Drain Camera Surveys

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Solving Rat Problems With Camera Tech

CCTV Drain Camera Survey

Most rat infestations in your home originate from drainage faults in the sewer system or drains. because of the complexity of the sewer system, many drains are not mapped!

By taking the time to understand your rat issue and the drains in your area allows us to solve rat problems where others have failed.

CASE STUDY: DRAINS - Not What Was Expected.

We recently carried out a drainage survey at a property in Bristol. The property had been subject to a horrific infestation of rats over many years, and the homeowners were beside themselves trying to find a solution to the problem. The drains were the one place they had yet to inspect, but the local water authority had already explained that their main sewer drains were not to blame. Discouraged but still committed, we were invited in to help.

Not every job is a simple one, but thinking outside the box, however bonkers it might seem, always pays dividends.

We followed up on what had already been done by other pest controllers, water authorities and of course the council and the customers themselves. Being equipped with CCTV drain inspection cameras, we were able to carry out a full drain survey.

Checking the sewer branch the customer was responsible for, we searched for the way in - and to our surprise found nothing wrong! Then our resident rat hunter Simon looked over the garden fence and noticed an unusual-looking drain inspection chamber in the neighbours garden.

Now we were on to something!

After speaking with the neighbour and checking the drain, we discovered the answer. This inspection chamber contained a disused main sewer branch that went right up to the properties boundary and right into the foundations.

The houses on the estate had been built on the site of a long-since demolished factory and abattoir. Unfortunately, some of the underground pipes were not only unmapped; they were still connected!

It was a revelation for the customer and a brilliant result. Now the customer in question is rat-free and enjoying their home once again - PERFECT.

How Do Drains Become Damaged?

By far the most common route of entry for sewer rats into our homes is directly from a damaged or disused drain that is still connected to the main sewer, and a very large population of rats.

These drains may have been incorrectly installed or may have become damaged during recent building works, or been crushed and displaced by tree roots. Age also plays its hand in this scenario. Pipes over a hundred years old will inevitably begin to crack, fail and collapse. This is common in Bristol especially in the thousands of terraced houses, more than a century old.

As the integrity of the drains begins to fail, they start losing water through exposed joints, etc. This will destabilise the pipes, causing them to subside and become displaced.

This displacement creates gaps and these breakages and gaps are the perfect places for rats to burrow out of the sewer system.

Where Will You First See and Hear Rats?

For many people, the very first indication of rat activity is noises in the ceilings or walls of the house. These noises can gradually get worse over time or can come and go without any pattern, rhyme or reason.

Noises like these are an indication of rats doing one of the things that rats do best - climb! They quickly and predictably climb directly to the roof space.

This is most common in bungalows and two-story properties. Once into the warm loft where there is an abundance of insulation, they regularly nest and overtime deposit kilos of faeces and litres of urine, leaving your lofts, attics and crawl spaces stinking and contaminated.

Occasionally a hole will suddenly appear in the flooring of a ground floor or basement room, and rats will wander in from the main sewer system directly into your living spaces.

What's Different About Our CCTV Darin Inspections?

Drain surveys carried out by us are NOT the technical drainage surveys with detailed digital reports carried out by specialist drain companies.

Our CCTV drain camera surveys are designed for one purpose only - identifying existing and potential rat entry routes! Because we are not tied to any drain companies, we can help you avoid paying for repairs that you might be covered for under your buildings insurance or might have repaired for free via the local water authority.

Our investigations are looking only for faults in the drains that could result in rats being able to leave the sewer system and enter your property. It sounds bizarre, but our investigations regularly discover faults that the water authority and professional drain companies miss. We have dozens of these case studies, and it's a huge problem.

Looking in drains might seem like a simple process, but we are often looking for very different things from other providers who have staff with zero experience searching for and solving rat infestations.

Once we have been able to fully look through all accessible areas of your sewer system, we can advise you on what steps need to be taken next. Not all drainage systems are the same, but our unique experience in Bristol has allowed us to map the common and likely entry points for rodent ingress.

