I got RATS in my WALLS! LOTS OF RATS!!?

Question:I live in Malibu and I love it. We have deer sightings daily in the yard, raccoons, coyotes, hawks, pelicans, bluejays, I even found a baby weasel in my bedroom the other day!
But the RATS in the walls, under the stairs, under the house, they are everywhere! I leave bait out, they eat it, die, and then the whole house smells like death for weeks. I leave traps for them in the kitchen and that snaps them dead, but HOW do I keep them OUT OF THE WALLS? I was thinking maybe mothballs? Or something else they may hate? HELP!!

Answers:
my dad used mothballs to keep squirrels from eating his flowers so i would try that.

sounds like you need a cat or... maybe cats

Call the local health department at once! If you have rats, so do your neighbors. It sounds like the rat population is out of control.

A food source like a restaurant that leaves food scraps around or trash bins that aren't emptied daily are drawing the rats. Rats do lots of damage to buildings and carry many diseases that they transmit to humans.

Seal up any areas where the rats have entered. Use steel wool in the holes as a deterrent and repair the damaged walls.

Have you called a rat exterminator? Try www.orkin.com and they will find someone in your area. I think you get $35 off your first service.

Yea...try again with real question...that or move away from the Beverley Hillbillies. If the name Jed Clampet is on your neighbors mail box, ask Miss Jane for help!!

It's usually a matter of two things:

Get rid of what attracts them.
Replace it with something they hate.

Could be as simple as cleaning the trash bins and then putting bleach in them. Kills the odor and leaves one they'll hate. Seal the trash so they can't smell it. No food ever left out in the open, including fruit and nuts.

Sometimes something as simple as cedar or really sickeningly pungent potpourri in the attic, crawlspaces, foundation, and so on -- will be annoying enough so that they'll leave. And even IF your neighbors have a problem, rats are smart enough to figure out that yours is the house that isn't worth invading. You'd leave a hotel that smelled like rotting food -- but it's 4-star service to them.

Traps are better -- you can avoid the death stench.
Try placing the bait around the perimeter of the property, not IN the house. Get it far from the house and they will follow the scent. And the bonus is that you'll kill other rats. The only problem here is if the bait will attract other species, so ask your garden shop for specifics.

People will sometimes set up holiday light strings in the crawlspaces and other areas -- the light is enough to really annoy them sometimes.

Good Luck... :)

That sounds like a good idea, I'm not an expert but my family had a big problem with flees so what we did is go around and find holes , possible hiding spots, opened them up, and bombed the house using those smoke bombs used to get rid of pests, it might work using some kind of rat bomb, it would get rid of all of them, and the smell can easily get rid of by opening windows when its done, we did ours then went on vacation so when we get back all the smoke and smell would settle down. That should kill them all out so u might not have any more, but they could come back from outside, or u can buy this thing u plug in the wall and it repels all kinds of house pests, and its said to not affect pets in any way, all it does is plug in the wall and most have a set range of how much area it protects, maybe at a local walmart in the garden supply, or tractor supply company because they have pest repel stuff. Well that's all that i know u could do, the last 1 i listed is probably best choice, but all would work. Hope i could help, and if u need me to find the name of the plug in product just let me know.

You need to get an exterminator because living with rats can be very dangerous and very unhealthy.
They should be able to help you find the places they are getting into your home so you can solve the problem once and for all.
You're braver than I am.I'd have to move out.
Good Luck.

WARFARIN is a good rat bait and when they die,they leave no smell as they dry up.
I used that in my mobile home over the winter when I wasn't there in case I got mice etc.