Rat infestation?

Question

OK. We have been smelling this rotting stench in our office lately. This morning (this has been going on for about a week), I figured that it was coming from behind or underneath the bookcase (which is one of those huge ones with the flat bottom that begs to crush your foot). Yesterday, my Dad dug out a rat's nest from our crawl space (I don't know if there were any residents in there, but I suppose that that was better than what me and my brother figured was an oppossum in the late stages of decomposition in out crawl space). As it turns out, it was exactly underneath the bookcase (dun-dun-dun). I think that someone may have burrowed a hole in our freaking floor and the stink is coming from their waste products.

To make matters worse, my brother thinks he saw a flea jumping (When I thought of that I was thinking of a circus. Doot-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo-doot-doot-dooo... around on his work desk. (He lives upstairs and the office is downstairs.)

Answer 1

For the fleas, the easiest thing would be to take your rabbit to a grooming place.  Call ahead to explain the problem and make sure they know how to deal with fleas on rabbits.  If you're looking for a cheaper solution, there's other ways--see the link below.  FYI, the link advises not to put a pet collar on a rabbit.  Use flea bombs in the house to kill any fleas and eggs that are there.

For the rat problem, get some poison.  D-Con is a good bet, it contains Brodifacoum (a very toxic substance) that rats only need to eat once.  It's sold at Wal-Mart.  If you have pets, put the poison trays in shoe boxes and cut the lower corners off so rats can enter.  Wrap rubber bands around the shoe box so your pet can't open it.

The rats are getting their food somewhere.  Is your garbage in cans, with lids?  Do you have pets or livestock?  Is their food open to mice and rats?  If yes to the last two, see my answer to mrs nevz.  

Most house cats, unless they are uncommonly big and tough, won't attack a 2 1/4 pound Norway rat (the largest breed).  I don't know what breed of rats you have, but it doesn't sound like you have an out-of-control problem.  Use the poison, and replace with fresh poison every 4 to 6 months to keep the intruders at bay.

Answer 2

Put a cat's flea collar on the rabbit.

Go to the animal shelter and see if the have any cats that used to be strays. I guarantee the rats will leave or get killed.

We bought an old house once that had rats in the cellar, we got two cats and we lost all our rats, mice, ground hogs and squirrels (tree rats).

Answer 3

Snap traps. Lots of them.