Rodents: Hit me with your best tips

[mommy111]

Hate them. Like jump on the chair and scream your head off hate them.
Yesterday, moving the trash can lying outside for trash collection, I saw a giant rat jump out of it. I swear it was huge, larger than my two hands put together. I really don't want rats in the house. What do I do?
Here is what I have so far
1) Covering trash can (the silly neighborhood kids had stolen lids off all the neighborhood trash cans as a joke...that, I suspet, is why the rat got in)
2) Inside the house, I got sealed air tight containers from the container store (the dog and cat food kind) to put our large quantities of baking stuff into so that it doesn't trail all over the house

Is there anything you use inside the house that's not poisonous and that keeps rodents from coming in? Any other tips?
Thanks so much!!

[ArizonaGirl]

Giant sticky rat traps from the home improvement store. Then let your hubby deal with the traps...

I had a rat problem in my garage about 1-2 months ago and I posted a thread on here about it...

Here
http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=445994&highlight=rodent

HTH

[jjordan]

I heard that peppermint oil (not extract) keeps mice away. I don't know if it's true or not, and I don't know if it works for rats, but hey - worth a try! Good luck!

[cas]

I was talking to our pest control guy last month and he informed me that some people in our neighborhood have trouble with rats. Part of me wishes he hadnt told me, it makes my skin crawl! But he said the 2 big things to do around here are: 1) pick up all dog feces right away (it attracts them) and 2) keep your garage doors closed especially during the colder months when they are all too happy to come on in to a warm environment. Pretty easy tips to follow, although with the kids playing outside sometimes the garage door does get left open probably too long. Luckily we haven't had a problem yet. Hope this helps!

[ahisma]

Also - have an exterminator come and check for any entry points into your house. We had one come and seal up our foundation. Best $50 I ever spent. We used to get mice - no more!

Rats are, unfortunately, pretty common now. We have them in the yards around here. Gross, gross, gross.

[sophiesmom03]

Also - have an exterminator come and check for any entry points into your house. We had one come and seal up our foundation. Best $50 I ever spent. We used to get mice - no more!

Rats are, unfortunately, pretty common now. We have them in the yards around here. Gross, gross, gross.

OMG where do you live? Here in rural CT it's $250 first visit + $90 quarterly for mice. They can get through a hole the size of a dime so no way could we seal the foundation w/o rebuilding it.

I'm just jealous. ;)

OP rats can and will chew through Plastic but that's a good start. If you call a pest control company and tell them you have kids/pets they can set up locking bait stations where they are out of reach/sight.

I keep most grains, cereal and pasta in glass containers and keep overflow from bulk purchases like oatmeal in the freezer.

I hate mice and think I might just faint if I were that close to a rat. Ugh!

[StantonHyde]

Get a snake! That's what we have--gopher snakes. They do a great job. :tongue5:

[gatorsmom]

Call someone to come around and seal foundantion holes. Exterminator have an eye for where the critters are coming in. It really helps.

Line the floor on the inside of your garage, around the walls with large sticky traps. Get the big black ones (the cheaper white ones don't work). Rodents travel very close to the baseboards. Put the sticky traps in their paths.

Keep all food sealed up. Keep bags of flour and sugar in sealed containers. Open boxes of pasta put in ziploc bags. Rodents who get into your garage will then be sniffing for food. They'll still smell the sealed food In your house but not as much. Plus it prevents them from crawling into your food.

Don't leave outer doors open. Don't prop them open when bringing in groceries, don't leave them open if you are working outside, etc. Mice are really fast and will run in that way. It has happened to me and my mom before.

Trim shrubs and weeds close to your house. Don't keep toys or other stuff propped up next to the house. Those are perfect hiding spots.

Keep your trash in covered cans as much as possible.

There are a lot of good websites for advice on this. GL!

[mommy111]

Thank you guys so much! I spent all of last night dreaming of snakes and mice!! Ordered some rat poison off amazon and made a trip to the container store for all the pasta/rice/flour containers. That was the only good thing that came out of this, feeding the shopping addiction at the container store :)