Help: Hoarder = Rats and Mice = Needs Extermination

[ellisonz]

So my stepmother is a hoarder and has a storage room and garage full of rotting boxes and other stuff. There are also stuff and document caches throughout the house. So my sister, brother, father, and stepmother have a rat-mice problem? Have you hired an exterminator to deal with this problem before? What did they do to control the problem? How much would it cost for a 4 bedroom home in a major urban market? Did the exterminator succeed at his work? Were you satisfied with their work? Any words of advice?

I think the biggest problem is going to be getting stuff tossed out/moved and doubly so since my father and stepmother are not living in the house now due to their rental property going to shit. My brother is in denial, and getting a hoarder to clean up her junk is a ridiculous proposition, especially since it's been this way for 7 years. Do you have a hoarder in your family? How did you deal with them? My stepmother is not of sound mind and extremely temper mental and my father is elderly and senile.

I've literally watched them cook obviously rotten chicken, letting the smell permeate the house, and then deny there's a problem. I couldn't take it anymore and moved out to another state a long plane ride away. I'm really worried about the family dogs health with the rats-mice and the amount of droppings (the smell of ammonia was overpowering three months ago in certain parts of the house). I'm thinking of just laying out all the consequences in a logical manner to them and hoping for the best. Oy vey.

:hangover:

[kalli007]

1. I think that

the hoarding issue would have to be taken care of before any extermination attempts could be successful. An exterminator could give it their best shot but seems like it would be throwing money down the drain while all the junk, potential rats nests, are still there.

At the very least they could start setting out traps everywhere.

[msanthrope]

4. No traps. Hoarders don't clean out traps. See my post # 3. nt

[ellisonz]

11. One time at the old house in California...

...a bird flew into her television/living room and didn't come out. She didn't think anything of it. About a year later we found the bird, a sparrow I think, and it had hardly decomposed and stopped smelling by them. Lovely, I know. :puke:

[LynneSin]

2. This sounds crazy but why not try to get her on the show

Sure they will make the hoarders look to be crazy but you could get the house clean and money for therapy to boot.

[msanthrope]

3. Adult Protective Services. Animal Control. Child Protective Services.

Respectfully, you are focusing on trees and ignoring the forest. Call any and all that apply.

Yes. I have dealt with this problem. In a very real and painful way with another family member.

Once you get a real rodent problem, you cannot cure it without a full clean out.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS DISGUSTING------ BE WARNED-----





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When you have rodents in this situation, you can call in an exterminator. A non-reputable one will take your money, give you traps, and poison and 'spray.' And keep coming back.

Here is what will happen--the hoarding person???? Oh, they won't give a shit about a full trap. They won't smell the rotting carcasses. They won't protect food, or their pets from the poison or the rotting bodies.

So you will have a hoard, with dying pets, dead rodents, and sick people. And you won't get them all. You will get some.

Imagine finding a live rodent eating a dead one???? Imagine you finding it, because the hoarder would never clean up the dead bodies?

A REPUTABLE exterminator will tell you the truth--get the house condemned, and cleared out. It's the only frackin' way.

Get the hoarder to the notice of the authorities. This is too big for you.

[Phentex]

7. This is what the show would recommend anyway...

They do try to help people keep their homes but in the severe cases, the authorities HAVE to be involved to make sure the situation does not get worse.

[ellisonz]

9. I just don't see them coming...

...to Honolulu with the production costs and what not. We're not exactly the normal telegenic case or possessing 100s of cats. Just one bored dog. Thank you though, I may consider involving the authorities as a last resort. :-(

[Phentex]

12. No, I was not suggesting the show...

I was agreeing with the person who suggested the authorities.

You're in a tough spot and I'm sorry. :hug:

[ellisonz]

13. My apologies.

I was reading and responding too fact. Thank you. :thumbsup:

[MrsBrady]

5. if everybody is getting old and senile, they need to get help.

But if you are so far away, I don't see what there is for you to do?
And if you're brother is not willing to deal with it, then you can't make him.

Unless you want to get some kind of power of attorney so that you can make
decisions for them. If neither of them are of sound mind, it seems like it's time to take
the next logical steps to care for them. I would think that would have to be dealt with, seeing
as it sounds like they are dangers to themselves.

[ellisonz]

10. I agree that i can't make him.

I think he's accustomed to living in a high-pressure situation and so his response is to shell up like a turtle. So long as his room is square he doesn't care to make trouble. We've actually come to blows before over his denial of my stepmothers mental illness. He just wants to be left alone, but what really pisses me off is how he doesn't make caring about the living arrangement of my "Aspie" sister and our dog, which is right next to a storage room packed wall-to-wall-floor-to-ceiling with rotting 7-year-old boxes. I want to bite his head off, but I think I'm going to try and get him to see that it will ruin the house and he won't be able to live in it forever.

Thank you for your thoughts!

:grouphug:

[nolabear]

6. This is an obsessive compulsive disorder. Logic won't help. Action is needed.

See if you can find anyone in their area who deals with hoarding. I really is a specialty for some mental health professionals. If you can't afford that (because they aren't going to want it) then the real alternative, and it might be necessary anyway, is to consult Public Health and Public Safety. If your father is senile then this is abuse of an elder and can be stopped, and I doubt anyone will be punished but he will be taken from the situation and he might have a far better quality of life. As folks have said, the rats are a byproduct of a problem that is much,much bigger.

Let me be clear. There isn't going to be any understanding on their part and they will likely hate you for it, but you'll be hated by people who are alive, hopefully more healthy and comfortable, and will have animals not likely diseased with leptospirosis and the other myriad things that rats can pass along. These people are ill and their lives are in danger.

