Rats don't read if squeamish

[big bear]

Ok I'm after some advice really & after watching that hoarder programme on channel 4 got me thinking/worried.

My mil is a hoarder...like on that programme, basically she's bought loads of clothes, crockery, jewelry etc etc & has it piled in boxes in the hall, her front room, 2 spare rooms upstairs etc...

Anyhow back to original point last year they caught a few rats in the house. They think that's all there is, but watching this programme has made me think they could be living in these cardboard boxes & chewing through everything.

Do you think there will be hundreds of rats there?

They've recently got a cat & think it'll keep the rats away, what do you think?

They are so flippant about it but my concern is that my 2 kids go there when I'm working & thinking they could get some illness.

Is the only way to get rid of them to clear the house & get exterminators in?

Sorry to ramble just need to know really.

Thanks

 

[donna88]

I'm not sure, but I know when a mouse got into our house years ago I couldn't sleep for weeks after it had gone as I was paranoid we had more of them. If I saw a rat in my house I would absolutely freak!

Personally I'd look it up a bit more on the internet. You don't want to put your children at risk

 

[mommyB]

I think they would be able to hear them.

This is gonna sound aweful but last year we had them -they wer in the cavity wall and the loft and we could hear them scrabbling around. We have a cat but where they were they were quite safe from her.

We put traps down in the loft and blocked up the hole where they got in and had no problem since, but I will NEVER forget how it sounded lying in bed and hearing them scampering about over your head....urgh!!!!

 

[AnnaFaraday]

We had field mice in our house when we lived in a cottage in the country. Our cats didn't get rid of them - they brought them in!! And we couldn't sleep for the racket that the mice made.

And they ate all the very expensive chocolates I had bought to give as Christmas presents. Ate through the plastic carrier bag, ate through the very strong cardboard boxes, ate all the chocolate. Mice love chocolate.

And then there are the droppings - mice and rats leave plenty of evidence behind them. So they would know if they had them.

The hoarding is another matter, but it is their problem not yours.

 

[Starlight]

If they had so much as one rat they'd know.

Ihad mice in my last flat and you could hear them scrabbling in the Walls and they ate through all kinds of things

 

[ermintrude]

Yep you wil know if they are there. We had rats a few years ago and it was horrific, I went and lived in a caravan for a bit until they were gone. :cry: We got the council in who laid traps, put poison down and found the hole they were coming up through and got it blocked (it was a drainage pipe that the cap had come off). They disappeared after that but yes you would definitely know if they were there, the noise at night is the giveaway, plus the droppings and the food packets they eat through.

 

[Ally89]

Believe me, if there is hundreds of rats, you will know without even moving anything. You will hear them, smell them and see there droppings. If you can't see any droppings on the floor then there is unlikely to be any rats. Even if they are hiding amongst junk they do come out especially at night. I own 2 pet rats, and when they are let lose we can find them just by listening 99% of the time, and thats only 2, if there is hundreds you will definitely hear them, plus they mark everything (mine even mark me, to let other animals/rats know that i'm their property) and males stink alot more than females when they scent mark so with hundreds you would smell it as soon as you walked into the house.

 

[Mummy2Bslim]

I remember having a birds nest in my mums garden and I went to have a look to see how the eggs were doing and a big black rat was sat eating the eggs upset me for life that did evil rat!

Anyone see that giant rat in the news someone killed? It was the size of a small ish dog!

X x x

 

[Chiana]

I saw that one, think it has been someones pet, there is no way that is a native species, looks like a gambian pouched rat, which people keep as pets.

 

[Mummy2Bslim]

I saw that one, think it has been someones pet, there is no way that is a native species, looks like a gambian pouched rat, which people keep as pets.

It was huge! Urgh lol