Rat In Mi Kitchen

[Ross]

Both the lab and the boxer were strays, but the one I posted a few years back is the boxer. He is a good defender, too, but the lab is the killer. Such a sweet dog normally.

Apparently, neither is worth a damn at running off rats, though.

We had a lab/doberman mix that hated to see any creature, other than the two other dogs we had at the time, in his yard. He killed several possums, a number of squirrels, and a couple of birds. The pack, as we called the three of them, also terror and death death to any cat that dared enter their sight. Fortunately, they left the raccoons alone - those things can be pretty mean. They also made a huge racket when anyone approached the house.

[RedScare]

I had forgotten this thread was here. Guess I will give an update, since I went through 3 months of Dante's Inferno dealing with the unwanted guests. As stated before, I started with rat bait behind the fridge. I could tell that they were eating the bait, and saw a big gap where I thought they were entering the house. Turns out I was wrong. That was just another place they would go. I had an exterminator come spray for roaches, ants, etc, and then he put a pound of bait under the house where he could tell they congregated. It did kill a few rats, as I found one dead one in the driveway, and then one died under my cabinets that I could not get to. Three days of ubearable stench! The good news is that in Houston's heat, the rats dry out quickly, so the smell goes away quickly.

During this time, I found out where they REALLY get in...under my stove. I have a jenn-air with down vent, and the round vent vent goes through a square hole with a big gap. The rats have been coming in that way for a year or more, and I never knew it. I even came face to face with one in the cabinet next to the stove. We just stared at each other, until I finally decided to shut the door and let him escape. I was unarmed, afterall.

Then the trouble escalated. A rat dragged some bait from under the house, and my lab ate it. Luckily, I saw her with it in her mouth (the bait, not the rat), and took it away. Rushed her to the emergency vet on a Saturday night (not cheap). 3 weeks of vitamin K and about a thousand bucks later, she was fine. At this point, I brought in experts. The rodent guys set 7 snap traps, a couple of glue traps, and 4 box traps outside. He also plugged all of the holes with sheet metal, though not at first. I guess all of that bait killed off much of my problem, as we never caught a rat in the house. However, there are no more rats in the house, either. I did catch one in the box outside a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed that.

I have also installed wire mesh around the perimeter of the house to help keep rodents from under the house. It is attached to the siding and extends underground 8-12 inches, in case they decide to dig. It has the added benefit of keeping the dogs from under the house. I kept them out previously with an unattractive assortment of boards and concrete blocks. That has been cleaned up.

So, there is my struggle. All told, with exterminators, vet bills, traps, and construction materials, It cost me close to $2,000. Much of that was the mesh skirt around the house. My home is secure...for now. Finally, I can move onto another project.