Cats are a natural part of the food chain just as snakes and birds of prey. A lack of one species has others proliferate. Part of the problem may be not enough species to prey on the other species. I would bring in a few cats maybe locate a few snakes or make the habitat such to attract various birds of prey.

That being said, I once had a skunk tear off a foundation vent and get under the house. I called animal control who said they are not permitted to disturb them by law. You cannot kill or trap them to relocate they said I just had to deal with it until it left. The person I spoke to suggested throwing mothballs/flakes under the house to coax it along. Apparently, rodents don't like the smell any more than moths or humans. It worked, the skunk left, but then I had to deal with the mothball smell. A word of experience don't open the package and throw them everywhere, keep the perforated package intact it makes it easier to locate the mothballs/flakes to remove later.

I now place mothballs at every entrance to my garage, in every corner and where ever there is an opening in the walls to the outside where a rodent can get in. I also use a rodent deterrent I get from the hardware store store. I think the primary ingredient is fox urine.

Then there is the mink dog method. This seems to be an extremely effective method of control.

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Mother has gotten "out of balance" for the OP. Of all the natural predators mentioned in this thread, an outdoor cat or two would seem the most viable. Like I said earlier, I've never needed to own a cat .... they are just "out there".

Mother always knows best....

As for guns and predators…..I live on a small city lot. I have guns including pellet gun, no way I can use those here. No way to bring a predator here. And, all the yards are fenced so, although we have coyotes and fox roaming around, the do not come into the backyard. And this is good because I have 2 small dogs. The neighborhood cats do jump the fence and and kill chipmunks and birds but this is so random and I suspect there are so many rats in the neighborhood, that the cats can’t effectively reduce my rat population, especially since the rats are not lazy like chipmunks and they mostly stay indoors. Rats are comparatively slow however. If there is a cat here and it sees a rat, I’m sure it will catch it but it’s no solution. I’ll have to use a combination of some of the suggestions above

We used to have a couple of big cats and a small dog when I was a kid. They would catch mice, rabbits, and squirrels, but they ran from the really big rats. Had to trap or shoot them.

Don't you solve this by first making your garage and house impenetrable to rats/mice, other little creatures, then poison or trap/kill the ones left inside? That has been the approach exterminators used to help with my rat problems at a few house when I lived near Lake WA in Kirkland. We had tons of them. If you don't fix how they are getting in, this cycle will never end.

I agree with those who've said you can have no mercy in this war. I love animals as well but rats carry disease and will physically destroy wiring, insulation, etc. They are pissing and crapping in your garage and very likely your house. An ex in Seattle with a Mini had several visits to get wiring replaced after rats destroyed the engine compartment of her beloved little crap box. I hated that car. Sorry for the somewhat unrelated rant, this just reminded me of all of that.

Unfortunately, sometimes you just can't make a place impenetrable. It's probably easier with slab on grade.

I wish. My garage is not attached to the house. Even assuming I replace the rubber seal at the bottom of the garage door, they will chew a hole again to get under the door. And, there are ways in that I can never stop. The cinder blocks supporting the garage walls are placed vertically, with the holes up and down. The rodents dig a hole in the yard, find a cinder block entrance hole and up they go into the garage.

As for the house, well its 60 years old. I had a mice problem a few years back and learned that a mouse can fit through a hole the size of a nickel. Do you think I can locate that nickel size hole somewhere around the house? No way. Mice are gone now though

But, as I said above, I did have a squirrel in the basement a few years back and have no idea how it got in...if it was a hole...then surely a rat can get through it. And I hope they do not, obviously. Though I think by now I would know it as I am in the basement all the time, everyday and have seen no trace of rats

As for the car, I keep the lights on in the garage 24/7. The engine lid is always up and the windows are closed. Maybe I have been lucky but other than traces of a chipmunk having lunch under the front hood, I see no signs of rats being interested in my 911....could be a matter of time, or not. I think this rat situation has been going on for at least 3 years or maybe more. I have been here 9 years and no issues with any damage

Here's a fun rat story, not sure if I ever told it here. Probably did but this is a rat thread so..might as well

I was living in NYC, in a small studio apartment...150 sq feet. Very strange layout.

