Rat catching in Woodley - drains at fault again
Posted on 3rd February 2020 at 08:33
We deal with rats all over the area and Woodley is no exception, however we start to see patterns emerging and Woodley airfield seems to be a hotspot for rats getting into peoples houses via the drains. So we were surprised when we got a call out for rats inside a house where the homeowner assured us that it could not be the drains.
We were asked to carryout rat control at a house in Woodley where it was assumed that it was originating from the adjoining property; we checked both houses and the exterior was fine; no gaps, no breaks and no defects. Any rat infestation was either coming in via the roof or in via the drains.
The owner of the house was adamant that it could not be his house as a previous pest controller had been out and fitted a valve in the drains. This had alarm bells ringing and on looking down through the inspection pit we could see a plastic hinge; our customer was still adamant that this was not the access point.
We put the camera into the drains from a point at the front of the house to travel back up the drains - a rats eye view if you like. What we found was the plastic door of the rat flap had been gnawed through, allowing rats to come and go as they please.
Plastic rat flaps are a waste of time and money, metal ones can be bypassed by clever rats or held open from time to time by the passage of waste.
A stainless steel rat flap is what we recommend as a long term 'temporary' measure to prevent rats travelling up the system, Woodley air field was once dug out and the gravel extracted leaving behind gravel pits and an uneven area. The housing development levelled the area and we are now seeing settling of the estate leading to problems with rats getting into the houses via the drains.
Unfortunately the pipework is constructed from vitrified clay and these are brittle when subjected to stress, the pipes are breaking allowing rats to enter and leave the system; access into the interior will be by gnawing through a connector or by simply climbing up the stack pipe.
Here at All Aspects Pest Control we include CCTV surveys as standard in our rat treatments in Woodley, we want to get you rat free and that means we need to find the access point. Traps are used to take out rats and confirm our thoughts with poison only be used as a last resort: if you want long term effective rat control in Woodley then give us a ring.
Tagged as: Rats
Share this post: