Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with rat

There are rats in the kitchen, what am I gonna do?

mygothlaundry — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:53:12 -0800

Several questions about rat infestations, including this one: If I use poison on the giant rats who are suddenly infesting my house, what are the chances of a poisoned rat deciding to die where my dogs can get it and then, if they do get it, will they die too? I have a sudden and horrible rat infestation in my house. I've read all the other AskMe rat threads and, based on their advice, I purchased and used a RatZapper. So far I have killed three giant, huge, enormous rats in my kitchen - we're talking like 8" to 10" long here and that's not counting the tails. I got two with a black plastic snap trap and one with the Zapper. I don't know where they're coming from although I suspect from somewhere under the refrigerator. It's been two or three days since the last rat died and I haven't seen any evidence of more rats in the kitchen since.

Question 1: Is it possible the rats are gone?
Question 2: How can I tell?
Question 3: How can I figure out where they're coming from?
Question 4: Any other trap recommendations?

I called my landlord, who said he was going out of town and, "yeah, whatever, I'll leave a package of rat poison in your mailbox, you had better put it in the basement crawl space, that's the thing to do." I have two dogs, a Springer Spaniel and a collie mix, both about 50 pounds and I've been afraid to use poison for fear that they would get into it. (They are big friendly floppy worthless wusses who are apparently afraid of the rats and they have been absolutely no help whatsoever in the continuing rodent crisis, by the way.) The dogs can't get into the basement BUT the locked door to the basement is located in the fenced part of my yard where they have free all day access.

Question 4: If I put rat poison in the basement, where will the rats go to die? Out in the yard?
Question 5: What if my dogs find and play with (I doubt they would eat it) a poisoned rat?

Any and all further information on getting rid of rats is very welcome. I don't know where they came from and I don't know why they suddenly appeared - I've lived in this house for over a year and never had a problem before.

How can I get rid of this smell?!

Orrorin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:14:14 -0800

A rat died in my wall (or ceiling), and it smells terrible. I'm leaving town for a week, what can I do to make sure the smell is gone (or greatly diminished) by the time I come back? My house had a rat problem, and my landlord opted to put bait in the attic. When asked about what would happen if one died in the walls, he insisted that the bait would make them thirsty and leave the house. No problem for a few months, but now there's definitely something dead.

I noticed that my bathroom was smelling sour a couple days ago, but I didn't think it would be a big deal. Now it's beyond belief nasty. The window is all the way open, I've taken everything out, and I've sealed off the bottom of the door to halt the stench.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, so Ive planned to leave the window open while I'm gone and put down some fly traps. What else can I do to help this awful process along, and will the smell die down over the week? If I were going to be around, I'd try and have my landlord do something about this, but I would prefer not to have him in my house if I'm not here.

Celebrate Chinese New Year, Come On!

notjustfoxybrown — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:58:28 -0800

The U.S. calendar new year sucked for my sister and me so we'd like to commemorate Chinese New Year today. How can we celebrate the Year of the Rat? Obviously, we could go eat Chinese food but since this is a year that symbolizes prosperity and some other good things, we'd like to recognize that too...especially the prosperity part. And we're in Phoenix, where the only scheduled Chinese New Year event occurred in January!

Oops, extra "pet" rat, non-fatal expulsion options?

singingfish — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:48:49 -0800

What to do about an extra "pet" rat. We have two domestic rats who get a bit of freedom (out of the cage for ~ 1hr per day so there is a risk of temporary escape). But now an extra rat has come into the house. Previously I've used poison to get rid of rat visitors (we live next to a creek so they're pretty common round about) but I'm reluctant to do so in case one of the pets escape. Any suggestions on how to proceed? The two pets are called "Dotty" and "Stripey" btw so we've christened the visitor "Hidey"

What's so great about Sinatra?

holdkris — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:25:19 -0800

What was (is) so great about Sinatra? I have heard lots of the songs, seen a few of the movies, read a few stories. I just don't get it.

Whither the word for rat-related?

delfuego — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 13:47:51 -0800

OK, so I'm sitting here with one of my buddies, talking about his research, and we realized that we know the word for "of or relating to mice" (murine), and the word for "of and related to cow" (bovine), but have no clue what the word for "of or related to rat" is. And after what we thought of as a pretty comprehensive web search (including this very good Google Answer), we're no closer to an answer. Anyone know what the word we're looking for is?

Toilet Rat

Felicity Rilke — Mon, 22 May 2006 17:21:10 -0800

A rat just swam up into my toilet. Can I flush it back down?

Where's my ratty?

asok — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 08:22:30 -0800

How do I kill a rat? I have caught a rat under a bucket with a rock on top. It is not very lively, but still alive.
It is illegal for me to release the animal alive. The council rat exterminator has a two week waiting list.
Last year I caught a rat and released it, I fear that this is the same one I have caught again. I do not want to release it again for it to return to eat my stored food.
I would like to despatch it without causing undue stress to the animal.
I have been advised not to touch it.
Maybe I should take it to the council and leave it with them?

Question number 8939

twine42 — Sat, 24 Jul 2004 17:54:22 -0800

Oh my god - is that a moth or a flying rat? [MI][moths][uk (possibly)]