rats – My CMS

Mice and Rats in the home

Jimmy Bailey — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:49:26 +0000

Kent notice’s increase in Mice and Rats in the home More and more home and business owners all over Kent from Maidstone to Margate and everywhere in between are noticing an increase in Mice and Rats entering their property. Called last week by a local estate agent in Canterbury we were advised an elderly couple were being kept awake at night by the sounds of scratching in the loft. We called the tenant and arranged a suitable time to attend the property to carry out a site survey. Apart from cats humans are mice or rats only predator, that means when an infestation occurs at a property it’s down to the owner of the property or a pest control company to resolve the issue and quickly. Once we have identified that rats and mice are in the home or business we put a plan in place to rid the property of the problem. At this particular job the lady on site had seen a rat in the rear garden when she was taking out her rubbish, she said “i was taking my bin out to the garden and noticed a large rat, it looked like a river rat and it had a very fat body and a long tail” We got to work in the garden and found traces of a large infestation in the area where the wheelie bins where stored. Rats are attracted to the bin area for the food waste that might spill, there was also a bird feeder and two small over hanging fruit trees that are again very attractive to rats. We baited all the areas outside and then when inside to check the loft, in the loft we found droppings everywhere. We can only assume rats have been in the loft for a while from the extent of the droppings. We baited the loft and on the customer’s request cleaned the loft space of all droppings. We are pleased to say that the problem has since cleared up and the couple have now got there garden and loft back.

Rat Droppings

Rat Droppings in loft If you have Mice and rats in the home and need a pest control company please call us for a quote or free advice

Kents Low Cost Pest control Specialist

Jimmy Bailey — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:23:03 +0000

Advise from your local pest controllers in Kent

Mice & Rat infestation As the wasps move out the rats and mice move in, the calls increase this time of year for rats and mice in lofts in garages gardens etc. When people call us the first thing they normally say is “we are co careful and very clean”. Nearly all houses we attend for rodent control are spotlessly clean and tidy. The customers always ask why my house ?. The same reply always is given, no reason really just found a way in and trying to nest as soon as they can. On arrival to a domestic property with a rodent problem we carry out a general survey of the house, sometimes including the garden and the loft. We sit down with the home owner or tenant and gather all the information we can regarding what’s been seen, what’s been heard. Where the noise is coming from, what time of day/night. Have any droppings been noticed anywhere. Has anything been damaged as rats or mice will chew bags up to nest or can start on the wiring for the home, in some cases we arrive and are told the alarm started randomly going off or lights have stopped working, when the loft area is checked costly damage is found to the cables running round the loft.

Rat droppings – a tell tale sign

The photo above was taken on a recent job in canterbury where droppings were found all over the loft, only when the client entered the loft to get down the Christmas decorations did they notice they had quite a bad problem. You can try to deal with an infestation yourself but as time is not on your side regarding the damage and considering they breed so fast we advise calling a professional pest control company to deal quickly and efficiently with the problem at hand. Very common now a days are bird tables or fish ponds, both are literally food and drink for rats & mice, we ask customers to stop feeding the birds at least for the time it takes to get the infestation cleared up, for the fish pond we advise a fine mesh is used to cover the water so there is no easy access to a constant water source. After all the preparation has been done and all the problem areas identified, a baiting process using rodenticide is used. Dependant on the circumstances on site the method used to present to bait can differ. If there are children, pets or elderly on site, we use lockable boxes that can also be anchored to the floor, a wall or fence if need be. Once the initial set up is completed we ask the customer to keep food of the sides etc in kitchens and if food has been previously taken (from fruit bowls etc) we ask these not be left out unless a sealed tin or jar is used. Sealed boxes are used in areas young children or pets have access to. Open trays are used in loft spaces or ceiling voids. Just recently we had one of our gas safe engineers carry out an annual gas safety certificate and boiler service for a letting agent we work for in Canterbury, and he was surprised to find mouse droppings actually in the boiler. As the engineer is also pest control trained he carried out a pest control treatment while on site. The 2nd visit A second visit is arrange with the customer to return to check the areas baited and 99%of the time the bait has been taken and the problem has been resolved, there is the odd occasion a 3rd visit is needed if there is a particularly bad infestation. The most common question we are asked is where do rats or mice get in the house, the answer is never easy but the drains are the most common place. At DT facilities we have trained drainage engineers that can also check your drains for damage by carrying out a cctv drain survey. Normally there is a fracture or break in the drains where rats gain access to the voids and cavity walls. We can carry drainage repairs to resolve this issue. So from rats & mice or wasp and squirrels, call your local pest control company for help Family Run Local Pest Control Kent Based Company

