Rats in the attic

[Nephrology]

This is not about metaphorical rats - oh no. This is about the real, fur and flesh bastards who are living in the attic/walls of the condo my girlfriend and I just moved into.

At first we just heard them in the walls at night, but last night while I was out my girlfriend swears they were in the kitchen and making a ruckus trying to get into the trash can. I found what was probably a rat dropping on the kitchen counter this morning - I've worked with rats and mice in a research setting pretty extensively, so I know what their turds look like, unfortunately. That is the last straw - time for them to die.

So, the real question - how do I kill them? I did some reading online and the following seems to sort of be the consensus:

1. Seal up any food in the kitchen in jars/boxes, be extremely clean so they don't have any food.
2. Seal up any possible routes of access so that more don't get in.
3. Once #1 is accomplished, set traps, kill the rats, throw their carcasses outside.
3a. Some recommend leaving the traps baited but unset for a few days to a week for the rats to get used to eating from them.
4. don't use poison - they will rot in the walls and it's inhumane, or something.

Anyone here have any experience with exterminating rats? Is the above the consensus?

I am thinking of just hiring a professional because step #1 would be very problematic in our condo, as we are just 1 of 4 units in the building. I would need to essentially wall off the shared attic crawlspace, get up onto the roof, and install steel mesh wherever I see a possible entrance. This is not really possible as I don't have a ladder, am terrified of heights, and I don't think the HOA would be in love with me tinkering around with the roof, anyway. Our HOA might actually cover it, too, as they are undoubtedly in the other units if they are in ours....

[Luke]

We have a couple large fields next to us that get cut like twice a year, every time they cut it we got a few mice. I asked an exterminator and he said buy a hawk or a cat. He told me there wasn't much he could do besides set traps, which I could do for a lot cheaper. Snap traps or large glue traps work. If you can get a cat to keep outside that works too. There is an outside cat that roams were I live, I don't think anyone feeds him but he stays fluffy. Pretty sure he's a hardcore mouse killer.

[Suvorov]

I had a rat infestation a couple years ago. My visitors were coming from the crawl space up into my kitchen, as with you, I found their calling card on my counter. Called the exterminators and this is what we did -

1) They told me that unlike mice, the rats did not actually live in the house and wall. They live outdoors in the vegetation but raid buildings at night looking for food at night. This is why you hear them at night. In my case a big construction project was going on 3 doors up that probably stirred up the rats. The first step was to seal up the exterior of the house to prevent them from getting in. They most likely came through the holes in the wall around piping. I stuffed the gaps with steel wool - the rat's don't like gnawing through steel wool. I also used spray in urethane insulation in some places although the rats teeth can make short work of insulation.
2) Because I'm an evil gun owner, I had no problem poisoning them outside the house. Poison bait was placed into PVC tubing that was small enough to prevent cats, dogs, kids or other non target animals from getting out and then placed near the thick vegetation and other avenues of approach of the rats. The reasoning here is that when these rats die, it will be outside and not in the walls where they will rot.
3) Finally inside, I set up traps to kill any that may still be roaming around in the crawl space or get into the home despite my efforts at sealing it up. The bait was never even touched so I don't know how valid the letting them eat the bait before springing the trap technique would work.

In the end, the sealing up of the house did the trick as I never did find a rat in any of my traps, but the raids did end. The outdoor bait traps got eaten and may have been excessive but I have little doubt that the rat community is thriving despite the poison.

I would go with professionals who will go up and do what is needed to seal up your exterior. Ask the other tenants, chances are they are hearing and having problems with the rats as well. Enough of you complain to the owner, maybe they will flip the bill or at least you can share the expense. Also, try to find the route they took to get into your kitchen.

