Oh Rats!!

An ongoing battle!!!

We moved to Florida renting the house we eventually purchased in a really lovely neighborhood.  Unfortunately, the subdivision was built on a golf course that has several ponds which are overgrown.....perfect place for breeding of all sorts of critters...........to include these lovely little destructive creatures that have cost us quite a bit of money.............particularly over the last six months.

For two and a half years, we tried to battle the problem on our own.........to save money or so we thought.  Baits, traps, sprays, electronic gizmos, closing off holes in walls and pipes allowing access into the garage and attic.  We ended up having to call in animal control because no matter the effort we put into it, they still found a way inside causing destruction.

The decision to finally call in animal control came when I went to start my car and all the alert lights were going crazy.  Terry lifted the hood and right away knew it was either rats or squirrels due to the droppings and urine all over the place.

Took the car to the dealership for them to find a huge momma rat bedded down under the plastic shield of the engine compartment.  She had chewed through several wires in the main wiring harness and chewed the insulation under the engine compartment shield for her nest.

When we called animal control, we were also dealing with loud activity going on both day and night which told us we had more than rats in the attic.  They were sharing space with a family of squirrels.  Rat activity would be at night while the squirrels were having a hay day during the day.  You would have thought we had a family of cats playing overhead.

Animal Control found three access points on the roof and a pipe going up from the air conditioning unit.  Took a week with four trips out but...........knock on wood.........we think he got them all out and made necessary repairs.

The latest discovery of additional damage was us wanting to go kayaking and when Terry dragged out the sit on top fishing kayaks to clean for our trip out, he was horrified to find his kayak was ruined..........rats!!  He found a nest with three babies inside a closed compartment.  That momma rat had chewed through the scupper holes to gain access to the compartment.  Because of where she chewed, the kayak will not stay afloat and no way to repair and feel safe out on the water.

Stillman & Birn Beta / Pilot Prera / Lexy Gray ink