Really expensive rodents

[Eli Altman]

Somehow it has taken me 3 years and over 20 units to run into my first rodent issue. I had a tenant in a 4plex complaining about rat/mice droppings. I looked up a good rodent proofing company and had them submit a bid. My jaw dropped when the bid came back at over $9,000.

Now, I live in a HCOL area. I know things are a little more expensive here. This, however, I was not expecting. The bid looked like this:

1. $2,000 to seal off all points of entry: screens, cracks, etc.
2. $7,000 to install a "rat slab" in the basement crawl space which basically seems like a layer of plastic with a bunch of gravel on it that drains to a sump pump (not included) and keeps the rats/mice from tunneling in

So this price seemed crazy to me and I had another company out yesterday to offer a competitive bid on the project. Their technician called me and told me that after having a look they wouldn't be able to bid on the project and wouldn't elaborate on it. ???

Should I: 

1. Get another rodent-proofing quote
2. Contact an exterminator
3. Pay the 2k to seal off all points on entry and see if the problem persists
4. Do something else entirely

Thanks!

[Aaron K.]

@Eli Altman the dollar store sells rat traps.  Sealing entry points should not cost that much even in the bay and the rat slab seems completely unnecessary.  This should be more like a $300 fix.  (Did this in LA on a 1,000 ish sqft unit a couple years ago)

[Eli Altman]

@Aaron K. did you seal entry points with a "rodent proofer" or have someone else handle it?

[Aaron K.]

@Eli Altman rodent proofer being metal screen mesh yes, and it was done by a handyman who also set the traps and disposed of rat carcasses after the deed was done.

[Dennis M.]

1Go to Home Depot 

2 buy a family pack of D Con rat poison. 

3 Pickup their corpses 

[John Teachout]

I agree with Dennis's post. Buy rat poison (maybe a couple different kinds), place it where it's unlikely to attract "non targeted species" and see if that doesn't help the situation.

Sealing cracks and holes does help. Rodents will always choose a comfortable indoor space with a food and water source. Make it hard for them to get in and find what they want.

I would never pay thousands of dollars for a mitigation situation that may or may not resolve the problem.

[Karl B.]

Seal all holes and make certain the plumbing is sealed as well. When I bought my 4-unit there were rat turds all over one vacant unit - in the two vacant units when I looked underneath the sink I discovered there were large openings for the piping beneath the sink. 

Aluminum sheet metal worked like a charm to cover those large openings up. 

[Jermell Shavers]

@Eli Altman

Go to HD get some caulk start caulking and laying down the traps that attract the mouse with poison and that enclose on themselves. Don’t buy the pellets because if someone pet gets sick you can be sure it’s a lawsuit. I wouldn’t blame them.

[Andrew T Bolton]

Poison in a bait box. You can order the large boxes online. the mice go inside, eat the poison, but can't get out. You can empty them at your convenience. That way you don't receive calls from your tenants about smells from under the unit.

[Arwen Lothlorien]

Please don't use poison. You don't want stinking dead animals in the walls. Use traps lots of traps, seal off entry points, cut back trees branches that allow rats to jump onto the roof. And then reset your traps, i use peanut butter.

[Lynnette E.]

Get some steel wool.  Cram it into any hole you find and caulk over it.  The mice can not chew through the steel wool even if the do go through the caulking.  I like sticky paper to catch the ones that are already in the house but any trap you like or poison works.

The plastic sheeting, I just paid $100 for it to go under one of my houses, over all the crawl space and its sooo narrow the guy got stuck under the house.  My pesticide guy prefers the plastic as its easier for him when he treats, and he did the plastic when he was doing a termite treatment.  I do not want gravel, or a sump pump.  That gives you habitat for some critters.

[Allan C.]

@Eli Altman rat poison not legal in Bay Area. I’m in a neighbourhood where people are starting to bring law suits against folks to used poison. Lots of dogs getting sick from ingesting poison and vet bills running in a the 10s or thousands.

I went through rodent proofing recently in Bay Area and your quotes are consistent with industry costs. I ended up hiring handy man to do most of the sealing as you will have better cost efficiency. I contemplated a rat slab but couldn’t justify the cost.

For now I’m just paying for quarterly services for someone to come clear mechanical traps in my crawl space. You’ll never justify cost of a rat slab.

[Caleb Heimsoth]

@Eli Altman idk what you should do but this seems like you’re being price gouged by a lot.