RATS IN LOFT

[DUNKS]

Sister in law is plagued with rats in her loft. Pest control guy says the rat come up the water pipe which drains water from the roof and goes into the sewage system. He says the system is full of rats, they come up the pipe into the roof gutter and then into the loft. Anyone heard of this I find it difficult to believe. No one else in surrounding houses has this problem.

Thanks.

[Mice!]

My neighbour had a problem with rat or rats in their loft a couple of years ago, no idea why they went up there, took pest control a while to catch them though.

We had the odd one around the bird feeder but nothing in the house.

[London Best]

Like a rat up a pipe?

[Lord v]

This makes almost 0 sense and something (if true) that could be resolved with a £5 stainless grate. 

[JohnfromUK]

There is an old phrase "like a rat up a drainpipe" - and apparently they can.  Even more alarmingly - they can apparently swim round the trap (s bend).

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, depending on size of pipe and location I am sure you can get an internal stop flap which you can cut in to the original pipe, water goes down but flap shuts after so rats cannot pass upwards, not sure what this gadget is called, do a search ?

11 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, depending on size of pipe and location I am sure you can get an internal stop flap which you can cut in to the original pipe, water goes down but flap shuts after so rats cannot pass upwards, not sure what this gadget is called, do a search ?

Something like a rat flap on Amazon for 4 inch pipe, stainless steel, first you need to find out diameter of pipe, plastic or ? , I would place in the vertical as near to where it goes in sewer pipe so you can maintain it as might get moss or leaves , you will need to take up the manhole cover and see if one pipe line or more, eg neighbours , I think you can get similar rat stop flaps for drain pipes, it may be the case with the out flow pipe is higher than the sewer pipe so you can fit a stop flap as well in the manhole, hope this helps, 

Edited March 31, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[CharlieT]

Highly probable, try a down pipe leaf guard for about £4. 

[Ratmanwan]

Yes this happens often, I've seen them do it a few times. Did a course last year, rats in drainage systems and some of the footage was really eye opening and I've been pest control for 23 years.

Two screws through the down spouts stops them climbing up the inside and rules it out as an access point

[harkom]

Climbing plants on the walls - ivy, clematis, etc are frequently a source of rodent entry to upper storey.

[Dougy]

Could be a squirrel, or even bats !!! whatever it is get yourself up there and shoot the thing's. 

[ditchman]

there is precious b all you can do ...........if you poison them they will die and stink the house out................

with all these combines about here costing £250,000 plus..........they protect the combines from rats eating the wiring by putting an electrical box underneath the combine at the end of the season........it sends out a sonic pulse every 5 secs which the rats hate and relocate........you cant hear it but the rats hate it.......check your local agric' dealer and put one in the loft........

[harrycatcat1]

15 minutes ago, ditchman said:

there is precious b all you can do ...........if you poison them they will die and stink the house out................

with all these combines about here costing £250,000 plus..........they protect the combines from rats eating the wiring by putting an electrical box underneath the combine at the end of the season........it sends out a sonic pulse every 5 secs which the rats hate and relocate........you cant hear it but the rats hate it.......check your local agric' dealer and put one in the loft........

That "sonic pulse" thing sounds a good idea 👍👍👍

And those that say poisoned rats don't stink are wrong, they do stink. I've just took a shed down and there was a dead one there and it nearly made me puke.

This was it.

Edited March 31, 2021 by harrycatcat1
Add picture.

[Yellow Bear]

6 minutes ago, harrycatcat1 said:

That "sonic pulse" thing sounds a good idea

the one we had drove the dog crazy

[harrycatcat1]

37 minutes ago, Yellow Bear said:

the one we had drove the dog crazy

Oh dear never thought of that 😕 

[ShootingEgg]

7 hours ago, DUNKS said:

Sister in law is plagued with rats in her loft. Pest control guy says the rat come up the water pipe which drains water from the roof and goes into the sewage system. He says the system is full of rats, they come up the pipe into the roof gutter and then into the loft. Anyone heard of this I find it difficult to believe. No one else in surrounding houses has this problem.

Thanks.

Exactly how my partners sister had the issues, poisoning was the only way to sort it. 

[lampro]

You can get a non return flap for pipes works one way for the water to run out but rodents carnt push past, also wire wool works well for holes, poison works but a dead smelly rat rotting away somewhere isn't nice

[DUNKS]

Looks like she is going to have the grill fitted. I had never heard of this before.

[Vince Green]

The old poisons for rats rendered them odourless after death, either because it contained phosphorus which consumed the body, my dad used to tell the story of lifting a floor board in an old house and finding hundreds of rat tails with no bodies

The other one was arsenic which effectively embalmed them and left them to dry out and be mummified. The arsenic also killed the bacteria that caused them to rot

Rats will eat other dead rats so arsenic could kill rats two or three times over . The gift that kept on giving

but we are not allowed to use them anymore

Edited April 1, 2021 by Vince Green

[dm672]

I had same problem as O.P and used the electronic box as Ditchman recommends which seemed to solve the problem  never bothered dogs when we had them The unit I use is quite audible but I also have one you cant hear at all, I also had a rat try to eat the cam belt on my car and I know of a Discovery about 4 years old that  has been written off by insurance because of rat damage to main wiring harness . This year seems to have been really bad for the scaly tailed ********

[GingerCat]

Sorting their access shouldn't be too troublesome,  perhaps trap the rats? Or poison. 

[oldypigeonpopper]

12 hours ago, DUNKS said:

Looks like she is going to have the grill fitted. I had never heard of this before.

Hello, where ?? 

12 hours ago, ShootingEgg said:

Exactly how my partners sister had the issues, poisoning was the only way to sort it. 

Hello, where did she apply the poison, ?

Edited April 1, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[DUNKS]

Grille is to be fitted somewhere in the sewage system at a cost of £180. The poison in this case used by a pest controller was put in the sewage system and in the loft.

[oldypigeonpopper]

13 hours ago, ditchman said:

there is precious b all you can do ...........if you poison them they will die and stink the house out................

with all these combines about here costing £250,000 plus..........they protect the combines from rats eating the wiring by putting an electrical box underneath the combine at the end of the season........it sends out a sonic pulse every 5 secs which the rats hate and relocate........you cant hear it but the rats hate it.......check your local agric' dealer and put one in the loft........

Hello, any link to the above Simon , ? I never thought of one for rats, , the cost of damage to farm machinery due to rats runs into 10s of 1000s of £s across the UK , my friends have a new combine on order, ££££££sssss

[oldypigeonpopper]

7 minutes ago, DUNKS said:

Grille is to be fitted somewhere in the sewage system at a cost of £180. The poison in this case used by a pest controller was put in the sewage system and in the loft.

Hello, that's sounds reasonable but I would suggest another is put in the down pipe, I have put rat bait boxes with poison in lofts but never just left poison blocks scattered about, I am sure once the above is fitted should solve the problem

[DUNKS]

3 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, that's sounds reasonable but I would suggest another is put in the down pipe, I have put rat bait boxes with poison in lofts but never just left poison blocks scattered about, I am sure once the above is fitted should solve the problem

Thanks I will pass that on.