How to get rid of rats/mice?!

[tattoo_mama]

hi all,

well im up at 6am cause there are rats or mice making babies in my walls/roof!
EWWWWWW
ive heard them for maybe a month...started off tiny scratching noises so i thought 'oh mabe theres a mouse in the roof' until maybe a week ago every night/early morning sounds like they are moving stuff around up there and yesterday maybe 4am it was so loud it woke me up, sounded like someone moving furniture!!!!
and then this morning DP got up for work at 6am and there was this horrible screeching and ive had rats as pets before and i knew it was either a rat or a mouse in some sort of pain maybe having babies or making babies or something but it was on the other side of the house to my bedroom and they were so loud and ive had enough!!!!
usually banging on the wall makes them scurry away but noooooo
DP has been saying for ages dont worry about them blah blah but with baby coming soon i really dont want them filtering down from the roof/walls into the house and kitchen yuk yuk yuk
then he said pest control but we are more than likely having to move out of here in the next few months (see my other thread in the boohoo room) so i dont wanna spend a few hundred bucks, not that we have that sort of spare money anyway

my dad said to get ratsac but is there anything else that may work?? anything natural? im shiiiit scared about putting my head up in the roof cavity to check out whats going on lol

any advice would be great, cheers!!

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Hun, the homeowner is responsible for pest control. Double check the rights within your state via REI[WA] ? , because I was recently informed and I wish I had known earlier. We have had them for ages .
We used ratsac but honestly despite its supposedly leading them to water to die two dies in the house so I would try and get some old fashioned traps if you can find them.
But definitely contact the Tenancy Board for your state as I am pretty sure your landlord will need to pay the cost for pest control...

[HotI]

my dad said to get ratsac but is there anything else that may work?? anything natural? im shiiiit scared about putting my head up in the roof cavity to check out whats going on lol

you want to kill them naturally? just go the ratsac. kill the little buggers.

i do not usually delegate jobs as boy jobs and girl jobs, we are fairly flexible here. BUT, this is definately a boy job and not one for a heavily pregnant woman. feel free to purchase the ratsac stations and hand them to your boy, but get him up the ladder and into the roof to put out the stations.

[Tinks]

Firstly contact your estate agent if you're renting, they may send an exterminator in.

I was told to add a few drops of Peppermint and Lavendar PURE essential oils to the water when I mopped. Apparenlty they don't like it and will avoid surfaces with the oils on them. So perhaps go right through your kitchen with it. (Sounds like a pain int he bum I know) Then put ratsak stations everywhere, in the roof, cupboards, under the house etc.

OR

Get a cat. We have't had mice since we've had our cat.

[Pandora]

Ring the RE, its not your responsibility if they are in teh roof or the walls I wouldnt have thought.

[Liz]

It's the landlord's responsibility. I would say if they're trying to sell, they won't want a rat/mouse problem! Ring the real estate.

I hear what I think is a possum thumping around in our roof ocassionally.. not sure it lives there tho, coz it's pretty infrequent. Could it be possums? They have a pretty horrid shriek sometimes.

Either way, I'd report it to the real estate. Potential buyers will probably send through pest inspectors too.. so just mention it to them!

[tattoo_mama]

LOL hmmm maybe thats a good way to stop people buying our house so we can stay...subtly mention the rodents whenever ppl are coming thru hahah
no but seriously...they were rooting or something it was so loud and gross agghhh

nah i asked real estate, its in our contract that pest control is upto us, boo!
hmm ok off to buy ratsac i think!!!

[Glamourcide]

Pest control is up to you guys?? That's insane! In my experience it's always been the landlord's respsonsibility unless it's the old 'getting pest control in when you vacate' if you've kept animals on the premises to get rid of flea infestations etc...
Although, the last place we moved into had a serious roach infestation (of course we didn't see any roaches the day we inspected and applied for the property, it had been vacant for a while so I assume the roaches had multiplied while they had free run of the place, the day we moved in we realised they were EVERYWHERE), and numerous complaints to the agents turned up nothing, they just ignored our requests for assistance

I can send you one of the kittens hahaha, they should be able to sort 'em out

[Phteven]

I would lend you my cat but I think that perth is a bit far to travel.

[Salad]

cant think of anything natural apart from maybe getting a snake ....
seriously rastsac is the way to go, get you dp to stick his head up through the main hole and just throw a couple of handfuls around. They will be gone in no time no nasty smell or anything.