# My Neighbors Rat Problem



## -bud- (Sep 29, 2009)

I'm new but I'm diving right in. I'm buying my in laws house and all is well except for one thing, There neighbors are hoarders. The rat problem has reached Biblical proportion in that every night I capture and kill at least three. I'm using live traps and then shooting them with a high powered BB gun. (There illegal in the city, but I'm country folk so I don't care). I called the city and they came out and said there was naught they could do about it. I tried talking to the neighbors, but they insisted it wasn't coming from them. The neighbors on the other side are a nice clean Mexican family that tends to their property amazingly well. I mean wonderful brick work immaculate lawn the whole nine yards. I've been trapping and killing for over two months and whenever I go into the backyard you can still see them scurrying the fence line. My trash can has been chewed through by the rats and when I went to the city they said I would have to buy a new one. Aside form burning my neighbors filth infested house to the ground (you can smell there house) what else can I do? I'm at my wits end and if a solution to my problem doesn't come up sometime soon I tempted to back out of my commitment to my inlaws. Any clues? Help!


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## inspectorD (Sep 29, 2009)

Start raisin some pigs...they eat rats and smell even worse.

Other than that you need to contact the area health dept, then a lawyer.
Have them send the town a nice letter, the cleanup will be cheaper than the lawsuit. When you deal with politicians...you need to be one of them, or get a lawyer...they speak the same language.


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## -bud- (Oct 1, 2009)

I'm poor because I just bought a house and like I said I contacted the "City" (health dept, zoning, everyone) and they said no go. I can't keep pigs in the city so I really need useful advise. I ran out of bb's last night and I had to shoot them with a kids bow and arrow set. I feel like this is the beginning of serial killer behavior. I took out the trash two nights ago and had one run up my arm.


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## Huh? (Oct 1, 2009)

Have you eliminated the food source? Move the trash cans. Bow and arrows are slowly bridging the gap to homicide. Just by kill traps. Why are you using live capture if you plan on killing them? That logic makes you sound like a sadist.


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## -bud- (Oct 1, 2009)

That was the fastest response I've ever seen on an internet forum. I'm afraid if I move the trash they will follow which may bring them closer to the house. I'm not a sadist, my inlaws are the sadist, they're the ones who bought the traps!:hide:


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## Huh? (Oct 1, 2009)

Well then, I'm out of ideas, you may be right but I would still give it a try.


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## TxBuilder (Oct 2, 2009)

That's horrible. I hate to say it but did you call a pest control service? This appears to be out of control.


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## handyguys (Oct 2, 2009)

yeah, buy some re-usable kill traps and some rat poison too. The re-usable traps will be the cheapest way to go the poison will be less aggravation.


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## -bud- (Oct 3, 2009)

I asked them about the traps and poison and they said that's the reason they have the live traps. They have dogs. The same dose of poison that kills a rat can kill an 8lbs rat terrior. I really need help. I can hear them at night scurrying and it's driving me nuts. I hate my neighbors.


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## handyguys (Oct 3, 2009)

bud - you can put poison and traps on your property, if their dogs come on your property they might be a casualty of war, friendly fire, but that's the price to pay for your families health and safety in my opinion. I like dogs but I hate rats. There are poison setups that are small and keep larger animals out but let in the rats or you could just put the poison someplace a rat can get to but the dogs cant.


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## funetical (Oct 6, 2009)

Geez bud that's bad. Where do you live?


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## Cork-Guy (Oct 6, 2009)

I would consider 2 options to try and combat the problem and lower the population at best. First, many gardeners use fox urine to keep rabbits and other animals away from their gardens, this also works for rats. They will avoid the smell of fox urine at all costs since it's a predator. Now, the bad part is for the first few days it will smell like urine, but spray it along your property line and housing line. Second, start putting out bait to kill the rats, some decon pellets wrapped in cookie dough will do the trick, especially if you see them so often. The cookie dough will slow down the rats metabolism and allow the poison to sit in the system longer and have mother rats milk-feed the babies the poison before dying off. Best of luck.


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## superjedi (Oct 6, 2009)

Your local Dept. of HHS wouldn't do anything?  
Call a local TV station.


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## funetical (Oct 8, 2009)

That's a good Idea. Call everyone make a nuisance of yourself to get something accomplished.


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## -bud- (Oct 22, 2009)

The dogs are my in-laws. I tried poison and one of my dogs ate one of the dead rats and I thought I was going to have to put her down. I talked to the city about a zoning violation. They in order to hide there hoarding are adding a non approved Structure to the main building using a Blue Tarp as a roof. I think I can report them this time. I decided to leave the trash can as it is and if it causes trash to fall all over the city street maybe that will give them inspiration top fix it. Or fine me. This guy has also set up some sort of sun glass hut on the side of his house and I know where zoned residential one family habitations.


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## randr (Oct 27, 2009)

top loading pvc pipe T-shaped traps work great.  Make them yourself with 1-1/2'' or 2'' pvc pipe. Our neighbor's rats are dying to get in them. To protect pets, be sure to secure the bait block so it can't be pushed out.


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## randr (Oct 27, 2009)

Rat Terrier????   That's what they do.  If it's not doing the job, get one that does.


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## -bud- (Oct 28, 2009)

The rats have a channel in the fence that they run into to avoid the dogs. My rat terrier is small but not enough to fit in the tight squeeze. I'm thinking about maybe getting a few cats, but I dislike them. The city said that they had received calls about my neighbors "addition" and that until it became a permanent part of the structure they were limited in what they could accomplish. They did however tell me I needed to put my boat in storage or off the street because it's an eye sore. What kind of crazy backwards world do I live in where I can't keep a boat visible to the public but this s.o.b can build things out of tarps? Things don't make no sense no more.


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## randr (Oct 28, 2009)

Bud - that channel in the fence is the perfect place to put a top loading T-trap discussed above.  And the boat - how about a blue tarp boathouse to complement the neighbor's addition?


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## -bud- (Oct 28, 2009)

I actually thought that you know fight fire with fire, but it looks awful and I don't think degrading my property is the solution. I saw those plans. When I get off tonight I'm going looking for the supplies. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and put the boat in storage. It's coming on winter any how and I'm not going to use it. I just hate having somebody tell me what I can or cannot do on my own property.


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## TxBuilder (Nov 9, 2009)

What's going on with this bud?


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## anie973 (Dec 29, 2009)

It is very necessary to eliminate the food source first if you have made plan to kill those creatures.


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## dillon1340 (May 9, 2010)

i'm sorry to hear that. what a bad situation. my neighbors are pretty messy too because it's a rental and they could care less about yardwork or garbage piling up. can you post pics? i think we'd all like to see this out of curiousity. have you made any progress with it yet?


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