Albemarle County, Charlottesville Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, My name is Nancy my family and I live in Charlottesville Va. and we have had a rat problem in our house. We hired a company for rat removal and got rid of the rat problem for now. However the rat(s) were living in the ceiling in the basement laundry room. There is feces in the ceiling and the removal control recommended we pull down the ceiling which is just thin wood paneling, in order to remove the feces, and take away a place for them to hide in the future. After reading your website we are concerned about having my husband do this work. I'm pregnant an we have a small child in the house as well and don't want to be stirring up potential illness or problems. Also there are a lot of electrical conduits attached to the ceiling which we are concerned about. Do you think we can do this ourselves, or do you think we should hire a professional if you recommend a pro, how do we find someone to do this work? Everyone we've found just seem to be about removal of the rats, not clean up.
Dear David- Help! Need man. However, I am a single gal of retired age -semi rural. I am about to use a cylindrical attachment for drill to cut a 2 " drywall plug out of bathroom wall. This bath was added on. The noise does not always come from the same "section" so I am about to guess and go along the wall avoiding studs and taking plugs out (under counters) until I get to him/her. Then I will put a live rodent trap up to the hole and hopefully remove it that way before it dies. Question: Does this approach make sense? If I wait for a man to come help I fear it will die in the wall.
Dear David, We had heavy rain this past spring in the Charlottesville Virginia area ( so much for the drought) and there was a huge exodus of rats and mice into all of our homes. It was so widespread that traps were sold out in a 50 mile radius. Recently I pulled the bottom cushions of a sleeper coach up to turn them and discovered large clay colored dropping ( it was almost the size of rabbit food pellets) all over the back part of the seat area. Then a mouse or rat ran out a few days later. I believe it was in the mattress for some time. They also came up from a heating vent in a little used room. I am concerned about using the heat since they are under my house in the crawl space. What kind of company could I call to remove and dispose of the mattress safely? Would I be able to use a fabric safe disinfectant to save the couch and then replace the mattress? It is a very expensive couch that I wish to keep. I had my ducts cleaned a few years ago and I wonder if that loosened them and made it easy for the rats to get in.Thank you
Charlottesville Rat Control Tip of The Week
Why Do Pest Control Companies Do A Bad Job With Poisons When It Comes To Removing Rats?
Aside from not being able to get all the rats, there are many reasons why we don't feel satisfied when a pest control company uses poison in removing rats. At times, things end up worse than they were, with other issues coming up. Using poison on rats brings about more jobs for you as a homeowner.
Think of the poisoned rats that die in the open - what happened to them? The poisons used by pest control companies lead to massive internal bleeding. The affected rodents often end up bleeding out and dying anywhere the poison takes full effect. Imagine getting rid of the rat, and later having to deal with a bloody rat lying on your kitchen counter or your carpet?
This makes you feel like the pest control company has done an incomplete job. You will be forced to put on your gloves, grab a collection tool, and a plastic bag to collect the dead rats.
Aside from that, there might be some blood splotches to clean up. This needs to be done properly, as they pose a health risk to the household. After going through all this, you are faced with the problem of how to safely get rid of the bag - having a dead and decaying rat in your dumpster may bring other kinds of pests. You end the rat infestation with poison only to start a different problem with different pests.
Aside from the stress that comes with cleaning up after a dead rat, what happens if the rat does not eat the pest control company's poison? They can't force the rats to eat it.
When the rats do not eat these poisons, it can harm anything else that comes in contact with it including, children, pets, and other wildlife creatures.
Using rat poison as a method to remove rats leaves you wondering, is such a precarious pest control method worth it?
