San Francisco County, San Francisco Rat Control Situation:
I found you my doing a web search and happen to see that you used everything I have used, but I have not had the success you have had!!! Please David I hope you can help me. I live in San Francisco in the Oakland area on the cities eastside. I live in a gentrified neighborhood where they are tearing down abandoned homes and this is when the rat problem seemed to start. I started having a rat problem about 2010. Our street once upon a time had at least 8 feral cats, but now you hardly see any now. We at one time had zero rat problems. I have always owned cats but when my cat died in 2007 I switched to dogs. Now the male dog I have is a good ratter. I've seen him stomp rats to death. However, the problem is superseding his ability and on any given night I will see rats running around my kitchen 2 or 3 around the same times. I also think I have roof rats as I see rats upstairs that look and act different than the rats downstairs. So I'll sit and wait with my BB gun and hope I will hit one, which is rare. They almost seem to be able to read our minds and anticipate our next tactic. I have tried the Vector rat traps, baiting them with peanut butter, marshmallows chicken grease and they will eat the bait of and leave the trap untripped. I bought the cage traps, baited with dog food and the first few times did catch some but then the dilemma was I couldn't kill them like that, so resorted to poison and at first was killing them great then I started finding their droppings with the green in it and they were still running around. They soon learned to avoid the cages and poison. I brought a zapper; it was great for the mice I caught , but zero rat has been caught!! They also got into my basement by digging along the sewer line. My son has a red tailed boa ,which we thought about putting there, but it's too risky he would escape somewhere. I tried electronics and that just doesn't work at all! These ghetto rats are SUPER SMART. i went to a professional exterminator and he was telling me that this was probably one rat doing this and that some of the things I was telling him they do just wasn't true so i didn't use his exterminating services ,but, did buy the poisons from his retail store and place it as he instructed w/o relief of this problem. They steal too. When all their food sources were dried up, they came in my living room and nawed a rat head sized hole in the stiff plastic bag and stole 1/2 of a 1# bag of hard ginger candy and took it somewhere. There wasn't a trace. I stored my dog's food in a lidded tupperware container and they knawed right through that. My camera is missing, which was on my kitchen table,. Yesterday I was looking for my dish towel and they had put it under the kitchen sink as they had [artially pulled it through the kick plate., They stole paper $5 money from my son's table and it was found inside a hole in the wall. I found where they chewed through mortar so remortared those areas only for them to do again. They are destroying my home and my peace and I am almost ready to just burn this house down (figurative speech). I see them outside like squirrels looking at us and I've called the city and they have done nothing! Is my house possessed by rat demons or is this a living earthly rat infestation that can be eradicated? Can you please give me some advice and direction, please?? Thank you, Ellen
My response: I have had rats steal my camera in the past too. I think it's probably a living earthly rat infestation. You need to find out how they are getting into your house, and seal those holes shut.
San Francisco Rat Control Tip of The Week
Different Rat Traps That Are Humane
A rat infestation is a big problem for almost every household. If you are having the same issues, you need to understand the fact that you are not alone in this problem. Although, you need to take quick removal actions because the rats won't leave unless you make them.
To help you achieve this, we will be sharing different rat traps that are humane that you can use to remove rats from your home. With the following traps, you won't have to bother about rats causing a nuisance in your home anymore.
Glue Boards
Glue traps are perfect for rats nesting in an enclosed area. These traps are designed with plastic and a semi-solid liquid that is believed to glue rats to its surface when they try to walk on it. To use a glue board, all you need to do is place it along the routes of the rat. The trap will intercept the rat's path and it will be trapped in the process.
The only issue with the use of this trap is that you will have to keep inspecting it from time to time in order to dispatch the rat from the board when it finally is trapped.
Fenn Traps
Fenn traps are designed for use in tunnels. The design of this trap makes it possible for it to trap rats only and prevent interaction with other non-target species. It's a special mechanism that makes it possible to kill the rat humanely by constricting and suffocating it.
Snap Traps
Snap traps are one of the most commonly used rat traps and are most suitable if you want to trap rats in your attic and other places in your home with limited access. It also kills rats instantly and is very effective in removing rats.
