Rats/mice in garage and kitchen.

[johnmichael]

does anyone know if plug in ultrasonic rat/mice scarers are effective?

[WelshBoa]

I personally wouldnt bother with those. Ensureanything they can eat is removed or put into plastic containers for instance which they cant get into.

Also ensure if you have any buckets/containers in the garden with water in, that these are emptied as rats like water.

I deal with pest controllers quite a lot in my job and wouldnt advise putting poison down within the house unless its a last resort as they will crawl off and die somewhere which could cause a dire smell if you cant find the body!

I have had pretty good success in killing them in snap traps using peanut butter as bait. Put the traps along walls as they will scurry along walls rather than in the open. Remember to cover traps if outside to prevent any wildlife such as birds or cats getting injured by them.

Go for the snap traps that look like a couple of sets of crocodile jaws as these are far easier to set than the old fashioned snap traps.

Just noticed you said house, so just ensure you dont leave any crumbs etc on worktops or open packets of food and obviously look for any obvious entry points such as waste pipes exiting out of wall or poorly fitted doors.

And lastly dont leave back doors open in the summer as thats how I had a rogue rat in my house!!

[green1976]

I went through this same dilemma when I was replacing some plumbing in my kitchen because I had found some evidence of mice. I never had seen any evidence that was obvious in the house. I did a lot of research, and I found that the best thing you can do is make sure that your house is sealed and use traps when necessary. As mentioned above peanut butter can be really effective for bait. However, make sure that get them out quickly after caught!

[Hammer]

Rats like tunnels, especially of they smell food in them, if you decide to use traps put them in lengths of plastic pipes, maybe 4 inch pipes, make sure the trap has room to "snap", in the past i,ve just put rat poison in the pipes this protects Children, Dogs, Cats etc
Mice do not like Carbolic Soap or Mint so put this around any pipes coming through walls etc, e.g.washing machine outlets etc. or better still plaster the gaps.
Best of Luck, Hammer.

[No green fingers]

The best way to kill rats is traps, if you put poison down the rats eat it then go somewere to die and if it in your walls there die then smell, wilth traps at least you know they are dead,
if you do use traps make sure they are tied down incase you only just say catch the rat on the foot or back end, cheers jeff