I'm an old man with a problem... OLD home, under repair, and a rat invasion. As anyone in a house over 100 years old knows, you'll have the occasional rodent visit.
At the moment, i've a spare room that I've stripped the walls, properly supported floors in adjacent rooms and removed a LARGE (12ft x10"x18"ish) termite eaten beam. Left a few inches of opening along the length and invited vermin to visit.
What new and exciting methods exist for ridding the abode of unwanted 'guests'?
You have opened a path for them to get in. You need to close it.
How, I cannot comment on since you didn't post a pic. However there should be a way to attach some wood or metal to make it difficult for the vermin to get in. Set traps to catch any that may remain inside. (Not a pleasant task, but necessary and better than getting ill.)
Second, is to remove any reason for the pests to want to get in. Any food or bedding material need to be unavailable to them, both inside the room and outside the home. Clean up debris or pile of leaves or vegetation around the home that give the critters a place to nest. (If you don't have things that they are attracted to they will go someplace else.)
Finally if you don't get them to stop that way, call an exterminator. Rats pose a health hazard and have to be dealt with.
Nothing beats good old snap traps. The newer plastic designs are much handier to use, and are less hazardous for the user. These newer-type traps are far cheaper to buy online, in bulk, than in local hardware stores. Peanut butter is my bait of choice. I dispatch dozens of rats in my back yard garden every year. I have also used them quite successfully in rat-infested residences I have worked in previously.
I had a rat problem a few years ago and tried both the new and conventional trigger traps, sticky glue boards, a couple of YT ideas using buckets, bait and a balance beam and what I'll call a bait box since I don't recall correct name. I found the conventional trigger trap worked good, but only once, as the others learned from that ones fatal mistake and stayed away. The glue boards works great to trap babies and smaller adults, but the adult who got stuck on one I put out was able to drag itself and the trap away never to be found. The most effective I used was the bait box https://www.homedepot.com/p/Harris-Rat-and-Mouse-Bait-Station-3-Pack-3RATBOX/311001180 as they go in and eat the poison then go elsewhere to die. You need to make sure they find it by first covering every possible entrance with hardware cloth and removing any and all other sources of food.This will require effort, but you'll get results. I ensured they wouldn't come back by getting a cat. It's been three years and have only found dead ones outside so the cat is doing its job. I had no success with the bucket, but it looks like it should work with the right bait... https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UjXYM-BUIHs Other YT ideas that you might try using are cornbread mixed with baking soda described here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBeySuYvdbY&t=298s A spiked jar... https://www.youtube.com/shorts/khIrD8_Em3c Well, that's about it, but I hope one will work for you. Good luck.
