Rats.......not the good kind!

I did not know where else to post this, but thought this was the best:
For some time my dog has been 'going nuts' about something under our deck. Then whatever it is moves to the wood pile, then the hedge in front of our deck.
To make a long story short, the other night she jumped INTO the hedge and out came a rat! I absolutely can not stand those critters! They freak me out. Bugs, snakes, mice don't bother me, but rats do sooooo much.
MY question is- how do we get rid of them? I don't want to put out poison or a rat-trap, because there are cats in the neighborhood, and squirrels that come around too.
Also, I am sure that there are at least two of them. I can't even stand to go out on my deck or back yard right now. I know I am probably a little silly, but it is kinda a phobia of mine. I don't mind pet rats, but the other ones............

Oh, Yorkster!! :eek: I know exactly how you feel!! Honey brought us 3 big rats (dead, thank goodness) in a matter of weeks. I did choose to call the exterminator, and he put rat poison under my house (no access for the dogs), and put a poison trap inside a little fenced area that surrounds my a/c unit and hot water heater (again, no access for the dogs, and impossible for the cats to get into). He saw evidence of them under the house in the crawl space, but they were coming in and out through air spaces between bricks. He cautioned me to never leave uneaten cat or dog food outside.

Knock on wood, I have never seen another one. We occassionally will find a dead mouse outside, but they are the victims of the cats.

You might call and exterminator and just ask how they would normally handle it when there are pets around. He said the poison would kill my cats or hamsters immediately, but since I had big dogs the danger was much less significant for them. I didn't care. I didn't want any poison anywhere near any of them.

Good luck :)

[ November 25, 2001: Message edited by: Logan ]

Yes, I was feeding the birds and squirrels up until last spring when I saw a couple rats on the bird feeder at night- fortuntely the feeder was a ways from the house, but I stopped when I saw that.
I think I will end up calling an exterminator soon, but right now $$$$ is a consideration since I was laid-off from my job a few months ago. I have periodocally (spellcheck) been letting my dog out to 'check it out' and hopefully they will get tired of her and move on.

Another thing I found out from the Health Dept. is that a rat can fit through a hole the diameter of a nickle........Ack!!!
Makes me cringe!

Thanks Logan and Spencer.

When I was a teenager, we had a rat problem in our house. They chewed through 3/4 inch plywood to gain access to our warm laundry room. We came home from grocery shopping one day to see a rat sitting up in the middle of the laundry room floor, looking for all the world as if he belonged there!
Until we could get some bricks and mortar to cover the hole, we came up with a unique deterrent.......
I found one of my brother's old work socks and filled it full of red cayenne pepper. I put cayenne pepper in the rat hole and blew it back into the basement (you know, a few well-placed puffs of air). Then I stuffed the peppered sock into the hole.
Well, about 9 PM that evening, we heard the rats chewing around the entry hole. Then there was silence for a few seconds, then they started to squeal loudly and run around as if they were racing one another!
They didn't try chewing at that spot again, gave us time to use bricks and mortar to close it up! :)

OH NO :eek: just got me a bird feeder - if it attracts rats - I DON'T WANT IT - but no life-perserving rat would dare enter my house - got 4 cats :D :D except one of my cats would run from one :)

I am hoping that the rat(s) will not want to enter my house with a dog and 2 cats. It's just the idea of them being around though! I find that every time I go outside, I stomp around and make a lot of noise, so that I don't startle them and they run towards me............I'm a wimp, I know.

I might try the cayene pepper thing too.

About the bird feeder- try and keep it out aways from your house if you can, otherwise I don't know if I would do it. The two favorite foods of rats are: cat/dog food, and birdseed.
I actually had the birdfeeder for quite awhile before I noticed the rats. I don't know whether they were there all along, or I just did not see them.

Even though we live in the city of Chicago we are adjacent to a forest preserve and have lots of critters -- even deer. Fortunately we've not had rats but we do have possums -- which look very much like rats. One got into the basement window well this summer and could not get out. When I turned the light on in the basement it lunged at the window which was a frightening sight! Teeth all bared and claws out. We put a board down in the well and it was able to climb out.

I've noticed it around again lately -- actually Edwina has noticed it and called it to my attention.

Perhaps you can tell yourself it is a possum rather than a rat?

Whatever you do, try to avoid getting bitten by the possum! If you are bitten, you'll have to go for rabies shots, and they aren't fun.
Usually possums will run from people, as will rats. If a rat or possum doesn't try to flee, you've a sick animal and need to destroy it immediately.

Okay.....I am going to try and think of it as a possum instead of a rat. I'lltry to anyway...........

I don't think I'll get bit since I am so afraid of them that I run the other way, and there is NO WAY I will even want to touch one, even if it is dead- that's my hubbys job!

EEEWWW!!! I can't stand creepy-crawlies in my house either! Once, when I was living with my then-pregnant roommate, mice started appearing out of the blue. She was really scared of them (so was I) and I was afraid one would startle her in the middle of the night and she would fall or something. So I went out and bought Brillo pads and spackling putty and went to work. I dragged everything around, went in all of the cabinets and removed the covers from all of the heaters. I stuffed all of the holes with Brillo and then closed them up with the putty. It was a lot of work, but those little buggers were gone and didn't come back.

BosMom, I love the cayenne pepper idea, lol! Brilliant!

uhg.. i get called cayenne pepper ALOT. because my name sounds sorta like ceyenne and my dad calls me ceyenneee

Possums play possum - if you approach them, they often "play dead" and can be picked up and moved - but of course, the odd one will bite so most people either won't try it or will at least wear heavy gloves when they do!

Wow Thelma, that is a good idea- I might just try that. Maybe that PLUS cayene pepper would work.
I'm not sure anything has gotten in the house yet, but it's getting cold (snow yesterday) and that is when I hear that it can happen.