# Attic Rat IR Cam



## Fotmasta (Feb 2, 2019)

(The diychat site requires one post before posting links.) 
Here is the video-





The clips are from different vantage points.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

Great video. They sure are athletic.
Mice are stupid but rats are extremely smart and cautious. Had one big snap trap that had no action and I forgot it was set. Took a couple months and whack, I heard it and the squealing. Terminated that one and eventually found 2 others in the garage attic that had found the poison. I had blocked the entrance point which separated them.

Push the issue with the neighbor as having them outside they will eventually find or make an entrance.

Working on a house and found where the previous owner had tried to block the rats from coming in. He flattened a soup can and nailed it over the hole. They simply cut right through both layers of that can and went on living in his rafters.

Bud


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## HenryMac (Sep 12, 2018)

Damn dude... flashbacks from my childhood when the movie "Ben" was released.

I wonder, would putting lights in the attic drive them out? Something like this: http://www.rid-a-rat.com/


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## Fotmasta (Feb 2, 2019)

Chewed through a CAN!?!? Oh hell. I was going to put some steel mesh up there. Maybe copper is better. I hope so. 

Those old ladies are MEAN. I am at a dead end with them it seems.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

I don't think copper would bother them as they have been chewing up telephone cables ever since the telco started putting those wires underground. In NYC, so I was told, Western Electric had treated the plastic coating covering their wires with rat poison to reduce the damage. They have to chew and anything will do, including your house wiring.

Bud


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

If they are using trees to get on your roof, cut back the trees. Don't know how far a rat can jump, I'd guess around 8'. They can also climb up inside a gutter downspout if there's no screen on either end.


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## Ca443 (Feb 11, 2019)

It may be easier to feed them. I would just buy bags of bird seed every week and give them to the mean ladies. They will like you and become nice and that way you can keep the rats with them 

In reality though, I have heard as long as there is an opening about the size of quarter they can fit in. When I lived in Norfolk we had Norwegian Roof Rats...They would go over telephone and electric lines and run on roof tops. They loved making nest and bedding in insulation. We would patch holes with a mixture of steel wool and caulk, or steel wool and premixed concrete or bondo.


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

I have had success using Rat-X. It is made mostly of corn meal and contains no poisons, so no second generation effects. The rats eat it, go to water, and can't take on the water, so they dehydrate and die. I would never use poisons to rid the attic of the rats.

You could always let nature take its course and introduce a rat snake. Very docile, but a terror when it comes to getting rid of rats. I don't have them in my shop since my buddy took up residence.


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## PestGuy (Jan 15, 2018)

Rats are neophobic, so as soon as you put those rat snaps up there, that guy immediately said whoa, what is this? And stayed far far away from it. At first you need to put some traps up there with bait, preferable a meat product, but don't set them. Let him take the bait for a couple of nights to get him comfortable. Then after a few days, set the trap with the same bait. It takes longer to catch rats with snap traps than it does mice.


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