Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 11:01 am, by: Samantha Hornby(Soarer_chick_1jz)
I recently moved into a new house and it appears there is a large rat living in my roof space. I lay in bed at night listening to it run across the ceiling - judging from the heavy foot steps I'm thinking it's a HUGE mofo and may be even be a possum. Yesterday it was 36 degrees and must have been unbearable in the attic because it started digging. Scratching furiously at the ceiling (right above my bed) trying to get out. What if it gets out?? Can it get out?? Am too scared to open the manhole cover incase it makes a dash for freedom. Is it possible that it could scratch through my ceiling and into my house? My landlord is too cheap to supply insulation - how thick is my ceiling do you think?? Should I poison it? If so, how? Should I call an exterminator? I need to do something NOW cause he's keeping me up at night and I'm all edgy and freaked out.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 11:52 am, by: Peter Burrett(Burrett)
Sam, it's probably a possum.... I've had huge entertainment with possums in my roof, chimneys, and once in the lounge (via a chimney)... if they are in the roof, then the go is to find their access point......block it off and remove a couple of tiles. Then at dead of night (say, 1200), when they are out and about, get up on the roof and replace the tiles. It worked for me, although it's not much fun up a ladder in the dark.
Hahaha, I was trying to figure out if you were serious or not there Sam. I can just picture you standing on top of a chair with a mouse on the floor in front of you, while you're .... ok, seriously now
Sam, ceilings are usually about a centimeter thick or so, and with a bit of scratching the rat can unfortunately get through the ceiling over night if it's determined. (don't mean to worry you there). I suggest you go to Bunnings or something, buy some rat poison, mix it with some food such as cheese (if mice eat it so do rats right?) or meat(who specialises in rat nutrition here?) and then with a bit of bravery, open the manhole for a few seconds and just chuck it all around, or put a little plate with it somewhere close to the manhole. Actually, dont chuck the meat around or it will rot, yeah, put it all on a plate and hopefully the little bastard will stop scratching once and for all
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 12:56 pm, by: Shane Ilich(Ferret)
get a cat???
if its up there, and its still alive then that means it must be getting food from somewhere - meaning you've either got a plentiful food suppply up in your ceiling, or it can get in and out of your ceiling to get food whenever it wants anyways - right??? so i wouldnt imagine that its gonna feel the need to scratch through your ceiling to escape the heat. sorry if i'm being overly logical here.
peter's suggestion makes sense - find its entry/exit point, and then lure it outside and block that off. failing that, close off all the doors and stuff in the rooms around the man-hole such that its only got one esape route out a window/door once it comes out, and leave the man-hole open.
if you go the bait/poison option, then you're gonna have to get up in there and find whatever it is once you know its dead before it starts rotting and stinks your house out....
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 02:55 pm, by: Samantha Hornby(Soarer_chick_1jz)
Thanks all. Yes I think he's only coming in at night times because I've never heard him during the day. It didn't make sense to me either that he would attempt to get out of the heat by scratching through the ceiling when he can just go out the way he came in...but when it's 1am and the Bubonic Plague is living in your roof, the mind tends to wander. Just called the landlord re getting a pro rat-catcher man to come and flush him out, she gave me a nice corporate adaptation of "It's not my problem, leave me alone". Apparently I am to either go to the Council to get rat traps or buy some bait, because allegedly they never die in the roof, the bait gives them an insatiable thirst and they're driven out to find water, then they die.
If it's a Possum there is organisations who (I don't remember the name, talk to the council) set up traps for you, at no cost (at least in NSW) If it's a rat just give him Ratsak and he/she will eat and go outside and die.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 03:37 pm, by: Samantha Hornby(Soarer_chick_1jz)
....but how do I know if it's a rat or a possum without climbing into the roof (which probably won't work anyway because it'll scuttle off when it hears the manhole open up). Will the possum eat the Ratsak or just ignore it? Although I don't really think it's likely to be a possum as I live by the river in the suburbs no where near the bush or anywhere rural.
