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Rat Control in Bury St Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds is our ‘home town’ and we provide many businesses and homes with professional pest control services.

Like many towns Bury St Edmunds has a large population of Brown Rats Rattus Norvegicus, which are one of the most common non-domestic mammals here in the UK.

Rats are one of the least loved animals not only due to their appearance but for their reputation as vectors of disease, although it was the Black Rat Rattus Rattus which caused the bubonic plague (don’t worry, Black Rats are now nearly extinct here in the UK) Brown Rats do carry weils disease and many other diseases which are harmful and even fatal to man.

One of the problems with Rats is their ability to damage the fabric of buildings through gnawing, in 2009 we were called out to a property in Bury St Edmunds after the tenant heard noises coming from a small loft cavity above an extension.

Following a survey we discovered that the noises were being caused by an infestation of Rats, which were gaining access to the cavity through broken drains ( most likely damaged during the building of the extension). The Rats had found their way up from the drain through the wall cavities and made their home in the loft.

As well as the huge amount of droppings (which can contain dangerous pathogens) the loft and rooms below had the bad and unmistakable smell of rat urine. The greatest concern was that during our survey we discovered that the rats had been gnawing at the wires, on speaking with the tenant we learned that the electricity was often tripping-out.

Fortunately we had discovered the problem in time, 15% of house fires are attributed to rodents chewing wiring in lofts.

We were able to remove the rats through a baiting programme within two weeks of the initial call. Our next job was to remove the damaged insulation and faeces and then spray the entire cavity with a special anti-bacterial product to make the environment safe for the electricians to come in and completely re-wire that part of the building.

In this case it was Rats, however Mice also chew wires – if you hear unfamiliar noises and scratching coming from a loft we sincerely advise you to have your loft investigated by a professional.