What is happening?

[janedoe]

We caught two rats. Then nothing. To all appearances, these things came in when it got to around freezing at night.

We left the traps out. We left the pile of rat poison out. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

The basement used to be a two bedroom apartment. We intend to put it back in at some point and kept all of the drains for the bathroom and kitchen. Never in twelve years have had an issue. Walked by the capped drain for the bathroom shower yesterday and saw a bunch of rocks around it. Asked my husband if he put them there. No. I rationalized that the plumber put them there after he did some work last year and I just didn't notice it. Walked by it tonight and some of the rocks were on the floor and there was a significant hole next to the drain. Like a rat sized hole. Checked the rat poison and it had been eaten on. The rocks are apparently what's under our concrete basement. We refilled the hole and put a weighted piece of plastic over it.

Really?? What is going on here? Did we put up a sign or something? We live next to a barn which has been smelling more than usual and a recently abandoned house (for nine months out of the year) so I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid when I think that these structures are fostering these populations but am I wrong?

I am not happy at all right now. Not at all. Any ideas?

[Labradorks]

Do you have county or city vector control?

[janedoe]

I had to look it up vector control. No, we don't. People petitioned for mosquito spraying about eight years ago but we had to approve it on our properties and it was only down to the end of driveways. Other than that, it's a lot of land, much of it farmland and no controls whatsoever.

I just don't understand why we suddenly have rats of all things. The goats eat their meals that aren't browse in about five seconds and the few chickens we have left are contained. What the heck is so great about our basement?

[Labradorks]

Can you bring out a pest company to check things out?

[janedoe]

That's probably best. We have a pest control company for the yellow jackets that got away from us a few years ago. They have come out to spray the house every year now so that the contractors don't get attacked. I should call them. How embarrassing though. I mean, you have mice and you just trap them and that's where our heads have been. This is just a special level of ick. I should have them look at the house next door too. He seems to have dementia now and just doesn't care. I suspect it will be condemned when he passes. This is the bat house that I posted about a while ago. He nailed the door shut to the third floor twenty years ago and walked away. Who knows what's going on in there.

[shellbell]

I used to watch that show "Infested" on Animal Planet, they had an episode where rats had taken over an abandoned house, and when they ran out of food in that house they started to go over to a neighboring house in search of it, that was occupied with people who weren't too happy to see them. I'd try to get a handle on it now before it would get any worse.

Or go get a terrier! If I lived closer I'd bring Tux over, he is excellent at sniffing out rats in Barn Hunt.

[POPTOP]

Rocks in a floor drain sound like the piping that goes to the sump pump well. We have that in our basement.

I'd freak out with rats in the house. With you talking about the house next door, I bet that's where they are coming from.

Way back when, when we had chickens, we had a rat problem. They not only wanted the chicken feed, they would go after eggs too. That took a lot of work to rat proof their coop.

[Meeps83]

Ewwww rats! Careful you don't get the bubonic plague! Wear gloves and a mask around them, wash your hands, and be careful! Absolutely call the pest company!

[janedoe]

After some thought we realize that all of the neighborhood cats that hung out at the "abandoned" house were killed last winter by the bobcat. I think we need to be more practical about this and I need to suck it up unless I'm willing to put out a sacrifice cat which I'm not. I'm working on securing the entries. My mother in law ran the house like a wildlife preserve so it's only recently that there have been a limited number of possibilities for incoming vermin (after we did a bunch of work on the house). We have fifteen traps now, four different kinds, two kinds of bait and two kinds of poison. Something ate enough of the block poison that we're pretty sure it is dead or will die soon. I will call the pest control company and ask them their opinion. I definitely feel though that this may be an ongoing problem given the circumstances.

Back to smelling like a candy cane!

[janedoe]

I used to watch that show "Infested" on Animal Planet, they had an episode where rats had taken over an abandoned house, and when they ran out of food in that house they started to go over to a neighboring house in search of it, that was occupied with people who weren't too happy to see them. I'd try to get a handle on it now before it would get any worse.

Or go get a terrier! If I lived closer I'd bring Tux over, he is excellent at sniffing out rats in Barn Hunt.

I would completely take you up on that. Give Tux a big kiss for me.

I'm pretty sure that if I watched Infested, I would throw up. My imagination is bad enough when it comes to my own basement.