But it's not just about finding the problem. Because of our expertise in this area, we will always do our best to help guide you through the minefield of insurers, drain companies and water authorities like Wessex Water to get your problems solved quickly, for the minimum expense.

How Much Does A Primary Home Inspection Cost?

A primary home inspection starts from £85.00 or free with any rodent treatment started on the same day. IF recommended our drain inspections are for ingress identification only and can often be carried out within days!

Every customer has a primary inspection to assess the scale and scope of rodent activity.

Drain inspections are not always recommended. After all - if you know a rat was brought in by the cat, or you watched it run in through your back door, it's unlikely your drains have anything to do with the problem!

Interesting Facts About Rats!

What Diseases Do Rats Transmit?

Rat-borne diseases and parasites represent a significant public health threat. Those Most At-Risk Include Children, Pregnant Women, The Elderly and people Convalescing.

• Salmonella - Severe and sometimes fatal food poisoning.
• Tularemia - If bitten by a rat this bacteria can attack your immune system and lungs.
• Leptospirosis - Weil's disease - a notifiable disease, leading to multi-organ failure and death.
• E.coli 0157 - This frightening disease from rat faeces causes renal failure and intestinal bleeding
• Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis - Viral Meningitis that starts innocently like the flu.

Plague - Very rare in this country, but cannot be excluded from thought.

How Rats Spread Diseases And Parasites

The Most Common Routes Of Transmission Include:

• Biting - you, your children, family, pets or livestock
• Urine & Droppings - Infecting your groceries and worktops with urine and over 30 droppings each night

        Being eaten - by your pets

• Contaminating - pets and your pets food and water
• Spreading - blood-sucking parasites like fleas and mites
• Contaminating - water supplies especially where they fall into water tanks

What Do Brown Rats Look Like?

Key Features Of The Common Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus):

• Diseases Include: Bubonic Plague, Typhus and Weil's disease are among the best known.
• Life Span: 1 - 2 Years
• Length (body only): 15 - 25 cm (body only) - up to 45cm including tail
• Weight: over 500g when mature
• Colour: brown, charcoal
• Sexual Maturity: 4 - 6 Weeks
• Gestation Period: 21 days
• Number of litters: 8 per year
• Number of young: 6 - 12 per litter
• Diet: They are Omnivores, feeding on almost anything.
• Daily food: 25 - 50g
• Daily water intake: 100ml per 100g

Where Do Rats Come From?

Research suggests that Brown Rats in the UK originated in northern China over a million years ago. These rats also developed a relationship with human populations, a relationship that has endured for thousands of years.

The Introduction into the UK is believed to have occurred via ships from the far east in the 1600s, but this is hard to substantiate. Brown rats are now found in almost every corner of the globe except the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

How Are Rats Controlled?

Rats are controlled and eliminated in two ways. The first and most popular method is to control populations with lethal control methods. The second and least popular method is exclusion and environmental control. So what's the difference?

The most popular methods of lethal control include Trapping (cages, snap-traps, glue boards), Poisoning (bait, liquid feeds, contact poisons), Shooting (air-weapon, fire-arms, shot-gun).

The most popular methods of environmental control include Proofing/Exclusion (preventing rats from entering an area) or Line of sight (ensuring all sources of cover, concealment and encouragement are eliminated). Successful control demands that a variety of these methods are married together.

Only by using a combined and integrated methodology will it be possible to control rats successfully in the longer term. However, the fact remains that adjoining properties might not share your proactive stance, and in time the rodent population will return. It might be in five minutes or five years, but eventually, they will return - and you must be ready for them!

Eliminating rats can be a complex task, but commonly the best scenario is to always focus on controlling the rodent population as close to its source as possible.

Drain faults and building faults are by far the most common routes of rat entry into our homes, and structural repairs and proofing by experts like ourselves can solve a rat problem for good.

Poison and traps have their place, but repairs and proofing are always preferable because they solve the problem and don't just subdue it for a few weeks or months.