timeslid
We have had rats in and around our 1909 house for years. Some years are better than others. This year was particularly bad – the little buggers were in the walls in the crawl space and even in the basement (much to the interest of our cat). We could hear squeaking and playing and who knows what going on.
The war begins:
I have snap trapped at least 10 on the roof and one in the basement. The ones on the roof are roof rats (brown and smaller) the one in the basement was a LARGE Norwegian rat. I have blocked up all the suspect entrances but with such an old house I am sure there are areas I have missed. They were still around. So – I hired Alpha pest control (www.alphaecological.com). They use a different kind of poison that is highly toxic to rodents but not as toxic to other beasts. They baited around the house and I haven’t seen a rat in about a week. I also cut all the vegetation around my roof line and put rat stop (plastic vinegar jug cut into a cone) on the power line coming into the house.
I think the battle has now turned in my favor. Good luck!