[ellisonz]

8. I have no doubt of any of that.

...I'm going to try and ramp-up negotiations to do something about the problem by presenting the economic and health costs of not doing anything about it. I'm going to make a proposal for getting the job done complete with a cost estimate. If this does not work, I will try shaming since my stepmother is old school (her mother's house on the same plot of land was a tear down, and her sisters, including the one's next door are also hoarders. I will then consult the authorities and see what I need to do to get maybe a welfare check done to document the problem and then the public health authorities. It's a nightmare, and it's even worse because I've known it was coming for sometime and have been unable to do anything to stop it since I was constantly threatened with eviction and starvation.

Thank you for your thoughts!

:grouphug:

[nolabear]

14. Good luck. It's a tough and sad situation to see people get that farr off center.

No easy way out. Hope you can be successful.

[ellisonz]

19. Thank you.

I hope we can be successful too. It's reached the point where I'm not going to sacrifice health and future to not rock the boat. The stuff has to go, be it in the trash or into storage, but throwing the house away over it is just plain lunacy.

[texanwitch]

36. Don't watch the new Hoarders show in January, it is really sad.

Wish you well.

[Skittles]

15. I would notify the authorities

they (the people and the dog) are in danger living like that

[grasswire]

16. elder abuse?

If your brother is living in their house and if the elders are unable to manage their home, there might be a situation where case workers and advocates need to be involved.

It isn't going to go away. Might as well force the issue and get things rolling, for everyone's wellbeing.

[RebelOne]

17. I am not a hoarder, but I have a rat problem.

You cannot imagine how hard it is to get rid those little monsters. I have a pest control guy who has been setting traps for 2 weeks now and we have only gotten 3 of them. And there are plenty more because I hear them in the middle of the night.

[ellisonz]

20. The mice are pain too...

...we've been trapping them for years but they always come back and now they're outsmarting/wiggling out of the traps.

Good luck!

[RebelOne]

23. Yeah, I have discovered mouse droppings in my kitchen.

I have set traps for them. but have not caught anything yet. And the rats are wising up now, too. So far, the traps my pest control guy has set have killed 5 of them. But there are more. I hear them at night scratching and chewing. I am up all night banging on the walls where ever I hear them. They have gotten smart and tripped some of the traps. My pest control guy is going to set live traps. Maybe they will be stupid enough to walk into them.

[grasswire]

24. Lots of very good cats need homes.

Just sayin'

[RebelOne]

29. No thanks, my little Chihuahua would not tolerate a cat. n/t

[ornotna]

25. I had a family of them move into my garage

after chewing a hole through a side door. I tried 3 different kinds of snap traps with no luck. Smart little rodents. I purchased an electronic trap and within 2 days I got them all, 2 adults and 5 juveniles. No more rat problem.

[RebelOne]

30. Never heard of an electronic rrap. Where do I get one? n/t

[ornotna]

31. got mine at Lowes if I remember correctly

Home Depot carries them as well I believe. You can read the reviews here.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_234008-507-M240A_0__?productId=3085535&Ntt=rat+traps&pl=1

[RebelOne]

33. Thanks. I have a Lowes practically around the corner from my house. n/t

[Lasher]

26. There was a bigtime rat infestation in the house where we lived during the seventies.

I set out D-con. I opened the little cardboard trays it comes in and set them out in the crawl space under the house. The next day I found I guess 8 or 10 dead rats in there. So I bagged them up and threw them away. That cured my rat problem.

The occasional rodent would come by from time to time because my neighbors were lazy pigs who never cleaned up after themselves. Dishes stacked way up in the sink, food scraps and garbage all over the place, etc.

The moral of the story is: D-con works great, but if you don't get rid of the food that attracted the rats in the first place they will come back.

Even worse, the rats and mice might attract poisonous snakes. I once discovered a nest of about 6 copperheads living together inside the wall of that house, where a vent allowed air to circulate through the crawl space. The snakes had no doubt prospered on the rodent infestation at my lazy pig neighbors' house. It was real creepy, with all their heads sticking out and their mouths wide open hoping to bite me. I killed them all with a frog gig and dragged their bodies out of there. Then I went into the crawl space to make sure there were no more of them.

I'm glad we moved out of there a long time ago.

[Angry Dragon]

32. As a shiver went through my body.............

[texanwitch]

18. I agree, something needs to get done.

It will only get worse.

They may fight you but it is for there own good.

Good luck.

[noamnety]

21. regarding the elder abuse

When my grandmother was living alone and clearly not sound enough mentally to take care of herself, she had two daughters living near her, and my mother who was out of state. My mother ended up consulting a lawyer for advice, and was told pretty firmly that if they knew it was not a healthy situation for their mother to be living alone, they had to take action - and not just because of the health of their mother, but also because it was to the point where they all could be held liable for charges for neglect.

[ellisonz]

22. Update: I spoke with my brother and he's willing to consult with my sister...

...about getting something done. I'm giving it one month to get something done, before I start going ballistic.

Finger-Cross.

x(

[Lasher]

27. That's good news.

The situation seems tough already but you'll really be swimming upstream if your siblings oppose whatever you try to accomplish.

[ellisonz]

28. I'm like a salmon man...

gotta go up stream if I want to spawn. Story of my life. :-)

See you in the DU3!

[MadrasT]

34. Dear ellisonz

I don't have much in the way of practical advice, but I wanted to send empathy. I know exactly what you are up against. It is overwhelming.

[ellisonz]

35. Thank You MadrasT!

As my mother always says, "Life isn't fair."

:hug: