[2BNTV]

Massey solved my problem. Stuffed points of entry with steel wool. Rats traps outside of home.

They used "beef jerky" in the rat traps in the attic. Also helps to make sure the roof has end caps. Mine was missing one.

They can get into the smallest of openings and are a pain as they eat through phone wires and electric wires.

[pauld315]

Use glue traps with peanut butter and cut down your citrus trees...

[jackpot]

Gary DePalma does pest control, but you should insist on a free estimate before he does any work for you. He may charge you a $179.00 "service charge" just to come out and look at the problem.

[Chatbrat]

We used Tru-Tech--local # 352-630-2048---800-842-7296

Cost was $618.00==included repairs to attic vents--and sealing other access points

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by mrich61

THANK YOU ALL FOR your suggestions.....I will be pulling out my grapefruit tree and replacing it with a bottlebrush....ALSO, I should have shared the Villages is already "OVER pesticidal" and an offer like Dean's to treat with traps and pour liquid insecticide around my house every 3 months is a DEAL BREAKER.....rats don't cause cancer.....pesticides do and my Company is Alliance who uses environmental treatments.....they also wanted $400 to do this....I will be going the route with the alternate traps....THANKS ALL!!

Bottlebrush will attract large numbers of bees. They can become pesky. Twice I had large swarms of bees form feral bee hives in my back yard; once in a homemade screech owl nest, and once in a tree.

Feral bee hives are at greater risk to have "Africanized" (killer) bees. Also, are you sure that none of your potential guests, like grandchildren, are not sensitive to bee stings. I have one son who can go into anaphylactic shock if stung by a bee.

A note to my friend Graciegirl: I have been feeding birds with TWO bird feeders and a birdbath in my back yard for over 30 years. The only time I ever had rats in my yard was when they came up from a nearby swamp area to eat the tomatoes I was growing in the yard. I quit growing tomatoes.

I'll admit that I had to take measures to keep squirrels off of the feeders, but I also accomplished that with a very simple measure. I continue to enjoy a variety of birds at my two feeders in the back yard.

[Love2Swim]

Rats certainly go have after citrus fruits, but I'm not convinced removing the trees removes the problem. If you notice at your post office area, there are black rat traps around the building. Clearly there are no citrus trees there either. Rats are a problem in this area according to our pesticide people, because there used to be citrus groves here, and the housing in the villages has displaced the fruit groves yet left the rat population.

[eremite06]

Now I'm sorry I complained about the feral cats getting in my garbage!!

[Jimmydoodlebug]

Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa

YOU CAN HANDLE THIS PROBLEM.

I have had great success with rat traps baited with small strips of raw bacon. Tie the bacon onto the trigger with twist ties such as are found on some loaves of bread. The spring required to make a spring trap effective makes the trigger relatively insensitive, so you can't use a soft bait like peanut butter. Use something difficult to remove, like raw bacon.

Actually, I suggest you try the Glue Rat Traps such as those available at Walmart. They are cheap and disposable. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Catchmast...s-2ct/15723807

I recently had great success with a Glue Snake Trap which I bought from Amazon. The paperwork that came with it mentioned that it was effective for rats as well.

I wouldn't use poison. Rats sometimes die in the walls of the house if poisoned, and the smell takes a long time to go away.

I most certainly would not remove my citrus trees. I love both oranges and grapefruit. My late wife used to go out on a cold morning and pick some oranges off the tree, squeeze them, and we would have fresh, cold orange juice with breakfast.

Home Depot has new, unused five gallon plastic pails with lids for a few dollars. They work fine for storing birdseed.

One last word. Squirrels have the same affinity for birdseed as rats do. Your problem may be squirrels. Don't be surprised if you end up with some squirrels in your traps.

Sound advice.

[Carl in Tampa]

I am astounded at the prices people are quoting for a simple pest control issue. It is not as if the providers must come up with new technology.

The advice I gave previously was sound advice based upon having WORKED MY WAY THROUGH COLLEGE AS AN ORKIN EXTERMINATING COMPANY PEST CONTROL technician.

Unless you are physically unable to perform some simple tasks, YOU CAN DO THIS.

[Chi-Town]

Looks like I'm going to have to rent out the cat. She's small, but the rates are cheap.



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[Jima64]

Rattraps and glue boards. Why pay hundreds of dollars for someone to do the same thing? You can buy the commercial quality bait boxes just like at the postal stations. One brand is Rodent Baiters found online.

[Sandtrap328]

The best solution is to have a pest control company take are of the entire house for rodents, termites, roaches, ants, etc.

If you see any sign of the pest, call them and it is taken care of immediatly.

Or - let a couple of pythons loose in the lanai.

[MDLNB]

Not much help but we have a couple of resident feral cats that keep the rats and squirrels away. Last year, the snow birds came down and decided they didn't like the cats so the cats disappeared and the rats came back. We have never had any trouble with the cats in the past and they clean up after themselves. One resident that had been feeding one of the cats in her garage even had the female cat fixed so it would not reproduce. She's allergic to them so she could not adopt and house it. So, the rats came back and became a nuisance until another feral cat moved into the neighborhood. The only time you would see the cat was early morning or evening before dark. The rats disappeared over the summer, but now the snow birds have returned and the cat's body was found in front of a neighbors house, apparently poisoned. I know one Villager that had to pay $600 to replace wiring in his truck after a rat destroyed it by eating his wiring and the tubing on his windshield washer. He has since put an ultrasonic device on his truck, hoping for positive results.

I realize that this is not really much help, but you might give the ultrasonic device idea a chance. I have no idea whether it works or not.

[ettesisters17]

D-Con Mice and Rat killer Walmart and Lowes, Listen my boyfriend was confined to the bed so we put a few bird feeders out. Until we saw RATS We sure fattened them up in 4 months. #1 no more bird feeders. In 4 months, we put maybe two packages I'm not sure how many come in a package, but we had 9 huge RATS that died from eating the poison. If your neighbors are feeding the birds and now the rats live by you it is a vicious cycle. So kill them NO need calling a company just put these Feeder traps out. You will find them dead here and there and so will your neighbors but they will be thankful you did kill them. Best of luck this stuff is GREAT

[Crobar]

I had same problem thinking rats are eating peanut butter off
rat traps without tripping trap. But more than likely it's the ants that are getting the peanut butter as they are too light to trip trap. Try using food that makes it hard for them as suggested in thread.