Rats!
I have a disgusting problem in my Bed-Stuy brownstone. I believe rats have entered a section of my roof on a first floor extension and now I can hear them in the interior ceiling of the house. I’m pretty sure they’re rats and not mice in that I can hear them squeaking and scuffling around…
I have a disgusting problem in my Bed-Stuy brownstone. I believe rats have entered a section of my roof on a first floor extension and now I can hear them in the interior ceiling of the house. I’m pretty sure they’re rats and not mice in that I can hear them squeaking and scuffling around and they sound large. Where do I begin short of hiring an exterminator? Are snap traps the most reliable method? I’m afraid poison will result in a stink. And if I do eliminate them, how do I keep them away? This is a new problem and I don’t know why I’ve never experienced it before. I don’t keep food around anywhere outside the home and so far, I see no evidence of them having been into the living space. Advice???
We hired an exterminator to trap the squirrels we had in our roof years ago. Unfortunately they used to end up dying about 50% of the time they were caught, I guess from shock or fright or ?? So not sure there really is a humane way to get rid of them. But I’m told the important thing is to make sure not to seal up the hole until you are 100% certain that they are out of there. They leave their babies inside to forage for food and if you seal up the hole with the babies they will tear your house down to get to them.
I had squirrels in a little beach place we had. They gnawed through floorboards and got into the kitchen where they nested, creating the most God awful mess you have ever seen (or smelled). Above poster is right; they do tremendous damage, gnawing wires and making holes and shredding anything they can find for nests. They may be thinking of staying the winter and starting a dynasty up there. Get an exterminator as soon as possible!
I didn’t know killing squirrels was illegal in NY. That rules out rat zapper, I guess. It reminds me of a story about my father, who had a squirrel problem in Florida. Unlike his buddy who used to trap and drown the squirrels, my father is very soft hearted and couldn’t bring himself to kill the squirrels terrorizing their area. So he caught some in a trap and drove them away, miles and miles away and let them go after spraying one’s tail white — my father, the scientist — to see if it would ever come back to their area.
One day, the squirrel was spotted out side their club — a know it all old lady then lectured my parents on the rare Eastern white tailed squirrel. They COME BACK!!!!
They could be either rats or squirrels. In any case, you don’t want them in your house. You really should get an exterminator to help you figure where they are coming in. Do a search on this website for rats and mice (many, many postings in early fall). You can buy a “Rat Zapper” machine –rats, mice or squirrels –which runs on batteries and electrocutes them quickly and you remove them from the device (you just remove the dead rodent from the device, can do it without touching it…). Guido from Bravo Exterminators helped me with my mouse problem in house and RAT problem outside. Our street was being overRUN by rats living in an abandoned building nearby and fed by poorly tended garbage of a neighboring condo complex. Guido’s company is Bravo Exterminating and is in Manhattan, but he works in Brooklyn. Good luck.
Pardon me, but I thought this forum was to discuss problems and share experience. Just thought asking for others advice might be helpful. Why don’t you spare us your bile and keep your snide comments off the bulletin board.
They are most probably squirrels. And yes, they have been known to queak. We had that problem when we first bought our house. They had entered the space between our ceiling and roof on the top floor. They ran up the fire escape ad it took us a long time to find the hole. It was right next to the rain gutter. We put a piece of chicken wire over the hole and that was the end of the problem. Much later when we took a ceiling down on the top floor, we saw that the beast had gnawed one or two beams. It also had used insulation to make a nest. So you want to take care of the problem sooner rather than later.
In case you want to trap it, be aware that killing squirrels here in New York City is illigal, I believe. That is what one exterminator told me. You can catch them yourself though with a Have a Heart trap. They just love apples and peanut butter. Than you can drive them far away. It has to be very very far away though because they apparently always find their way home.
Do squirrels squeak like mice? EEEK! EEEK! I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a squirrel squeak, or make noise at all beyond chattering. What about roof rats? Do they live this far north?
rats don’t usually hang out in ceilings like that ..
you my friend have squirels. find the holes they got in from and patch em