My grandparents got back to Houston last night after spending 3 weeks here. My granddad decided to store the luggage in the attic for some reason and found some of the insulation and fiberboard all torn up, he figured it was squirrels so he called the pest control people today, turns out roof rats did the damage. Has anyone heard of roof rats?

The pest control told my granddad roof rats aren't really real rats and they won't come down into the house. He said that since my grandparents are planning to get a new roof in April the rats will probably leave once the new roof goes on and the temporary solution is using baits until they get the new roof. My grandmother is real upset because they live in a nice community, if you saw the photos of the house it's a nice house, not run down and dirty, those homes are like $300-$600,000 and would probably cost 2 or 3 times that up here. I mean when you think of rats its normally in the ghetto

around here we call squirrels, tree rats so maybe thats what he was talking about

The pest people are on glue. They are either rats or not. The two most common rats are Norwegian (sp?) are Roof rats. Rattus Norvegicus the former and Rattus Rattus the latter. These rats are rather large and will dig holes and tear things up.

I highly doubt they have rats. Are there Pine trees or evergreens nearby?

My back yard is lined with pines and I am still trying to get the red squirrels out of my house. I almost bet that is what they have.

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They kinda act like squirrels, but they don't look like them. They're attracted to citrus trees around these parts...

Last time I checked, rats didn't care whether they lived in the ghetto or the burbs. Now, squirrels and chipmunks on the other hand are a bit more picky.

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Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
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...a very curious 1st post from anyone.

That's not his first post. He's only made one post in a forum other than OD. If you recall, posts made in OD do not add to your post count.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

In another life, I managed several different nice apartment complexes. At one time or another, I had to deal with rats in every one of them.

Rats are just looking for food and shelter. Social status makes no difference to them.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I had an infestation of opossums in my attic a while back. In the end the trampled down all the insulation and I had to get a new layer reblown. Besides that they piss ever where and one had a litter of pups that fell down between two walls and died. Not a good smell.

Damn. I had to find one piney in my attic that I shot with a bb gun. He burrowed himself in the insulation. I couldn't imagine having something fall down between the walls.

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'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

The momma opossum had given birth to them on what used to be an outside wall. The roof tapered down to the wall so that the only way I could see down into the cavity was to use a small mirror. There I found about 5 dead babies. I couldn't snake them out so I just dropped some deodorant down there and went about my business.

killing them with bait is stupid--they will crawl into the walls to die. havahart traps, but put up galvanized mesh over the eves first.

Roof rats are related to rug rats...sorry I couldn't resist..

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"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
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In the suburbs we mostly have mall rats.

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OBK #55

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Oh boy do I hate rats!

I live in Tacoma, WA and we have the native Black Tree Rat and the Norwegian Brown Rat(Warf rat).

The brown rat is by far the most destructive and numerious. These suckers can get huge. I was taking the dog out to potty a few nights ago and I saw a shadow in the yard. I thought a cat crouching down at the sight of a dog but as I got closer and the shadow got bigger and I realized it was a rat. Damn thing was totally fearless of both me and my 95 lb. dog. It just walked off like nothing was amiss. The brown rat will take advantage of any opening or create one.

The Black Tree rat is less common and prefers your attic. Eliminate all access to your roof from tree limbs and shrubs. They will run down wires but only for short distances.

I have waged war with rats for years. I have used both professional services and over the counter products. Here are some tips.

FIND AND ELIMINATE ALL ACCESS! This is far tougher than is sounds.

Rats can squeeze thru a very small hole, about the size of a quarter. 1/4 wire screen, sheet metal, and steel wool are your friend.

NEVER USE POISON BAIT! The rat will die under or in your house and create a terrible stink. Pets WILL eat this stuff, it is flavored with molasses.

Use live traps or snap traps. When you catch one in a live trap, toss it in a 5 gallon bucket and fill with water. Wire snap traps to an object the rat cannot drag away. I caught one rat with a snap trap right on the neck and it was able to flop about 30 feet over a false ceiling before dieing. That noise in the middle of the night was very unnerving.

Bait your traps with peanut butter.

Run a trap line, espically in the early fall. Rats head for the warmth of your home when the weather cools. One year at my parents home I caught 28 rats in 3 weeks. Their house is surrounded by forest and is prime rat country.

Hire a professional and use your own arsenal of traps.

If you keep the population down in your area you are less likely to have a problem.

Happy hunting. I gotta go take a shower. All this talk of rats has my skin crawling.

Oh ya, moth balls will drive squirrels out of your attic.

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