# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  Rats in the roof

## vanessa

:Frown:  Please help with any suggestions!! We have a flat roof so there is no access into the roof cavity. We are having a lot of problems with rats in the roof - I can hear them at night and they are driving me crazy. I think they may be getting in under the corrugated iron sheets from the gutter. I have shoved rat sack into vents, but the rats are still there. Have also put ratsack into bait stations around the house and the bait is being eaten, but I am not sure if they are all nesting in the roof?? 
How can I stop them from getting in under the corrugations? Does anyone have any cheap ideas? I know that I can get aluminium mesh, but that is quite expensive (about $1800).  Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

----------


## Claw Hama

Maybe just call a local reputable pest company they usually have some super baits that are more toxic and may have cheaper sealing solutions. Sorry no other cheap idaes.

----------


## dazzler

This bloke works with rats as well apparently;   
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/DPallot/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]   :Tongue:

----------


## sundancewfs

expanding foam with nails pressed into it while wet? They will chew the foam but tend not to be able to chew through nails.

----------


## kombiman

Block everything you can.  Keep using baits, I have success with Talon 1 shot here in Brissy where the rats are everywhere and love trying to nest in the between floors cavity of our house as our chooks = food source.

----------


## Compleat Amateu

Good name for a movie on local politics. 
Seriously now, are you sure they are rats?  IM experience (significant) possums will go where rats won't, squeeze into any space, and resist such things as rat baits - they don't eat 'em.  They are also noisy, thump across the space, stain the ceiling with urine, etc etc.  A bloody (protected) niusance, but a different one than a rat challenge. 
If it is possums, baited possum traps on the roof at night (hire them) and a long drive the next day are the way to remove the critters.  But you also have to spend the money to block the access holes. 
Don't block their access holes and then find they are - or rather were - possums.  Dead possum in a flat roof stinks something aweful!

----------


## Make it work

Great advice about identifying the offender and traps if it is possums. But if it is rats, they may be immune to Ratsak, so you may want to try Talon or Bromakil. 
I have used Bromakil and I like the way the baits are waxy blocks that are waterproof, so they don't get ruined in rain. I have used them in the yard and in the roof with good success. Only problem is they keep returning and it is very frustrating, so I can sympathize with you.

----------


## GraemeCook

Hi Vanessa 
When we lived in Toowong we had little possums, half the size of a rat, that were quite cute running around in the palm trees.  They were less cute when they urinated on the BBQ or put on hob nailed boots and riverdanced in the ceiling and on the roof. 
We eventually used a stainless steel mesh to block all possible entrances into the roof cavity and removed a couple of trees that were closed to the house.   This eliminated the in-ceiling problem and over 90% of the roof dancing.   We could live with that:  much better to have the occasionally annoying possum, rather than no possums. 
Whether you have rats or possums, there is no point in removing them from your roof space if you do not stop other pests from re-colonising that space. 
Cheers 
Graeme

----------


## intertd6

Make sure you have some water available near the baits, this activates the poison, if no water is available they can eat the baits untill their droppings are almost pure bait ( blue for talon ) & it wont affect them.
Regards inter

----------


## bugsy

> Please help with any suggestions!! We have a flat roof so there is no access into the roof cavity. We are having a lot of problems with rats in the roof - I can hear them at night and they are driving me crazy. I think they may be getting in under the corrugated iron sheets from the gutter. I have shoved rat sack into vents, but the rats are still there. Have also put ratsack into bait stations around the house and the bait is being eaten, but I am not sure if they are all nesting in the roof?? 
> How can I stop them from getting in under the corrugations? Does anyone have any cheap ideas? I know that I can get aluminium mesh, but that is quite expensive (about $1800).  Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

  if you want to fill gaps , you can try using bulk steel wool. 
first thing to do;
cut back branches that maybe over hanging the house.
Creepers attached to the side of the house
If you have large trees , you can put wide steel collars around the trunks, this works for possums as well.
They slip on the steel as the try to climb the trunks
you get the idea.
Remembering that rats like to run up against something  
Stay away from ratsack in pellet form because rats will scatter the pellets everywhere and we dont want dead dogs, use the talon blue blocks 
 the blocks will come with a hole through the middle so you can nail them against something or put a wire through it , so the rats would pick up the bait and take off with it

----------


## JB

> if you want to fill gaps , you can try using bulk steel wool. 
> Stay away from ratsack in pellet form because rats will scatter the pellets everywhere and we dont want dead dogs

  Thanks for two great ideas.

----------


## Bloss

> Make sure you have some water available near the baits, this activates the poison, if no water is available they can eat the baits untill their droppings are almost pure bait ( blue for talon ) & it wont affect them.
> Regards inter

  Ah no that's not so  :Frown:  - they absorb the chemicals within a very short time through their gut and will find their own water source in any case. All these are anticoagulants (most work by reducing the amount of Vitamin K in the body which is essential for rapid clotting) the common older ones used warfarin (used to help prevent blood clots in humans) but the newer ones are longer lasting so kill in a single dose and also work where the local rats or mice are resistant to warfarin.  
These rodenticides work by thinning blood and this causes internal bleeding. It is also common for rats and mice to incur minor cuts and bruises simply by moving around or in fights with each other the poison means they will bleed to death quickly for even a small injury or a bruises. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_poison  :2thumbsup:  
But as other have said you should confirm what the animal is then use mechanical mans to block entry points. Steel wool is not suitable in humid climates (such as Brisbane) as it rusts rapidly. Inland and dry climates it can work well. Stainless steel works but costly. Often fine chicken wire scrunched can be forced into place and I have had some success using the SS fireguard gutter mesh - available in 6m rolls from bunnies and others - screwed over the top then bent down into the gutter. It is sharp stuff so take note of the warning on the packs. There is aluminium and fibreglass as shown on this  site (not suggesting that brand). http://www.protechgutters.com.au/materials.html

----------


## leeton

How do you know so much Bloss...you have an answer...educated answer to everything.
Well done...you are invaluable to this forum. :2thumbsup:

----------


## Bloss

> How do you know so much Bloss...you have an answer...educated answer to everything.
> Well done...you are invaluable to this forum.

