1

I live in a shop house, my below unit is rented to a restaurant, and hence rats are not uncommon in my house or my ceiling.

But for the purpose of this question, I just want to know how can I keep the rats away from wires/cables on my ceiling? My shop house suffered electricity outage a few times because the rats were chewing away the wires-- and electric short-circuiting themselves in the process.

I am thinking about calling pest control, but before that, I want to know whether is there any DIY solution or not.

|improve this question
  • 2
    Why do you think it is normal for a restaurant to have rats? – DMoore Mar 1 '16 at 20:15
  • @DMoore , why not? This is the norm here-- at nights you can see, more often than not, rats are everywhere near dustbin. – Graviton Mar 4 '16 at 23:39
  • Because it is a health code violation. What you are describing is a huge infestation not a couple of rats that have wondered over. As the landlord you may be liable if someone sues or is harmed because of the rats. Get this fixed. Really really hope you live no where near me. – DMoore Mar 4 '16 at 23:42
3

Commercially available traps or a pellet gun are a couple DIY options.

However, if you have a restaurant below you that has rats I would call the health department or your equivalent. The restaurant should pay for the pest removal not you.

Good luck!

|improve this answer
2

The only real option is to seal off any openings with wire mesh that cannot be chewed through. In many cases rats will enter through a single chokepoint, often a water or sewer pipe hole that has a gap. If you can find that chokepoint and carefully block it off with secure wire mesh you can keep them out. Note that you can use something like JB Weld to affix wire to a pipe.

Restaurants should not be leaving out garbage in open containers for rats. That is a health code violation.

|improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.