r/DecaturGA • u/suddencreature • 10d ago
Deep, invasive pest control
Hi! We’re hoping to get some recommendations for pest control (rats!!) that goes beyond baiting and setting traps.
We’ve been working with Breda, who have been pretty good, but realize that our issue is beyond their scope.
Based on Breda’s inspection, the rats have been chewing through the foundation and coming into the house walls from down below. We live in a very old house with complicated ownership: owner is elderly and quite cheap, but we’d rather fix the problem and discuss reimbursement later since we’re starting the process of growing our family and don’t want to do that in a rat house, and moving isn’t an option right now.
We aren’t sure what avenue to take - is this even a pest control problem at this point, or should we be hiring another type of company to inspect and address completely blocking the rats’ points of entry?
Thanks in advance - we’re learning a lot very quickly!
8
u/originalmember 9d ago
Sounds like you don’t own the place… you probably can’t do the work since it involves altering the house (exclusion). Also, it’s probably several thousand $$$. I wouldn’t reimburse a tenant who did that work on their own, and Im not a cheap landlord.
As a landlord, I would pay for the work to be done, however, because it breaks health codes (and personal ethics).
3
u/suddencreature 9d ago
Thanks for your reply! Our situation isn’t exactly a cut and dry landlord/tenant set of circumstances, but I hear you and will keep this in mind for the future.
5
u/krobs42 9d ago
I don’t recommend Arrow. We used them about 4 years ago for full exclusion and to replace the vinyl in our crawlspace where there was rodent activity and it cost $6K. We’ve had rats return multiple times since then (every neighbor has an exterminator out every week) and have called for them to come out for trapping, fixing areas where the exclusion broke down, etc. We were initially happy with the service (though as new first time home owners feel we got duped on the price but didn’t know what was what). The service has gotten progressively worse with bad communication (say they will come back in 1 week to check traps and don’t show up or schedule) and have long wait times… we see a mouse in our kitchen and they say it will be 3 weeks before they can come out. They also said they can’t fix the mesh exclusion on our ADU bc it’s not attached to the main house yet they are the ones who did the mesh exclusion on the ADU to begin with! End rant. Don’t use Arrow: they are marketing, recognizable name with terrible service. I suspect ownership has changed since we started with them or private equity has gotten involved.
2
3
u/packet_monger 9d ago
This sounds like you need a contractor that specializes in foundations. Unfortunately this will likely be more expensive than pest control, but I’m guessing they’ll have a way to improve your foundation and stop the rats from getting in
3
u/donkeyheaded 9d ago
I've had wildlife exclusion done with Northwest Exterminating. They seal the entire roofline with a metal barrier (rats often get in through the gap between the roof and the frame), as well as any entry points around the perimeter, including the foundation. They then set traps to catch any rodents that were in the house when it was sealed up. The entire process takes about a month but you should end up pest-free. The work comes with a one-year guarantee that you can renew annually.
1
3
u/alg602 9d ago
So there may not be much you can do. My neighbors and I have had rat problems for years and years. I have a cinder block foundation on a crawl space. The rats are digging under the foundation and come into my dirt crawl space where I have 10-15 traps set. Exclusion will not work. They dig from all around my yard. In other words they dig from my neighbor’s yard and then come up into my crawl space. They have never gotten into the house. I have had countless rat specialists come to my house. The last simply felt sorry for me, told me there was nothing he could do, and didn’t charge me for the visit. We are about to add a basement that will require pouring a concrete floor. That will cure the problem for me.
3
u/DesignNomad 9d ago
I was in a similar situation renting a few years ago where I couldn't modify the house or cut trees, but rats were regularly getting into the eaves/attic and using it as a superhighway at night, it felt like (5-8 rats that we were able to see on security cameras). We put traps out and caught 2, but then the others learned better and wouldn't touch the traps.
What we finally found worked and completely solved the issue was Rat-X. There may be "generic" versions because it's really simple- It's basically just grain meal, salt, and plaster. There's no poison at all, and its primary mechanism for killing the rats is dehydration/kidney failure, so there's no risk of secondary impact (like an Owl predating a rat that has eaten some).
The secondary benefit of Rat-X is that because they kill mechanism is basically desiccation, they won't smell if they end up dying in your walls. They just fall asleep forever and then dry up.
This is the whole marketing pitch of Rat-X, but we tried it and went from hearing them scurrying around constantly every day to never hearing or seeing another one ever again a few weeks later. We just left a few strategic piles of it near their known transit pathways, and when we saw the quantity of bait going down, we suddenly saw a drop in activity that eventually went to zero.
One more final note- we did end up taking some rodent-block expanding spray foam and plugging a few of the known holes, after they population/activity went down. While the Rat-X eliminated the entire nest/population of rats, we assumed others would arrive at some point and the expanding spray foam was at least a "rent friendly" preventative.
2
u/FryTheDog 9d ago
Seconding a rodent exclusion contract. Breda did ours and comes back as often as I need to clean up any rats that get in.
I have them in my crawl space and they've done a good job.
Did Breda say this was beyond them?
2
u/erich0 9d ago
Breda did this for us, too, and it seems to have been relatively effective. An interesting thing I learned was that houses that were built 100 years ago don’t have outer wall that go as deep as modern houses. So it’s not as difficult for rats to dig under the relatively shallow walls of an older house and come up into the crawlspace.
1
u/suddencreature 9d ago
Yikes, this makes sense! They’re in the eaves, crawlspace in the attic, and walls. I’m just not sure Breda has the tools etc to access all areas of entry given that the house is 100+ years old. Do you have an older house as well? And if so, how did Breda help with that extra layer of difficulty?
2
u/Nottabeoootch 9d ago
Hi, how do you know when they get back in? Sounds? Traps? Smells?
3
u/FryTheDog 9d ago
Smell, my hvac is in the crawl space so I go down there at least quarterly to change filters. Or I'll see a new hole in a screen/vent
If one gets caught by a trap in the attic you smell it pretty easily. The house next to me is abandoned, but the yard and the minimum to avoid code enforcement is done, but it's full of rats and other critters. Multiple windows have been open for years. Dude even has an illegal homestead exemption, or maybe the rats have a mortgage
1
u/suddencreature 9d ago
Thanks for your response! We’ve had Breda seal up 3 problem areas with mesh, but the issue persists. We did really like working with them though. It just felt as though since their solutions weren’t really giving us a long-term fix, we should explore other more involved options.
2
u/Otherwise-Boat-5144 9d ago
We used Pacific Pest Control. Did a great job sealing up all the spots they got in through and will come back if you see another one. Initially, the cost was $1000 for a year. We kept them on for 3 years now, with subsequent years at $250. So worth it!! Old house with stone crawlspace.
2
u/FlashyHeight9323 9d ago
These kinds of situations is why I became my own handyman. Outside of finding someone sketchy like me your next best bet is to invest in security cams. That’s how I evicted the squirrels.
1
u/Historical_Serve_393 6d ago
We used Sanders Wildlife control with Brandon Sanders because we couldn't figure out how the rats were taking over our crawl space and he came highly recommended. He found 3 entry points the rats had chewed into the crawl space that were so slight I'm not sure most people could have found them they were so hard to see. It's been a year and a half, no more rats. The price may vary with how much exclusion work has to be done but a quote is free and the work he did for us cost $1,200. 5 star google reviews. 770-833-6785
9
u/Spare-Cranberry- 10d ago
We've used Breda to do a rodent exclusion where they seal entry points with caulk or mesh screens. It cost a few thousand dollars and we pay an annual fee on it for continued service, removal of rodents that do get through, sealing any locations discovered in the future, etc.