Rats??!! How to seal up space between siding & ground

[zebaby]

I walked over to my neighbor's and found some droppings which I'm going to assume are rat droppings on the path between our homes. My neighbor noticed a hole dug right by the droppings. As I inspected further, it seems there is quite a gap between the ground / dirt and the siding (the foundation is not visible). I'm worried that a rat tried to get up in between the siding! What do I do to cover up that space? I always worried about that space leading to seepage, but rats are way worse! I called an exterminator just in case, but I can't just sit back and wait to see if I start hearing rats between the walls.

Who do I call to work on that? Is it just a siding issue? Do I need to pour concrete? If so, who does that kind of work? If there's damage under the siding, who would I call to find out / fix it? We've been at our house for 7 years now without many problems until now

HELP!!

[mattemma04]

Maybe you could stick some hardware cloth to block access.This is way stronger than the chicken wire,and easier to work with.I would recommend putting out some traps.I like T-rex or simple Victor snap traps.Poison bait only if you know the rat can not get into the house and die.Ugh the stink is bad,and I only had mice!

http://www.extension.org/pages/Rodent_Exclusion_Methods

[zebaby]

Thank you so much for the link. I am totally overwhelmed The Terminix guy said he did suspect rats, though he doesn't think they're in the house, just burrowing. He set bait and now I can just wait and see. I guess I will hire someone to come and pour concrete along the side of the house (why would they have put dirt alongside of the house??). He suspected there was only one rat from the droppings, but still. I'm thoroughly beside myself with worry. Again, thanks for the information. Hopefully this can get resolved soon.

[1jooj]

Ugh, yes, it is that time of year again.

Steel wool in gaps helps keep mice out, and filling any gaps with filler like Great Stuff or caulk. It's not easy. I had a rat die in my house (!!!!!) a couple years ago. Just thinking about that experience makes me nauseated.

Make sure you have not landscaped or designed any nice habitats into your exterior for the fellow. My house is an old farmhouse, complete with farm (lots of delicious feed for vermin), so we'll always battle rats. Our solution involves many cats against mice, and chickens also eat mice, but we have had to poison for rats in the barn, which is a scary prospect (cats or chickens eating poisoned mice...which luckily never happened). We had one rat that tunneled alongside the barn last winter, and all summer the barn flooded with every rainstorm (and it was a rainy summer) until dh busted up some cement and re-poured to eliminate the tunnels. Super-

Good luck! I hope it was one rat, which found your house inhospitable and moved on.

[zebaby]

I think I'm going to buy a case of Great Stuff & steel wool! (I tend to overdo things when it comes to pests LOL) The jury is still out on the quantity of rats. This was my first year planting a veggie garden and decided to do corn. Little did I know that rats love corn! Never again. (No biggie, since the ears weren't particularly big or tasty.) The exterminator came yesterday and that's when I saw the last batch of poop (in a new location as well) so now I'll be stressed for the next few weeks looking for rat poop all around my house - not a pleasant feeling .