Rats in the Attic


For the past week or so we have been hearing noises in the attic. Penny was the first to hear it and said it sounded like something running around on the roof. For the last 2 nights we’ve hear scratching sounds and little footsteps scampering around. It was definitely an animal in the attic and most likely a rat! (hopefully not lots of rats).


It’s not safe to have those critters up there – apart from the noise they like to gnaw on things like electrical wire. They are a safety hazard. So I did some research on the web and found that my course of action should be:
1. Find where they are getting in and seal it up.
2. Trap the rat(s) that now can’t get out


The advice on trapping was to use 10-20 traps and place them against the wall where you see droppings and other signs. Putting traps out in the open is no good, rats stick to the perimeter when they move around. Peanut butter is good bait and one site recommended using dry dog food as an attraction and surrounding the approach with traps bated with peanut butter.


So I got a dozen traps (I figure it’s an investment for safety) and spent the day making sure all the roof vents were nailed tight. I found one that was pried open – perhaps the entry point. I also trimmed some branches that were close to the house. Another place where they could get in is the garage. There is a space on the top of the garage door where a rat can squeeze in. Did you know a mouse only needs a quarter inch to squeeze in while a rat can fit through a half-inch space? Critters in the attic are usually rats and they normally don’t come down into the house. Since they need food I figure they’ve been feeding either on the outside cat feeder or in the garage where we store cat food.

After closing all entry points it was time to put out the traps. Our attic is very low. Too low to stand or even sit so all movement is crawling. I gave my arms a pretty good test today crawling around up there and they passed. I set 8 traps in the attic and 4 on the garage floor then came in the house. I didn’t expect results for a while. I figured the rat(s) would be suspicious of the traps and be too wary to get close. But only about a half-hour after I got through setting the traps we heard one snap in the attic. It definitely got something because we heard some noise from the animal trying to get free – obviously not killed instantly, but it didn’t take long. Now I have to crawl up there tomorrow and see what happened.

Update - Right after I published this posting we heard another trap go.