Rats

To book an appointment, please call 023 9283 4251 (9am-4pm weekdays). You will need to pay ahead of your appointment. Please have your payment card ready when you call.

Prices (All prices include VAT)

• Standard rate – £51.20 for up to three visits, £16 for extra visits
• Reduced rate – £25.60 for up to three visits, £8 for extra visits. This rate is for customers who receive qualifying benefits including pension credit, income support, job seekers allowance, housing benefit or Council Tax support and Universal Credit.

If you need an extra visit, you will need to pay for this during the third visit.

Otherwise, when the officer leaves the property the job will be closed, and you’ll need to pay the full price to start a new treatment.

You will need to pay the full charge upfront for all rodent treatments which includes a £10 non-refundable callout charge should we not treat.

Please note, if you agree a pest control appointment then miss it, this will count as one of your visits. If two visits are missed, your treatment will be cancelled.

If you live in a rented property, your landlord will need to contact us to arrange a date, and pay for the treatment at the initial booking stage. Commercial charges will apply.

This does not include Housing with Multiple Occupancy (HMOs).

If you live in a housing association, we won’t be able to treat your property. Contact your housing association for more information.

We place poison in secure tamper-resistant bait stations and hide these from sight where necessary so that children and pets cannot access them.

If you don’t want the problem treated with poison the only alternative is to use break-back traps yourself, although this method is known not to be very successful. Despite popular belief, having a cat will not solve the problem.

We do not ask that you do anything specific to prepare for our visit to treat but it would be sensible to follow the hygiene advice below. Don’t carry out any repairs or proofing work until after the treatment is complete

If a rat dies in an inaccessible place there may be a bad smell for a few days. If this happens we can use a product to mask the odour.

Once the problem has been treated you should repair any external defects to the property that could give the rats access.

Is the poison dangerous to pets or children?

In the unlikely event that a child or pet eats the poison, the poison we use works in proportion to body weight and would need to be consumed over a number days to reach a harmful amount. This is unlikely to happen as the poison contain a human taste deterrent. When the member of staff calls, they will leave behind a poison note explaining what you should do in the unlikely event of an incident.

If you haven’t seen rats in your property there are several signs that they are around:

• droppings – these are normally bullet-shaped and can be between 8mm and 25mm long
• footprints may be seen in dust
• dark smears on walls from the grease and dirt in the rat’s coat
• gnaw marks on woodwork
• holes or burrows maybe seen in outside areas, perhaps accompanied by heaps of earth or debris
• damage to food and property
• unexplained disappearance of food
• scratching noises, but mice, squirrels or birds could also be responsible

There are many reasons. Rats will scout for food, water and warmth and at times will enter property or pass through gardens to get to sources of food and water from where they may be living.

Food left for birds or plastic bin bags not contained in bins can also offer a food supply to rats.

Damaged airbricks, over-sized or redundant pipe holes and old damaged drainage systems can provide access for rodents into your property, particularly where disused drainpipes have been removed and not sealed off properly.

Rats can come up through the toilet pan but this does not happen that often. If you have an outside toilet and it is not often used, check that it has water in it to help prevent this

As soon as you think you have rats, get professional help.

It is important to control rats, not only because of the damage they may cause and the food they spoil through contamination by droppings and urine, but also because they transmit disease (some of which are transferable to humans) as they live and breed in sewers.

As well as seeking professional help, you must also:

• wash all food preparation surfaces with an anti-bactericidal agent before preparing food
• clean up any food when finished with, as good housekeeping is the first line of defence
• if rats are gaining access through the back of a cupboard, all accessible food should be removed and placed in sealed containers and the cupboard cleaned If you have a rat trapped in your house, in most cases it will find its way out though the same way it got in (perhaps a hole in the floor or brickwork).

If it has come in another way and cannot get back out, you should, if possible open an external door to let it out; otherwise limit its movements by closing all internal doors to contain it, and get professional help. Do not try to handle the rat – like any wild animal it will defend itself when scared. As for rats going for the throat, this isn’t true; when cornered however they may try to get past you to escape.

Should you find a dead rat, burying or burning is the officially advised method for disposal. However double-bagging in carrier bags so as to “seal the rat in” and putting this in with your refuse would be acceptable as this would then be buried or burnt for you.