   :Blush7:  :Blush7:  I blame my parents . . . :Biggrin:  Only partly joking - very fortunate genes and strong encouragement to always keep asking 'why' - so I've never stopped. So far all I keep proving to myself how little I know and how much there is to find out! So much to know so little time! 
But I enjoy reading and the 'interweb' and no subject is off-limits. I also like helping others find out more too and am on a perpetual band-wagon of looking to evidence and strong sources - there is so much dross and rumour and juts plain rubbish around. And I like being told something new or being corrected - that's how we learn and progress happens.  :2thumbsup:

----------


## intertd6

Having water available is something that I have witnessed & used effectively, if it's a dry time they just dont die quickly enough & can keep going for a couple of weeks & cause a lot of damage in the mean time, with water they are gone in a couple of days
regards inter

----------


## Bloss

I don't doubt your personal experience, but rats and mice need little water as they get most from their food. When eating grain or seeds or fruit they rarely drink at all, but if all they have as a food source is dry material they will seek out water - so that might be the explanation for what you describe, especially if the grain based baits were used rather than the wax based Talon-type.  :2thumbsup:

----------


## intertd6

Its the same with the wax based baits, sometimes the only water available is a little caught in roof guttering & thats where they die after they have had a drink
Regards inter

----------


## piscean

i've noticed that by the time they become thirsty and seek out water, they are already close to death. you can use water to try to attract them to an area to die and that makes it easier to collect the bodies but as bloss said the baits arent activated by water.

----------


## hardwoodjoint

I know this is'nt going to help you but at the time I thought it a bloody funny solution to rats in the roof. 
Some years ago I lived in Darwin and I met a Solicitor, who had, at one time, to live in a remote area with the job (magistrate).
They had rats in the roof so they got a python and put it up there to eat the rats!
The trouble was the python kept trying to get out of the roof, so this guy had to keep putting him back up.
I thought that was funny.

----------


## Bleedin Thumb

The whole idea is that the poison dehydrates them so they leave the roof in search of water. 
you don't want them dying in the roof!!!! so don't put water close by. :No:  
I have a flat roof and had the same problem. I fixed it by getting up there and cleaning the roof. IE stomping around in *my* boots....the noise must of scared them away. :Biggrin:  
I never saw them but I suspect they were ringtail possums or sugar gliders.  
Also that idea of steel wool sounds like a good way to start your roof rusting. :Cry:

----------


## Bloss

Well no - these poisons have nothing to do with water. They are anti-coagulants that severely restrict blood clotting. The rats & mice die from internal bleeding - from the common and, without the poison in their system, minor damage to their intestinal tract or they bleed to death from an injury sustained in fights or from cuts sustained while moving around. 
Minor bleeds are very common in all animals (as they are in humans) - when they have ingested an anti-coagulaant such as warfarin and the newer poisons these minor bleeds cause death. No water needed, no other food needed - just sufficient of the bait and time. They die where they die - you will have no control over that.  :2thumbsup:

----------


## intertd6

No doubting how the poison works & it does! but if it's a dry time they just dont die quickly enough & can keep going for a couple of weeks & cause a lot of damage in the mean time, with water they are gone in a couple of days
regards inter <!-- / message -->

----------


## terenjac

> I know this is'nt going to help you but at the time I thought it a bloody funny solution to rats in the roof. 
> Some years ago I lived in Darwin and I met a Solicitor, who had, at one time, to live in a remote area with the job (magistrate).
> They had rats in the roof so they got a python and put it up there to eat the rats!
> The trouble was the python kept trying to get out of the roof, so this guy had to keep putting him back up.
> I thought that was funny.

  Reminds me of a farmer who told his worker that the snake living in the shed rafters was the resident rat eradicator.  He said it was was a harmless python and could be ignored.    Unfortunately the python moved out and a very poisonous black snake moved in.   As the snake was usually almost invisible in the darker areas of the rafters no one realised the danger they were in.   When the truth was revealed the farmer and his worker beat a very hasty retreat !

----------


## lanaprince

I have the same problem with rats in the roof. It's true that the poison makes them thirsty and they come out looking for water. I have found dead rats in the guttering. NOT nice when your household water is from the rain tank.  I think they are becoming ammuned to the throw baits so only two days ago I put a rat trap up in the roof only to find they are so cunning, they have eaten the food without getting caught. I think all the noise they make at night is the rats having a "Laugh at the humans" party. I'm thinking a bloody big shot gun will do the trick  :Smilie: 
Lana

----------


## nww1969

My father always ties a nice fresh pumpkin seed onto the trap, no getting it off. 
I just keep a dish full of rat sack in the roof.
Do hear them after we have had some rain but gone within a day of a good feed.

----------

