how to manage rats problem

Ultrasound pest repellents don't work. You could hire an exterminator to spray around the outside of your house. There are a few in town but I don't know anyone who has used them. You could try pouring some bleach around the outside of your home.

Another option would be to cook and sell them. Rat meat is pretty popular here. 

Cats worked for us...

Same kind of problem but not rats, but bats. These fruit-eating birds hang in a kind of overhang and man do they shit.
We need to clean with a highpressure machine once a week. I thought to hang some rubber snakes around the area.
Somebody know here in Vungtau where to buy these rubber snakes.
Merci

Buy some steel wool and stuff every crack and cranny you can find around the exterior of the house -- keep in mind if the rat can get his head through, he can get the rest of his body through. Exterior bait traps (with poison) work well too. Also, try to fill in puddles and keep buckets, bowls or anything that can collect water out of the yard.

Inside you have to be vigilant about keeping food crumbs cleaned-up and water supplies (like splashed water around the sink) wiped - up.   

All living creatures need two things to survive (besides air) -- water and food. Keep in mind that what seems like a little scrap of food to you could be one or two meals for a rat.

I worked three years for a national pest control company in America -- I don't know everything, but I hope these things help.

drutter wrote:

Buy some steel wool and stuff every crack and cranny you can find around the exterior of the house -- keep in mind if the rat can get his head through, he can get the rest of his body through. Exterior bait traps (with poison) work well too. Also, try to fill in puddles and keep buckets, bowls or anything that can collect water out of the yard..

This is some good advice for people living in the U.S. but not really practical for here.

you should adopt a cat, local breed is the best to get rid of rats problem.
Ultrasound pest repellents don't work at all, I think it just work with mosquitoes.

Suggestion to all: don't live on the ground floor.
I am even on the first floor in a narrow building and have seen rats run across my balcony, going building to building, so now I don't leave the balcony door open. Life in the inner city / tropics.

I had the same problem with you. I bought something like glue. And add some mice's favorite food on it. There were some small mice and they usually got trapped here.. It is easy to through out this glue and bought another glue to capture the other ones until your house doesn't have any mice any longer.

Sorry Adhome01
   
   I won't be arriving in HCMC until mid - January so, yes, my advice comes from US roots.  I'll have to take your word for things being different there. However, a couple of people have mentioned cats and they do make good, natural rat controllers anywhere rats are present -- if you have a lot of rats, get a few cats, but don't feed them too well or they will get fat and lazy and won't  bother with killing the rats.

Rats in Vietnam are fatter than rats in the US and are harder to kill.

thanks for advice and picture of the glue pack! my only concern is - the rat gets glued - then it screams untill you kill it? my problem is (ok, that's stupid, but it's like that  ) - i hate to see the rats running around, BUT i wouldn't raise my hand to kill it with my own hand. it's too big an animal, i'd feel weird to crash it's head.. it's bigger than a kitten! and with poisons (or any other method like flour+gypsum = gets solid in the rat's stomach and kills it) my question is: will it stop other rats from coming? they are not great socializing animals, they don't pass the message, do they?

drutter, as a professional in pest control, can you please advise, if you know: if several rats die from the poison they get at my territory, will they spread the message?
with cats it works because the rats can smell the cat, i guess, so they don't dare to come close..

Veronica, are there any places they give kittens for adoption here in Saigon? or it works better just asking around if anybody in the neighbourhood has kittens?

also the vietnamese cats i've seen in the streets so far - they are smth like only twice bigger than some of the rats. it made me feel that these cats are not big fans of hunting for rats as their physique would not allow them

PhucDatBiet wrote:

Rats in Vietnam are fatter than rats in the US and are harder to kill.

And they're not afraid of humans. I've watched people hand feeding them, no joke.

ArteoVN wrote:

drutter, as a professional in pest control, can you please advise, if you know: if several rats die from the poison they get at my territory, will they spread the message?
with cats it works because the rats can smell the cat, i guess, so they don't dare to come close..

Only if they get a chance to tell the other rats before they die. Maybe last words?

First off, rats are actually quite social creatures but they do not go around talking to their best buds about rat traps and poisons in the area.

