Can I take care of a rat infestation myself?

[Nicholas1302]

Over the past few months, I can hear what sounds like massive rats crawing around in my walls at night. I can even hear the sqeak. There is a panel on the outside of my mobile home that has my hot water heater inside. I saw a lot of rat dropping in there so I put a big snap trap with some peanut butter inside with no luck. I don't have the money for a professional pest company. I was gonna move out of this place soon, and rent it out, but I need to get the rat problem taken care of first.

[InknKink]

Maybe, but would it be that much cheaper?

You're still going to need to buy the supplies in order to trap/kill them. And you really don't want rotting corpses in the walls. Plus you're going to want to take preventive measures in order to keep it from happening again.

My grandfather has a home out in the country and he's had issues in the past given winter here in Canada drives mice and rats to seek somewhere warm.

He attempted to deal with it himself. In the end, it took a professional to deal with the issue properly. But who knows.

I'm guessing a mobile home would be a much easier then a 2200sq foot home. Less area to cover. Less places for rodents to hide.

Only thing for certain is that you want to deal with the issue as soon a possible.

Rats do a lot of damage.

[WindAtMyBack]

I've never dealt with rats, but I've dealt with a lot of mice. I've tried a number of store bought traps. They work OK sometimes, but other times don't work at all.

I've found that a home-made drop trap works far better than any store bought trap. But since rats are a lot bigger than mice, a drop trap might be impractical for rats.

Try rat poison. If you want to be humane and live trap them, they'll just come right back.

Are you sure these are rats and not mice? Mice can make a heck of a lot of noise. They can sound gigantic when they skitter around in walls and other enclosed spaces.

[AMS700CX4u2]

Best approach is to limit food supplies no cardboard boxes or bagged items. Place cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil in all closed cupboard spaces. It appears that the oil irritates their sinuses. I have tried ultrasonic devices but have not found them very useful. Other tan mechanical traps that need to be checked frequently, I don't have any ideas.

[Hardon-Collider]

No. Rats are smarter than you think. They will see that trap and just say no thanks. They will learn to avoid it. They aren't interested in your peanut butter anyway. You have to make your house unappealing to them. The only way to do that is to put a dish of saltwater in the corner of your kitchen and a dish of salt in your walls. That's the only way to solve the problem without paying a professional.

[michael3478]

Lift up the mobile home with some jacks and stands and then start sealing all the holes with wire mesh, sheet metal, or some other material they can't bite through. The more expensive option would be putting the mobile home on concrete and then attaching a slippery fence around so they can't dig themselves through.

[Chazmatazz269]

Get you a weasel.