Rattus Rattus

[Kenickie]

Oh god these stories are hideous! And S having to use up annual leave to hoover up flies!

I'm glad the smell has gone, Squirrel.

[Squirrel]

[smalex]

Oh NO!

[emma_p]

Oh no! Sympathies. Really.

[smalex]

Have they really taken a month to emerge?? This is new level horror. You'd think you were safe.

[emma_p]

I just checked back in the thread and ours were about a month too. I totally thought we were in the clear

[Kleio]

Oh no Squirrel

[Squirrel]

I thought of this thread two or three days ago; someone said upthread that just when you’ve almost forgotten the horror... out they come . So I was actually expecting it!

There have been about 10 big fat lazy ones today, I’ve warned Mr S and am braced for it to get a lot worse but obviously hoping it somehow magically doesn’t .

[Epponnee Rae]

Oh no, squizz! Apparently the pupae/larvae stage can take 14-36 days, so it seems within expected ranged. I hope it’s not as bad as you fear...

[Little My]

Oh bleurgh, I remember our plague of flies well and it must have been 10 years ago! (Dead bird in the roof was the suspect.) We put up fly tape, which was just repugnant. You have my sympathies!

I discovered a huge amount of mouse shit under the kitchen sink tonight when investigating a leaky tap. So that's joyous. Mr LM put a trap down. On the plus side, the tap is fine now.

[Little My]

Argh! The trap was activated overnight, but the creature has gone somehow.

[Squirrel]

Oh no!

I’ve only seen three flies today. I’m desperately hoping we don’t have a second fly wave.

[Morganna]

I thought we had mice in the kitchen because of droppings on the bench, but they turned out to be seeds from the bread that M had sliced without wiping it behind him. If that man sees out lockdown with both eyeballs intact it will be testament to my saintliness.

Maybe the cold will kill them, Squizz?

[emma_p]

Well, here I am again

S and G thought they heard scratching in the walls last week and the night after I heard it too. An investigation of the cellar at the weekend confirmed our suspicions It feels so much worse this time because they're in the cellar, but according to the company I called at the weekend, it's better because then they can safely use actual traps rather than just bait. The company couldn't come out any earlier than today because they are very busy but I hope they can work out how they're getting in so we can block everything up. It's an unfinished cellar though, original terrifying staircase, wonky crumbling walls, cables everywhere so I have no idea how feasible it it.

FFS! Why am I the pied piper of Wandsworth?

[Little My]

Oh no.

Traps sound like a plan. We got rid of ours that way. (Not that we live there now.)

I have definitely seen a couple of mouse poops when cleaning the new place, but no current inhabitants as far as we can tell. I'm hoping our abundance of cats will keep them away!

[Squirrel]

I’m sorry to hear this Emma . I hope this is all resolved very quickly.

Ours were in the cellar, it took the rat man about 10 seconds to spot the entry points, and blocking them up has been successful so far .

[Little My]

Actual rats, not just mice?

[emma_p]

The rat man spotted a rat about 30 seconds after going down to the cellar. A full size adult rat We both heard it squeaking Most likely coming in from the drain like last time. Why did I buy another house with a shared drain? I should have learnt! Thames Water are coming out to investigate this week and the rat man is back on Monday. FML.

[Rosa]

Oh, emma .

[Derek Nimmo]

Oh Emma, my heart goes out to you. Five years of living on the sixth floor of a concrete built block has just about cured me of not having an automatic "It's another fucking rodent!" panic attack at every single unexpected noise - it's one thing I'm not looking forward to about moving back into a house.

The rat man is right about proper traps though, and I do hope that Thames Water pull their damn fingers out.