Get a rat out of the walls - brittag/maintenance GitHub Wiki

Aspect	Info
Context	Single-family house
Date started	2024-12
Date finished	2025-01
Status	Complete
Summary of outcome	Success

Background

House built in the early 1900s.

Problem

House had a rat in the walls. A wildlife removal / pest control person set up a one-way exit at its presumed entry point, sealed holes inside and out, set traps in the house, etc., but this rat seemed unable to figure out how to get indoors or outdoors. It was lost. We did not want the rat to keep scratching around or die in the walls.

Approach

We heard the rat scratching behind a phone jack on a kitchen wall, and we decided to use that as a portal from the inside of the wall to a trap. It was ok to sacrifice the phone jack because we weren't using it. We also knew that it's relatively safe to tape up old phone wires and tuck them aside.

The wildlife removal person removed the phone jack plate and inner plastic box, which exposed a hole in the wall sufficient for a rat to walk through. The person crafted a wire mesh tunnel into a live/humane trap, then covered the tunnel and trap with black plastic.

A couple days later, the rat walked into the trap and was captured alive. After the pest removal person took away the rat and equipment, we reinstalled the plastic box and cover plate. We did not bother to connect the wires to the jack.

Outcome

No more rats in the walls.

Next steps

If somebody wants to plug in a phone someday, they can dig out the old wires and reconnect them.