Rats and Roaches! (Austin: house, neighborhood, buying)

[atlanta hope]

Our home inspector mentioned that our house we're buying has a norwalk rat and a roach problem. I should tell you he also owns a pest control business.

We've never had any rat or roach problems before and we're anti-pesticide kind of people. The inspector said that the rats won't respond to poison you can buy at the store -- that it has to be professional grade stuff to get rid of them. My husband and I liked the inspector but we're wondering if he's just trying to get more business.

What would you do? What can be done without spraying a bunch of crap in the house and setting out poison?

Thanks!

[Moonlady]

I wouldn't trust someone that "also owns a pest control business". Sounds like drumming up business to me, especially the part about not responding to pesticide you buy at the store. Try to find an independent pest control person, not the companies that won't treat you unless you sign a contract with them. I would pay someone else up front just to do an inspection for the peace of mind.

[atlanta hope]

I googled and found some organic and chemical free type companies... anyone use any of them? Chem Free is the one that looks pretty good.

[parkk]

Originally Posted by atlanta hope

Our home inspector mentioned that our house we're buying has a norwalk rat and a roach problem. I should tell you he also owns a pest control business.

We've never had any rat or roach problems before and we're anti-pesticide kind of people. The inspector said that the rats won't respond to poison you can buy at the store -- that it has to be professional grade stuff to get rid of them. My husband and I liked the inspector but we're wondering if he's just trying to get more business.

What would you do? What can be done without spraying a bunch of crap in the house and setting out poison?

Thanks!

Do you live in town or out in the country?

I live in south Travis county and theres no way to completly get rid of the rats and mice, the best fix I have found is we always have at lest two fixed cats out doors. The mice tend to stay away, every now and then we will see one.

When we go for a walk you can hear them scurring about in the road side ditch. It's a good thing they are not smart or we would all be gone by morning! We must be out numbered 1,000 to 1.

[TexasHorseLady]

We lived in Barton Hills in Austin most recently (12 years ago), lived in North Austin, Central Austin, etc. I only saw one rat in all that time.

Moved out to the country, saw quite a few rats the first month we were here. Since then, I've seen one - we had five cats when we moved in, and at times have had up to ten (being in the country but two miles off IH35, folks drop them off at the end of our drive and we take them and get their shots and "fixed" so we won't have disease or 900 feral cats and, voila! they're ours).

Never used a pest control company to get rid of rats. I'd be suspicious of what that particular inspector told you - there's a real conflict of interest going on there.

As for roaches, could be. Austin has 'em. But there are, as mentioned above, plenty of better ways to get rid of them unless it's a really serious problem, in which case you would have known about it when you looked at the house in the first place.

Call The Natural Gardener and see if they can give you some recommendations for natural pest control companies.

[atlanta hope]

The house is in SW near Oak Hill on almost an acre.

Thanks for the suggestion about Natural Gardener! Maybe we need to look at getting a cat. Our dog doesn't like them but maybe he'll be okay with a kitten.

[TexasHorseLady]

Then right around the corner from Natural Gardener! Lucky ducks!

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

I wouldn't trust someone that "also owns a pest control business". Sounds like drumming up business to me, especially the part about not responding to pesticide you buy at the store. Try to find an independent pest control person, not the companies that won't treat you unless you sign a contract with them. I would pay someone else up front just to do an inspection for the peace of mind.

Struggling times, anything to make that extra buck!

AThope - get a 2nd inspectors opinion.

Good luck!!

[Trainwreck20]

I hope he told you Norway rat, not Norwalk, or I really wouldn't trust him . Anyway, the store stuff generally works if you use it right. Depending on the number of rats (if there are really rats), then you might have to treat for fleas, too. We had a big rat out in our back yard a few months ago, mooching off the bird feeder. At first, we thought it was a squirrel (a big one, at that), but took a closer look and figured out it was just a rat on steroids. We live in a very close-packed neighborhood, so were a little surprised. We guessed it must have moved in under our shed. We ended up using some stuff from home depot, and that was that.

[texastea]

My friends had "roof" rats (don't know if they're the same) and it was a huge problem for them. You have to be careful because if the rats eat the poison and end up in your walls....um, well, that's bad.