Thread: Rats

Send a cat in after it.

Seriously the spot were the smell is the worst the dirty little rat ought to be, so cut a hole in the wall there and remove it. Then fix up the plaster.

Peter.

Ahem, I have a very unusual house Weatherboards on the inside of a little area where the rat is. yes weatherboards! Someone back in 1968 thought it would be easier and cheaper to close in an area for the laundry and to just leave the old exisiting weatherboards on instead of ripping them off and replacing with t&g or plaster (fibro I think was popular back then too). I do intend on ripping the boards off, but that is on a priority based plan.

Do cats eat dead rats? LOL

My advice is don't keep your dead rats in the walls. Put them in you hand bag or something like that where you have easy access to them.

Gemi, trying not to LMAO It reminds me of the sewing the prawns into the curtain hems trick. Nothing for it, demolition time or put up with the smell for another month or two. Possums are worse . Nothing like RatSak.

Grab a Jimmy bar and see if the weatherboards are going to spring off without too much drama. Sometimes they come easy and can be put back up.

Cheers

Hehehe giggle giggle Hehehehe (sorry)

Originally Posted by gemi_babe

Do cats eat dead rats? LOL

Not sure, but definately worth a try. If the cat eats the rat and dies send in a dog to get the cat.

I have a weatherboard house, but on the outside only. One side gets the full sun, wind and rain more than the others and is more prone to rot in parts. I found that it is easy to replace sections by cutting with a CS, with the blade set to the depth of the boards, over the middle of the studs. Then gently pry of the boards, remove the offending dirty little rat and renail the boards.

As you intend to remove the boards in due course the cut lines would not matter but you can always mask them with gap filler. BTW I keep an old 7 1/4 saw for this purpose as you're likely to cut through nails doing this.

Peter.

Gemi,
Other than cutting/removing the boards leave it be and the smell will eventually go - It may take a couple of weeks but it will definitley go. Years ago when I was out in the country we had a huge mouse plague and had the same thing happen with a few dying in the walls in the walk in pantry - nearly took your head off every time you walked in the smell was soo bad - but after about 1 week it subsided quite considerably and after about 2 weeks was virtually gone. We just had to 'grin and bear it'.
Another problem we had if we were going to cut holes in the walls was also locating the exact spot they were - so we just left it and all was fine after a while - used a lot of air freshener and also burnt aromatic oils in burners too to help.

If you have insurance, burn lots and lots of aromatic oils .
Just make sure you take out all your goodies before the burn. :eek:

Al

gemi

I don't want to be alarmist but I think you should get it out as soon as you can. I know Pete said that the smell will go in a couple of weeks and he is right but in the meantime it might attract other creatures, either other rodents or insects etc. My cousin had a rat die behind the kitchen units and left it there as it was too hard to get out. On the morning that found the whole kitchen floor covered in maggots, she felt that it probably wouldn't have been so hard get out after all.

Some of the ideas above are probably worth the effort.

Simon

Just watch the wiring if you take to the wall with a saw.


Cheers

What's on the other side of the wall?

Know the smell well.
Best advice is to do nothing. It will go away in a week or two.

Buy some of those sweet smelling spray can thingos and spray often.

Probably time for a weeks fishing trip.

LOL maggots are no longer a problem, I got huge flys though LMAO

Anyone know if a dead rat can move? Cause the smell has gone from the middle of the house to the pantry area which is about 6 mtrs away. Or does the rat start to stink before it dies? I'm ringing the pest control man. He has to maintain this so Me thinks its his job to get rid of it ha ha ha

I wont be ripping off the boards as I have an angled ceiling to deal with.

I'm bearing it just! Thank goodness for sunny days, windows wide open, toilet spray on tap

I'm laughing about it squizz, can't help it, it is funny LOL

OK Gemi, here's the go. If you reckon you know where it is, use a jig saw to make pocket cuts through one weather board, about a metre either side of where you reckon it is. (Remember what Squizz said about the wiring) Use an old screw driver &/or pinch bar to remove the length of board. You may be lucky enough to get it off in one piece, but don't bank on it. The rat will probably be either at the bottom of the wall or sitting on a noggin. Just hope that you get it right first time.

Once you've found it, scrape it out into a bucket, while holding your nose. The rat will probably be almost liquid by now.

Swamp the area where the rat was and all around it with vanilla. This is the best thing I know of for covering up the smell.

Replace the length of board and fill the gaps with the filler of your choice.

Best of luck.

When we bought our house we had it pest inspected and treated, the dude came out of the roof with a mummified rat carcase that had been there "for a while" hmmmm.....

Cant help with the dead rat but I have heard the best way to get rid of live ones is to mix plaster of paris with flour and leave it out for the rats to eat. they eat it and then the plaster goes off in thier stomach and they go away to die somewhere as they cannot do number 2's. so long as they dont die in your walls your ok I suppose!!! which is more than I can say for the rat - bit cruel innit ?

Cheers