The river's own route
The Thames towpath and the gardens backing onto it, particularly around Twickenham and Barnes, give rats a natural corridor to travel along without crossing a single road. A rat working its way along the riverbank can turn up in any garden that backs onto the water, whatever the state of the house itself.
Old boundary walls and cellars
Richmond's Georgian townhouses and the older properties around Kew often have brick boundary walls and cellars that have stood for well over a century, and mortar joints weakened over that time give rats an easy way through. The giveaway is activity indoors with no visible hole outside: scratching under the floor, a smell near the cellar stairs, droppings behind a kickboard.
Larger gardens further from the river
In the larger detached houses around Hampton and towards Teddington, rats are just as likely to have come from a compost heap, a garden shed or an outbuilding at the end of a long garden as from anything structural.
Getting rid of them: the order that works
- Confirm the animal, and note where and when you see or hear it
- Take away easy food: bird feeders, unsecured bins, pet bowls left out overnight
- Book treatment rather than laying poison where children, pets or riverside wildlife could reach it
- Leave any hole you've found open for now, so no rat is sealed inside a wall or cellar
- Once activity stops, close the route: proofing above ground, a repair below it
Keeping them out once they've gone
In the borough's older townhouses, that often means gaps where pipework passes through cellar walls and worn airbricks, both easy for a rat to widen. In the larger detached houses further out, gaps around garages, outbuildings and utility pipework are the more common route, and each needs sealing with materials a rat can't chew through.
Booking rat control in Richmond upon Thames
Rat control anywhere in Richmond upon Thames is £190 for a flat and £240 for a house, and because around Richmond, where georgian townhouses and riverside streets close to Richmond Park and the town centre, mentioning that when you book rat control points us towards the likely route in, with the rest of the detail on the Richmond upon Thames rat control page.