They are smart and if they survive an encounter with your cats they are likely not to come back around due to self preservation instincts.

Glue traps are a good option and so are cats....careful combining the two.......cats are nosy and quite possibly will get trapped in your glue trap as well and cause you misery until you free them.....think of the poor kitties......

Poisons can backfire on you if a rat crawls off someone you can get to it and dies.....the smell is quite intense and disgusting much like any other rotting animal. Most poisons are not very good for the environment either and can be dangerous to any other local wildlife that consumes rats.

Don't eat rat meat unless you are adapted to the germs common in Vietnam and Asia....its likely to make foreigners sicker than they have ever been.....especially if your immune system is sensitive which many Westerners suffer from due to the toxic environment our society has created. If you want the screaming poops for weeks then go ahead and eat you some under cooked rat......just a little will do ya

No, rats are known to be very social. I doubt if they will be passing any warnings along to their fellow rats.

I have to agree with Revolutionary about the poisons. I never recommend using them inside due to the extremely unpleasant order of rotting rat. Here in America you can purchase weather resistant plastic housing units designed so only the rats can gain access and put the poison inside for them. However, I don't know if these are available in VN or not.   
   Another trick is to get some 5-gallon buckets and put about a gallon of water in the bottom, the rats will climb in for the water but can't get back out. If you don't want to drown them then take them out somewhere and let them go --- or sell them to your neighbors for their dinner table  It isn't really necessary, but you can also drop in an apple, or something to help attract more of them.

   Good Luck!

Catch 2 rats. Tie the tales together. Petrol over them and set fire to the rats. They try to run different direction and scream like hell. No more rats for half year. I have never done it myself, but my neighbor in Holland did it this way to stop them eating chicken-food, and he was convinced it worked. Good luck.  .

Yogi has sent an email to the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

I don't know if he's retired , but it's worth a shot.   

That's why Yogi lives high above the ground here.

Revolutionary wrote:

First off, rats are actually quite social creatures but they do not go around talking to their best buds about rat traps and poisons in the area.

They are smart and if they survive an encounter with your cats they are likely not to come back around due to self preservation instincts.

Glue traps are a good option and so are cats....careful combining the two.......cats are nosy and quite possibly will get trapped in your glue trap as well and cause you misery until you free them.....think of the poor kitties......

Poisons can backfire on you if a rat crawls off someone you can get to it and dies.....the smell is quite intense and disgusting much like any other rotting animal. Most poisons are not very good for the environment either and can be dangerous to any other local wildlife that consumes rats.

Don't eat rat meat unless you are adapted to the germs common in Vietnam and Asia....its likely to make foreigners sicker than they have ever been.....especially if your immune system is sensitive which many Westerners suffer from due to the toxic environment our society has created. If you want the screaming poops for weeks then go ahead and eat you some under cooked rat......just a little will do ya

What are you? Master Splinter from TMNT?

Rats leave droppings and urines that alert other rats to come and procreate and set up camp. You need to clean off all the droppings and urines so they don't come back. Kill them once and the whole village will show up at your door step. Sometimes I wonder, how do these rats get to my apartment on the tenth floor? Do they take the elevator or the stairs?

ArteoVN wrote:

Veronica, are there any places they give kittens for adoption here in Saigon? or it works better just asking around if anybody in the neighbourhood has kittens?

I'm not living in Saigon so I don't know much about where you can adopt a cat, ask your neighbours is a good idea but  it will be a little tough if you're foreinger
Here is a Charity group that help cats and dogs in Hanoi, try to ask them if they have any connection that can help you in HCM city.

facebook.com/tramcuuhochomeohanoi/?fref=ts

Thanks everyone for answers and participation in discussion! Once we start anti-rats campaign and it is sucessful - I'll post info here

Another quick note. If you do use glue traps and you catch a little kitten, or even yourself, vegetable oil will cut through the glue.

an easy way to get rid of rats in your ceiling is Peppermint Essential oils. Take the cotton balls that ladies use for their faces, drop 3 or 4 drops on each and distribute in your ceiling, cupboards, behind furniture etc. Its harmless to domestic pets but rats hate the smell as it is to sharp for their sensitive noses.