my bed with a glue trap and three mice stuck to it still alive and shrieking stuck to his fur. Took bloody hours to get it all off him. No hope for the rats and they died a long slow starved death. Better to shove some tokays up there. I've a few in my roof but it's wood, so anything would drop through the slats. The tokays sort them out, quickly. Or a rat snake

[Sheryl]

Or a humane trap and release them in a field.

[BKKdreaming]

Will Owl sounds work as good as eagles or cats ?

there is a 10 youtube with owls , not bad for background noise compared to fighting cats

and are certain sounds programmed into the rats DNA ? I doubt many have seen eagles or owls !

[meatboy]

try a PAVAROTTI cd.

[Sheryl]

Can't say re rats but I tried all of these -- and bad Country & Western music - for bats to no avail. Mothballs didn't help either. Maybe rats are more sensitive.

[BKKdreaming]

can someone do a "field test" when you catch a rat in a live trap , get out your phone and play the youtube Owl or Eagle noises and see if the live rat even notices it ,

I am just thinking that its an interesting idea , but maybe the frequency a real Owl or Eagle makes is not in the range that a YouTube video plays

like a dog whistle that only dogs can hear

and if it was so easy why are there no portable MP3 players for sale with a Owl and Eagle noise 2-3 hour loop that you could mount in your barn or attic ?????

[dick dasterdly]

Better to use glue trap trays. Put some peanut butter in the middle. Then it wont die on roof. You can dispose of it privately.

Glue traps are disgustingly cruel. One of my dogs was a good ratter and in the middle of the night he jumped on my bed with a glue trap and three mice stuck to it still alive and shrieking stuck to his fur. Took bloody hours to get it all off him. No hope for the rats and they died a long slow starved death. Better to shove some tokays up there. I've a few in my roof but it's wood, so anything would drop through the slats. The tokays sort them out, quickly. Or a rat snake

Couldn't agree more which is why I wouldn't dream of using them.

A couple of my dogs are 'ratters' too and one morning I went out to find a dead rat in the carport with live, unborn babies.... They were too young to even try to save them and I'm ashamed to admit that I was incapable of putting them out of their misery. My cleaner had to do it for me .

[4evermaat]

Better to use glue trap trays. Put some peanut butter in the middle. Then it wont die on roof. You can dispose of it privately.

Glue traps are disgustingly cruel. One of my dogs was a good ratter and in the middle of the night he jumped on my bed with a glue trap and three mice stuck to it still alive and shrieking stuck to his fur. Took bloody hours to get it all off him. No hope for the rats and they died a long slow starved death. Better to shove some tokays up there. I've a few in my roof but it's wood, so anything would drop through the slats. The tokays sort them out, quickly. Or a rat snake

Couldn't agree more which is why I wouldn't dream of using them.

A couple of my dogs are 'ratters' too and one morning I went out to find a dead rat in the carport with live, unborn babies.... They were too young to even try to save them and I'm ashamed to admit that I was incapable of putting them out of their misery. My cleaner had to do it for me .

If you are looking to rid yourself of a rat infestation, the glue traps are very good at what they do. You can get tesco brand 2 pack hard trays for 32 baht. You can either drown the rats or end their life with other methods. I wouldn't recommend leaving them around especially if you have cats, snakes, etc. They may not have chased the rats before. But when they are packaged somewhat neatly for them, they are happy to collect the free lunch.

Snap traps can be effective, but you have to be careful with your hand and especially if you have kids. Cages vary, but are tricky to setup and can give many false alarms (getting bait but door doesn't close, door closes if nudged from outside, etc). The poison would be effective if it was outside only. You get the smell but it would breakdown quicker. In the house, the rat could be dead in some hard to reach crevice and then you are stuck with the smell.

In some cases, putting double-sided tape at the bottom helps it from shifting around. You can get a few rolls for 10-20 baht at big tent markets or those 20 baht shops.

edit: photo of glue trap packaging

Edited April 5, 2016 by 4evermaat

[BKKdreaming]

Chicago using wild cats as rat patrol

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/04/473002208/facing-a-growing-rat-problem-a-neighborhood-sets-off-the-cat-patrol

Facing A Growing Rat Problem, A Neighborhood Sets Off The Cat Patrol........

[GinBoy2]

I was talking to my ex wife a few days ago, she's having a little rat infestation, and after having the power go out in her house, I guess this is one way to get get of the little f**kers....