Rodents are the biggest call we get across Altona, and the reason is water. The foreshore, Cherry Lake, Kororoit Creek and the Truganina wetlands carry rats all year, and from April they move into the nearest warm building. The weatherboards and bungalows with timber floors, open subfloor vents and original roof spaces are the easiest for them, and the streets backing onto the lake and the creek are the first to hear scratching at night.
We run a baiting program using lockable, tamper-resistant stations placed where the rodents actually move: along the back fence nearest the water, behind the shed, under the house and in the roof void. Stations are checked and refilled on a return visit so bait is not left sitting out. The other half of the job is finding the entry: broken terracotta subfloor vents, gaps under roller doors, open pipe penetrations, and the branches and fence tops that give rats a path to the roof. We tell you exactly what to fix.