The bathroom was split in two. One small room had a shower and an airplane size sink.

The toilet was in a separate room that was only big enough for the toilet basically. The building built in 1900 was steam heat.

In the toilet room there was a steam pipe coming up through the floor in the corner. If you sat on this toilet, your left knee would hit this pipe and you would burn your leg a little.

So one day im sitting on the toilet and I look down where the pipe is coming up through the floor and I see a stick poking up through the cutout around the pipe.

I pulled on the stick and it came right up but it wasn't a stick. It was a tail.

Holy smokes! I looked down in and there was a fully cooked rat squeezed in there. I attempted to remove it piece by piece thinking it would stink up the place. Each piece came out in a cooked chunk of leg, thigh, etc....no blood at at all

I imagine that one day a rat followed behind me from the hallway into the apartment and got trapped when I shut the door. I probably got up to do something and the rat got spooked and tried to avoid me, panicked and got stuck in the hole up against that hot steam pipe and cooked itself well-done

That's life in the big city! (for me and the rat)

I was hoping to find a picture of the toilet room with the pipe but only found this....the doors to the bathroom are closed so you cant see the strange layout. It nice that they have since added a closet. Wish I had that.

https://streeteasy.com/property/8453277-179-prince-street-19

I must have been bored because I laid out all the pieces of the rat so that it once again looked like a rat but in puzzle form and took a photo but I cant locate this photo unfortunately

Mmm, fun rat story. BBQ bathroom rat. That sounds fun. Invite your friends over for BBQ and a beer. "Do you want a leg or a leg or maybe some ribs?" Fun, fun, fun! :D :eek:http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/puke.gif

Don't the exterminators put down a powder or liquid so they can use a blue light to find out how the mice/rats are coming and going after they walk in it?

A good exterminator can make recommendations. It took them 2-3 visits at my old place to get all of the little access points addressed. Like you say, it may be near impossible. Anyway, maybe the goal is just to make your place harder to get in than your neighbors.

About a month ago I came home and found the two dogs trashing the third bedroom (junk room/storage room) and gasping for breath they were so excited. And the cat watching very pleased with himself.

Cat had brought a rat in to provide some good family fun hunting it in the third bedroom. The Border Terriers were going nuts at it. I found the poor little guy hiding so I picked him up by the tail and dropped him over the fence.

Oh, what the hell - I wasn't going to post these, but why not... As mentioned earlier, we have cycled through a number of rat infestation episodes over the years. To the point where we were seeing them out during the day which, as others have mentioned, means "real trouble".

So, I know this is absolutely not an option for you. I also know it is absolutely ineffective at controlling or eliminating the population at any level. It is pretty damn targeted and direct, though. No risk of any harm to any "innocent bystanders", or to the predator population that would feed on poisoned carcasses. And it's pretty darn good practice...

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Nice shootin. I got this bastid right in the neck with my trusty Gamo. A good rat's a dead rat I always say

Wow, seeing them out during the day. The only time that I see them out during the day is if I am mowing deep grass in the "back 40" and then they are running for their lives.

Haven't had my Diana out in a while....

Here, here ... ya rat bastids :D

It's only been a paper puncher tho'... but such a hoot.

One shot and quickly inside... even in the city... why yes I would. A coyote will hear a Marlin .357 as they died fwiw .... LEO approved too ;).

https://youtu.be/NcdXJhR8n5w



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Yeah, this little baby would take care of the rats for sure!!! Kahhhtoww!!!!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...403c6a0686.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...92300ca8a9.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9822bf5408.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ed65ee010d.jpg

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When I was about 15 a friend said "Friday night bring yer mon's car, .22 and ammo, and alcohol."

About 30 of us drove out to a dump in the country. It was quite literally moving with rats. "Bill, you're up next." We would stop kissing (etc) the 14 or 15 year old girl, put the alcohol down, and get in a line wit the guns. All the car's headlights were on the dump and the hundreds and hundreds of rats.

Boom, boom, bang. Rats flipping around with bullet holes in them. "Next shooter up." Go back to the young chick hoping she hadn't moved onto someone new in the five minutes you had spent away from her. And time for another beer or wine.

I'm not quite sure how we survived, but we sure had a good time.