If you have some one who can go up and look at the faeces, is one way to determine what it is. Ask the Council about it, I'm sure they can tell you if there is Possums in your area.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 04:20 pm, by: Michael Keen(Jzz30man)
Sam, If your hearing it at night its likely to be a rat in my opinion, as possums go out to play and eat at night time. Unless your only hearing say early in the morning when it has returned. If you open the hatch in the ceiling it will not try and escape out the hatch. It will be as far away as possible and most likely hiding. Try some rat poison first, and it will go away in search of water an die outside most likely. Note that most rats don't like the poison much and if its a big rat it may not kill it. Large rates often need a special cake with all sorts of food, wax, cheese and poison all mixed together to attract and actually kill them. the hosehold rat poison isn't all that attractive to hem. In the unlikely event its a possum, you will need a professional with a possum trap (cage) with an apple in it to attract it, and have it left in the roof for a few days. Possums are very dangerous when cornered. Despite all this, surely one of the Soarer boys in WA is prepared to assist. C'mon guys !!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 04:26 pm, by: Ken Bruns(Uncle_ken)
Sam, in my experience you can assume pretty much that your nocturnal rambler is a possum. The good part of that is that they are reletively harmless-unless you try to pick one up (believe me I know!!) Here in SA they are protected - don't know about WA Call the Man or follow the earlier advice, it was pretty good. The BAD possibility is that it could be A rat, because there is almost never just one rat- ergo towhit therefore it must be a.........possum, See don't you feel better now?
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 05:41 pm, by: Peter Burrett(Burrett)
Oh dear lots of fun & games....Possums make noises during the night.... they charge across my roof (on the outside) in the tens, if not the hundreds.... they make A LOT of noise... We also enjoy rats in this older part of Canberra (and I'm not referring to that building a short distance away) but, sensible fellows that rats are, they have worked out that there's no fcuking food in these dirty old roof spaces, so they don't live there. They will only inhabit an altitude/environment that provides them with sustenance.... so, it could be a possum (my vote), it could be an alien life-form (my second vote), or third, and perhaps more likely than you might like, it's someone perving on you, Sam
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 06:18 pm, by: Shane Ilich(Ferret)
Peter Nitschke wrote on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 05:07 pm:
Solution, lie in bed with a loaded shotgun and shoot at the scratching noise.
thats GOLD!!!! i just spat water all over my desk at the mental picture it conjured up
Peter Burrett wrote on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 05:41 pm:
or third, and perhaps more likely than you might like, it's someone perving on you, Sam
shhhhh!!! peter - you're spoiling all the fun!!!
depending on where your new place is sam, it could also be a squirrel....if you're anywhere near the zoo, there's a LOT of squirrels around. most of south perth/como has them...and if you doubt me, just go and hang out at the park across the road from the zoo at around sunset, you'll see them running up and down the trees.
Michael Keen wrote on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 04:20 pm:
Despite all this, surely one of the Soarer boys in WA is prepared to assist. C'mon guys !!
if its causing you that much hassle, i can come have a look-see...
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - 07:27 pm, by: Ryan Mason(Ryan_m)
Sammy, I have the same problem. FRICKEN possums I'm in Suburbia too.
A couple of months ago I hear my sis get up at 5am for a call of nature, 10 seconds later I hear a scream as if she's about to be murdered with an axe, I haul ass to the bathroom ready to kill to find my sister backed up against a wall, with a filthy possum sitting beside the basin, it had climbed a tree, knocked the flyscreen off and shacked up in the bathroom overnight. As someone said above, lucky the doors were shut, as it could have had full reign on the house then. I ended up swatting it with the flyscreen to get it near the window, then gave it a massive push and it fell out the window, it must have survived as it wasn't there on the gound later that day.
Oh, and last Sat morning at 5.30am, I hear a massive screeching/squealing noise coming from my bedroom window, the possum had climbed a tree beside my 2nd storey window, and jumped onto my flyscreen trying get in my room... This time I ending up winding my window on it, and 1/2 squashed it, and then left it there for a while :P
F^^king thing, No exageration, I'm SERIOUSLY contemplating borrowing my mates super strong crossbow and dealing with this prick of a thing once and for all.
Previous
.... ok, seriously now 
MUCH more fun !!!
I'm in Suburbia too. 
