What's the best way to get rid of rats? Exterminator couldn't help.

Ok, hopefully you are talking about rats outdoors.

One of the best ways is to take away their food source. If there are dumpsters nearby, they have to be sealed so the rats cannot enter, keep all areas clean so there is nothing to draw them, trash cans covered, do not feed anything outdoors, not even birds. Keep the area uncluttered so there is no place to make a nest.

Set traps and you may have to resort to poisoning them.

Call your Code Enforcement office, they may have some more suggestions or can take action.

Good Luck, keep us posted!

Try your County's Health Dept. or ask the County Information Line which department handles rodent infestation.

If another part of our neighborhood is getting new sewer lines or other Dept. of Public Works improvements, rats will immediately run to the next neighborhood.

Did you know that rats love to eat cat and dog poop? Isn't that lovely? If you have animals, keep their droppings picked up at least once per day.

Fruit trees are a big attraction, we have given two feral cats a home. They have done a good job for us and our neighbors.

Compost bins are an attraction to rats also. We keep out poison in the commercial type boxes.

Wow! Why couldn't the exterminator help? Never heard of such a thing. I use catch and release traps. Everything has a right to live, just not around my house and pets.

Mix cement and cornmeal together. I am not sure of the ratio, probably 1 part cement to 2 parts cornmeal. Put it near their food source.

If they are getting into your house get steel wool and block anyplace that could be an entrance. Around drains, basement air vents etc. Rodents won't normally eat through it.

try bounce fabric sheets or Peppermint oil they don't like it. works on spiders too ( spraybottle with water and a few drops of peppermint oil shake and spray. put the fabric sheets where they were. you can also make a baking soda with a few drops of peppermint oil. mix and sprinkle carpet let stand for half an hour than vaccum. rats/ mice run along walls. this should do the trick.

cat

As long as the rats have food and shelter, they won't leave. You have to eliminate their food source and seal up their access to where ever it is you don't want them to live. Keep in mind they frequently live in vast underground tunnels with multiple entrances/exits. I've heard of people smoking them out or poisioning them with carbon monoxide using a hose from the exhaust pipe of a vehicle. But personally, I am not into killing things, I would try to find a wildlife relocation type service in your area to help you, they may have lots of helpful ideas that you wouldn't have thought up on your own. Good luck to you!

Get rid of what's bringing them in. The place traps.

I personally have no problem killing vermin. You can try anticoagluant bait, like D-Con. There are lots of others also and there is no secondary kill. I buy bait blocks and throw them under my house every year and have no more problems with rodents. i don't agree with Naomie, trapping and turning them loose on someone else is not right.

Thank you

Get another exterminator!

The one problem with D-Con type products is you don't want the rats/vermin dying under your house, or worse, somewhere in a wall. The odor is horrific. You've got to exclude them from the building first, so that can't happen. If you see a rat, chances are it's nest is no more than 100 or so feet away, as an exterminator told me. Get rid of any place they could be hiding/nesting, like under ivy or wood piles, compost piles, etc.

There is a copper mesh you can buy from hardware/Home Depot type stores which you can use to stuff holes, just as you would steel wool. The good thing about it is it won't rust. Also, you should then caulk or fill with expanding foam (one is Dow Pestblock, widely sold) any holes. A mouse can get through a dime-sized hole. Make sure your roof/attic vents and under porch vents, or crawlspace vents, are covered with hardware cloth or very small-opening metal/steel mesh (raccoons got in my attic that way--a very small vent hole, too). As others have said, they also hate peppermint, so you can soak cotton balls in peppermint oil and put in old stockings, or mesh bags, and change every couple of weeks for new ones. Don't forget garage doors and house doors--make sure they close with no gaps.

Remove any possible food source--they will even eat the berries off Virginia creeper/Boston ivy, and I've seen them climb a wall in Boston to get to them. Get rid of any bird feeders, they love bird food. A friend complains that rats climb a fruit tree in a neighbor's yard. Also, a farmer relative kept their bar soap in a tightly closed tin--rats will even eat that. Most barns/farms have cats for rodent control.

Naomie, apparently you didn't read my post completely. Anticoagulants have no secondary kill, that means that if you use an anticoagulant, a rat eats it, the rat dies, your dog eats the rat, the dog is not harmed. Anticoagulants are not poisons, they cause the rodent to hemorrhage internally and die. There is no SECONDARY kill. Your method just puts your problem off on someone else. Very nice neighbor.

A cat

If there are bird feeders or dog/cat food outside, get rid of them.