First web site enquiry

6th July 2020:

Received our first website enquiry. Customer and her neighbours has seen a rat on several occasions in their little mews in Shoreditch. They had only seen only one rat each time but were concerned there were more. I had offered a hire of one of our trail cameras to establish what sort of activity was there and how many, to which she agreed to. When i arrived at the property in daylight, i had parked up at the side to call her that i was on site. Just as i spoke, a large rat was walking down the side of the payment where i had pulled over. I had a look around the immediate area where i observed several holes in walls of buildings, mainly ventilation vents which had come away from the wall and you could see clearly, paths into each vent. The paths being made by the rats as their fur brush the ground as they make their way around. The other biggest problem i saw was that the entrance to this mews had take away businesses either side of it with no bins in sight. Each property on the street plus the take aways, had no bins to dispose of their waste and rubbish is left on the pavement outside for the council to collect daily.

Once inside the mews, i had a walk around where the customer had said the rats were using the drain. There was no poor waste management inside the mews, with everything clean and in good order. There was an electrical cupboard at the other end of the mews with missing roof tiles. I assumed that maybe they were nesting in the cupboard and exiting the mews when they want food. There was past acyivity in the cupboard but difficult to say whether it was fresh or not. I returned to the mews on the weekend and set up a trail camera by the drain with the cupboard in the background, hoping that i will catch footage at both locations. The camera was set up on Saturday afternoon with the first captured video of the rat on sunday night at 1130pm. The video did not capture the rat entering the property but only exiting through the drain. My theory of the nest in the cupboard was out so i think this is just a rat out exploring.

At no extra charge, i offered the camera for another two days just to check how often it is coming into the mews. I will collect the camera wednesday evening and view the footage and let the customer know of courses of action.

1. Set up a custom made trap

2. I sit for a couple of hours each evening with the air rifle until shot. This would incur a charge for my time.

Will update when i have seen the second footage.