[Nephrology]

I had a rat infestation a couple years ago. My visitors were coming from the crawl space up into my kitchen, as with you, I found their calling card on my counter. Called the exterminators and this is what we did -

1) They told me that unlike mice, the rats did not actually live in the house and wall. They live outdoors in the vegetation but raid buildings at night looking for food at night. This is why you hear them at night. In my case a big construction project was going on 3 doors up that probably stirred up the rats. The first step was to seal up the exterior of the house to prevent them from getting in. They most likely came through the holes in the wall around piping. I stuffed the gaps with steel wool - the rat's don't like gnawing through steel wool. I also used spray in urethane insulation in some places although the rats teeth can make short work of insulation.
2) Because I'm an evil gun owner, I had no problem poisoning them outside the house. Poison bait was placed into PVC tubing that was small enough to prevent cats, dogs, kids or other non target animals from getting out and then placed near the thick vegetation and other avenues of approach of the rats. The reasoning here is that when these rats die, it will be outside and not in the walls where they will rot.
3) Finally inside, I set up traps to kill any that may still be roaming around in the crawl space or get into the home despite my efforts at sealing it up. The bait was never even touched so I don't know how valid the letting them eat the bait before springing the trap technique would work.

In the end, the sealing up of the house did the trick as I never did find a rat in any of my traps, but the raids did end. The outdoor bait traps got eaten and may have been excessive but I have little doubt that the rat community is thriving despite the poison.

I would go with professionals who will go up and do what is needed to seal up your exterior. Ask the other tenants, chances are they are hearing and having problems with the rats as well. Enough of you complain to the owner, maybe they will flip the bill or at least you can share the expense. Also, try to find the route they took to get into your kitchen.

Thanks for the tips. I've already pulled out the oven and looked under all the cabinets to see if I could find a hole, but nada so far. I'll see if I can check behind the fridge when I get home today.

As for sealing up the house, like I said, we're on the 2nd story of a 4-plex and have plenty of trees overhanging the roof - I have no doubt that they'll be able to get in from there. Unfortunately, my girlfriend owns the condo, so we might be on the hook for extermination fees, but that might depend on how our HOA feels about it. They are responsible for our porch, roof + exterior and theoretically anything that isn't uniquely ours. We share an attic with the other 2nd floor condo so I might ask her if she has had any issues.

I have no issues using poison either - I've done plenty of equally terrible stuff to research animals, so not squeamish there. I just don't want a whole litter of them to die and rot in the attic. The smell would not be terribly welcome. That said, we are planning a week long trip to Oregon, so I might just set out some bait stations before we leave. Hopefully they'll have eaten it + be dead and have finished decomposing by the time we return.... but that might be just wishful thinking.

Not sure if I want to leave it outside either, as we do have lots of neighbors with pets and I wouldn't want any of them to get curious and eat them. I'll do a walk around the building today and see if I can find any obvious ground level routes of access, though.

[JTQ]

I would go with professionals who will go up and do what is needed to seal up your exterior.

That's what I did. They set traps in the attic and sealed up all possible access spots. We never did catch anything in the traps, but they seem to be gone without access to the attic.

The exterminator did comment on the poison angle, that if used inside the house, the rats end up dying in the attic or walls and stink the whole place up.

[Clusterfrack]

That sucks. Rats are really tough to get rid of unless you can eliminate the food source. Professionals are probably your best bet. Otherwise you could...

[Shotgun]

There is a poison your exterminator can use that makes them thirsty. The rats eat the poison, it makes them thirsty, they go outside to find water and die outside. We have had to use this in my house and it has worked like a charm -- no rotting rat corpses in the walls or attic. You should ask your exterminator about that.

[JTQ]

Otherwise you could...

I like the tactical flashlight mount.

[Nephrology]

There is a poison your exterminator can use that makes them thirsty. The rats eat the poison, it makes them thirsty, they go outside to find water and die outside. We have had to use this in my house and it has worked like a charm -- no rotting rat corpses in the walls or attic. You should ask your exterminator about that.

I will check on it.

Honestly, even though I will probably buy a dozen traps to satiate my bloodlust in the short-term, I think we will end up going with a pro. My biggest concern is that not only will I probably be unable to seal up the condo + kill them all myself, but I also am worried about whatever they've left behind. Really don't want Hantavirus, and I am concerned that they might have irreparably damaged wiring/insulation/etc in the crawlspace. Those are definitely not problems that a DIYer like myself is prepared to handle.

[Nephrology]

Also, I am not a cat person (definitely a dog person), but my girlfriend has wanted a cat for a long time, and after this quite frankly I am more than happy to get onboard.