Roof Rats-Please Help!

My husband used poison for years to control the rats before I moved in. I tried it and thought it was stupid. I went out and got some wild kitties and tamed them. There are tons of feral kitties in vegas due to people moving out of apartments and just leaving their cats behind to fend for themselves. I suggest you go and get two and I can guarantee that your rat troubles will be over. You can close off and exterminate as much as you want but they will always come back unless you make them not want to be there.

As for the insulation we hired some boys to get it out for 10$ an hour. We bought them masks and gloves and grab it tools for the tough parts, and a few rolls of big heavy duty trash bags. We at this time do not have insulation but I am now in san diego and it is not as big of a deal. I suggest the spray on insulation that goes on the ceiling it is costly but it will save you a ton on your air conditioning bill. I have a friend on russle and the 215 that did this and it cut her power bill in half just make sure you get closed cell foam.

Good luck.
T.

Ok, how hard is it to buy your own traps or put some rat pellet poison down, the rat germs are not going to spread to your house, a little lysol is good but your obsessing about this, cancel the exterminators,take a brown bag, and sweep the rat & trap in it throw it away.. the traps are cheep to buy so it the rat poison, as long as there are cables that run behind your home , then to your home rats are running them, rats have been here a heck of a lot longer than us humans.

Yes, get a cat. Or 2 even.

Also, it would help if your surrounding neighbors are ALSO getting rid of their rats too. Otherwise, it will be a continual problem.

And like the others said, cut back all vegetation around your home. And any trees/shrubs anything, that the rats can climb on and use as a "bridge" into your home. ANYTHING outside that touches your roof-line or home, will simply be a way in which the rats can enter your home.

If these rats are all over your town as you say, it is a real BIG health problem, due to infectious diseases etc.
Can't people petition the City or something, and MAKE them do something about it? Imagine this problem in restaurants, hospitals, care homes, schools, factories, hotels etc. It's a BIG health and sanitation problem... write a letter to your Editor or the City & County or the Mayor even.

Good luck,
Susan

Hi, J.

The exterminators should have plastic sheets which they can place on the floor of the closet and the entrance into your bedroom/bathroom. Have them remove the plastic when they leave. If they don't have the plastic sheets, you can buy them at Home Depot or a place like that. If you don't want to purchase them, just use some plastic garbage bags which you probably have anyway. This way, anything that drops down will be safely disposed of and you'll be able to rest a little easier. Good luck! I hope those roof rats aren't in the Carson City area! ugh

L. M

Get some cats, and cut the trees that allow them to jump onto the roof

We live in Los Angeles but use Terminix (a national company - probably one in your area). We have had other companies but this one is the best. Excellent customer service and if you sign up w/them for yearly service they will come out to fix any problem - ants, rats, whatever free of charge as long as you are on their (affordable) plan. Give them a call for a second opinion. We've saved a lot of money with them as we have a lot of trees in our yard and a lot of pests!

I think that price is extreme and outrageous! I use Desert Pest Control and when a cat brought a mouse to my front door my exterminator brought 2 black box traps and set them outside. I haven't had any signs of mice or rats, but it makes me feel better to have them in place. I can understand your freaking out!

As for the roof rats, my boss mentioned having some in his neighborhood a while back and trimmed their trees back away from the houses so they did not have access up to the roof. Apparently, they climb telephone poles, then jump into the trees, and then onto your roof. I think I will trim my tree back about now!

But, I had a bee hive about 5 years ago and the Bee Master came in and inspected, searched and found the hive, removed it by cutting a hole in my roof, adding additional insulation, and re-inspecting again. That cost me $500 and it cost me $500 more to have the contractor come out and repair the room and put the tiles back in place.

Check with Desert and see what they will charge. Tell them C. Stephens sent you, I have been with them for about 9 years now.

Always get at least 3 bids for a job like that. I've done a lot of remodling in both the homes we've owned and I recently built a house for my Mother. You have no idea the difference in cost between companies for exactly the same job. Bids for a driveway we put in ranged from 11k to 23k!!! Call a clean up company that comes in after a flood or fire and have them bid on the attic clean up. The fact that the exterminator is already there gives them an advantage in their minds. If they are already doing work for you they'll bet you'll hire them for the clean up and give you a higher bid. Its all business and they'll raise a bid depending on what they think you'll pay. If you've been stressing right in front of them about the filth your obsessing about they know it and see an easy mark. You could find almost anyone to clean out the attic, it is not a specialized job, just an icky one!

I have skunks under my house. Want to trade? Seriously, I've had rats in my attic before, make sure there are no openings into the attic or crawl spaces. Rats can squeeze themselves into 1/4 inch openings. Our exterminator also sprayed some kind of foamy stuff around any openings to additionally block them. If you have ivy, get rid of it, rats love it and keep vegetation away from your roof. The same rat germs in your house are outside your house, my advice is get over it. In this economy spending $6,300 to eliminate rat germs is just plain crazy.

OKay, not sure how to help you w/ the rat problem...but when we had an attic fire in our old house, we had to have all the insulation sucked out and replaced ( we replaced w/ fiberglass instead of that nasty "recycled paper" that is supposedly fire retardent....which DID catch fire and smoldered for hours!!! Anyway, it was very expensive, but our home insurance paid for it (minus the deductable); the whole procedure was done by a home restoration company...perhaps check w/ your insurance since your insulation is ruined by infestation and must be replaced, and check w/ home restoration companies for bids on this. Good luck...sounds like a very trying time. Oh, also, at the time SDGE was offering rebates on insulating your home...this helped offset the cost too. I'm not sure if it's offered this year or maybe in 2009?

Dear J.:

I'd never heard of this (roof rats?!!?!) until I read your post and I'm having a small heart attack just thinking about it! GROSS! I live in Henderson, too!

All I can tell you is that the price seems WAY overboard! Come on! I don't like to think that people would take advantage like that, but the part that reeks of "SCAM" is the part where they're piece-mealing the cost. An honest company would go in, inspect and give a TOTAL amount for abatement. That's how it's done for all pests or problems: pigeons, ants, mold, etc.

I wish you the very best in finding someone who DESERVES to be in business and is fair in dealing with others. When you find them, be sure to come back on here and tell us who you found!!!

Best wishes,

M.

Trim all your vegetation back to within 4 feet of the house. Eliminate all sources of water and food. Things like fruit trees, dog food, open trash cans, bird baths, and swimming pools are very attractive to rats. Get rid of any place they can nest with in the house/attic or garage. Eliminate wood piles, trash, or other cover or bedding material. You have to get your neighbors to do so as well if you want the little guys to leave for good. To know if your attic really needs such a thorough cleaning you need to know how many rats you have living up there. Rats are a very common, though disagreeable part of suburbia. There are lots of them. The amount of droppings is what you need to concern yourself with here. Having a rat run by you won’t give you disease. Being bitten by their fleas or breathing the dust from their droppings might. You can check with the health authorities in your area to see if there have been any out breaks of disease. I would defiantly check around to see if I could get a better price than the one they quoted to clean your attic. It seems like they are cashing in on your fears.