A tale of two Croydons
Croydon's town centre is dense with older buildings converted into flats and newer residential towers built on top of decades-old drainage, while the suburbs further out - Purley, Coulsdon, Shirley - are mostly 1930s semis with gardens front and back. Rats move by very different routes in each part of the borough.
The town centre: drains beneath converted buildings
In Croydon town centre, rats are usually a drain fault beneath older buildings now converted to flats, where a cracked pipe or shifted joint gives them a route from the sewer into a floor void with no obvious sign outside. Scratching under the floor or a smell near a stairwell, with nothing visible outdoors, points this way.
The suburbs: gardens backing onto railway lines
Out in the suburbs, rats follow gardens backing onto railway lines that cut through much of Croydon, moving along the cutting and into gardens where a fence has gaps or a shed offers cover. Bird feeders and compost heaps left accessible overnight are common draws in these streets.
Getting rid of them: the order that works
- Confirm the animal and note where and when you've seen or heard it
- Remove easy food: bird feeders, compost, pet bowls left out overnight
- Book professional treatment rather than laying poison where children or pets could find it
- Leave any burrow or hole open until treatment is complete
- Close the route in once activity has stopped
Closing the route for good
In the town centre's converted blocks, entry points are more often found around service risers and communal bin store doors than inside an individual flat. Out in Croydon's 1930s suburbs, gaps at airbricks and where pipework passes through cavity walls are the usual routes in. Our rodent proofing service deals with the accessible gaps above ground.
Booking rat control in Croydon
Rat control anywhere in Croydon is £190 for a flat and £240 for a house, and because around Croydon, where the town centre itself — 1960s and 70s office towers, mentioning that when you book rat control points us towards the likely route in, with the rest of the detail on the Croydon rat control page.
