Real Estate Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2008 · 228 posts · 13 votes
I have what is know to be "Roof Rats" in the attic. Apparently, they are finding there way in through the cracks of the old wood roof shingle. I have couple of option:
A) Hire a pest control company and takecare of the problem, they would
check and seal all opening on roof, set traps and clean out attic to get rid of rodent scent and droppings and decontaminate if necessary. Cost $300-500
B) Do it myself, which I don't really want too but would be the cheapest solution. I'm just concern I might not be able to locate all weakpoints.
Also, can I spray the Bioshield decontaminant myself to get rid of the droppings? For health reason, the droppings needs to removed completely?
C) My roof needs to be replace soon, according to the roof inspector, roof will last another 5 years. This will cost me around 15K for new composite roof.
Do you guys have a better solution in solving this problem?
If your still around and still have rats. Do it yourself. Buy rat traps with the BIG yellow trigger maybe 10 or so. Prebait all your traps with creamy peanut butter (do not set traps) place them either in attic or near entry points outside. Check after a few days and repeat prebaiting. When you have done this a couple of times and all the bait is gone then set traps and be prepared for meat!...lol Prebaiting allows the more mature (smarter ) ones to get use to the new traps. When you set traps the first time, normally you get the babies first and the wise old rats see it happen and stay away. Once your rat infestation is gone seal old entry points or put bait boxes outside to control new rats coming in.
Any other pest questions?
something i actually know about 15 yrs as a PCO
now i need that much experience in Real Estate.
I was up in the attic over the weekend. From what I can tell, currently there is no rat. I took a black light and saw a lot of urine and I can see a lot droppings. I can seal the entry way and vacuum the dropping, but what can I do about the urine? and is there a better solution of vacuuming the dropping? and whats the health hazard if I left the dropping as is?
Closest thing I had was a ground squirrel that got in the house. I had a free afternoon and was bored so I put collibri subsonic rounds into my .22 rifle, set up a blind behind the couch and did $300 worth of pest control the fun way. ;-)
Over the weekend I was up in the attic and figured out where they were coming in from and sealed the area with steel. I vacuumed the droppings the best I could. I like to spray down the insulation with some Bioshield Decontaminant, but having a hard time finding a product to use. So far I found Natures Miracle and Odoban. Can you guys recommend any product? This problem only exist during the winter months, hopefully they won't be coming back this winter.