Rat removal in Canterbury

Jimmy Bailey — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 21:49:42 +0000

DT Facilities were called out to a property in Canterbury where the home owner reported rats coming into the garden at night. The customer has chickens and a bird feeder in the garden, this was attracting the rats to come into the garden while it was quiet and feed on the chicken feed. A visual survey was carried out of the garden and then we sat down with the customer and ask if children would be entering the garden or will children be playing in the area. A plan was put in place to bait the garden with lockable bait boxes that would be anchored to various points around the garden, all boxes would be baited using non spill bait. This avoids any birds squirrels and any non targeted animals getting to the bait. The home owner asked where the rats were getting in, we explained we could carry out a drain cctv survey to check if any of the underground drains had fractures or breaks. The customer agreed and we jetted the drains through ready for the camera survey. On the property there was two manholes, a kitchen gully and a soil vent pipe, the camera found a broken drain under the garden that took the water from the kitchen gully. A local structural repair (patch liner) was installed to repair the damaged drain. A return appointment has been made with the customer to monitor the rat boxes until the problem has gone.

Help! There’s a rat in my toilet!

Jimmy Bailey — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:11:05 +0000

We know. It doesn’t sound good does it?

However, it does happen, it’s rare but those pesky rats do manage to sneak up the drainage system into the toilet pan.

We were called out to a rat infestation in Canterbury Kent. We was amazed to find a rat had got trapped trying to come round the toilet pan. The home owner called us later on a Friday evening saying she had been let down by a company that promised her they would attend. We sent a qualified pest control engineer who happened to also be our CCTV survey drainage engineer. When he arrived he found the rats tail poking around the pan of the toilet. After removing the rat a full site survey of the inside of the property was carried out and rat droppings were found all over the loft space. It was clear there was a serious problem and we needed to get to this problem eradicated as quickly as possible. The loft space was baited with a rodenticide and the droppings all removed by the engineer:

Rat droppings – a tell tale sign

The next morning the engineer returned to site to carry out a drainage CCTV camera survey to find out if the either the home owner has blocked drains or damage to the drains where the rats were entering the property. It was quickly found that the drainage system had breaks and large fractures. A drainage report and quotation was put together for the customer. The work was agreed and we carried out drain jetting to clean the drainage system then re lined various areas of the drains to cover all the cracks and fractures This particular house was up for sale and we often carry out home buyers drain cctv surveys and this is a major reason to have a survey of the drains done when investing so much money in a home

For pest control or drain cctv surveys in Kent call the local drainage specialist

Rat problems in Canterbury Kent

Jimmy Bailey — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 11:26:31 +0000

It’s that time of year where the rats in Canterbury start to enter people’s homes, rats will generally enter via the drainage system. At DT Facilities we know how scared someone people are of rats and put a plan of action of remove any infestation as quickly as possible. First a survey is carried out to see if we can identify where the rats are entering the property. Then a rodenticide is used in the areas where the rats have shown. This normally is the loft or garage areas where the area is mainly quiet from the home owner. Rat problems are mainly identified at night when the house is quiet and the home owner will start to hear scratching or scurrying around in the walls or loft. Once the rodent problem had been resolved at DT facilities we offer a cctv drainage survey to check the drainage system for damage or broken pipe work where the rats have accessed the property. There are not many companies that offer drainage and pest control services together. On completing the cctv survey of the drainage system, a broken pipe was found under the kitchen floor. The rats had been coming up under the kitchen units and entering the property through the wall cavity entering the loft and having a free run of the house. A report and quote was then made available to the home owner. the work was agreed and we returned the next day to re line the drain run that was damaged. The drain was cleaned using a high pressure water jet and drain cleaning machine. No root cutting was needed as no roots had entered the drain. A liner seals the drain and comes with a 15 year guarantee on the materials.