Rat advice!

[NMH]

I shall mostly be getting one of them thar electronic doohickeys from Amazon.

Living in the countryside, pesky varmints are common and annoying.

I also baulk at poison because if the rat or mouse bogs off and gets eaten in the field by a kestrel - that's one of the good guys got poisoned into the bargain. A cat could also consume a dying mouse and turn up dead (and decomposing cat doesn't smell good either)

 

[Exiled in Indooroopilly]

BAG - having played cricket with your old man for many a year, his batting technique should help you with this particular problem................oh no sorry my fault, that was ducks.

 

[NMH]

I have a humane trap, but they're in the cavity / under the floorboards so won't help. I also don't have a car, so can't exactly get on a bus with a rat! Quite tempted to catch the buggers and leave them outside in the cage to die of hunger!

Erm.... that's about the least humane ending for an animal, that I can think of.... outside torturing it

Plus, if you trapped more than one, they'd probably eat one of their own to live longer in this 'humane' trap.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Erm.... that's about the least humane ending for an animal, that I can think of.... outside torturing it

Plus, if you trapped more than one, they'd probably eat one of their own to live longer in this 'humane' trap.

It's either that or killing it by using heparin, which makes rats bleed out - they have a stroke, have fits, and die a v painful death. Less humane i reckon!

If the bugger makes its way into my room, im happy with torturing it!

 

[Barrel of Fun]

...and take it to a game at Withdean.

 

[The Hon Sec]

Some of my thoughts on this subject.

If you use poison you have to be aware of pets and place it where other animals cant get at it.

Cats arnt always good mousers/ratters. Ours isnt, too well fed? Cats often bring in the problem and then lose it in the house anyway.

The electronic plug ins seem to work for while but not the final solution as far as I was concerned.

The humane traps have worked occasionally in the past but again not the final solution. I think they got used to them.

Eventually I resorted to poison put down where they were running including under the floor and it needed two or three refills in three different positions. If there is a resultant smell find the body and dispose of it or burn a joss stick or similar for a while.

 

[cjd]

Finally, the "ratman" got ours last week. He,d been having a great time for several weeks, and it's amazing what they can chew through....!

Poison got him in the end..the downside.....he popped his clogs under the floorboards (which I,ve recently tiled).......and the smell..wow....!

Have had to rip up the tiles and locate him.....not that, that was difficult........the smell
lead me straight to him.....dread to think of the odour when people find decomposed humans.

The "ratman" said it would have taken three weeks for the smell to go, if I hadn't bothered to retrieve him.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

The electronic plug ins seem to work for while but not the final solution as far as I was concerned.

How long is "a while"? Moving out in october, so will they last a few months?

I think as it's so close in my room i might be tempted to get one so it stays away for a while!

 

[Deleted User X18H]

I feel sorry for the rat!!!

 

[Hove Lagoonery]

A quick, cheap and humane way to kill a caught rat is to drown it. But don't do anything,
and DO NOT PREPARE FOOD WITH, OR ALLOW TO TOUCH YOUR LIPS ANYTHING THAT THE RATS OR MICE HAVE BEEN OVER until you have learnt about Weil's Disease, carried by rodents.
JeanShaw: Leptospirosis (Weil's Disease) And Why You Should NEVER Drink From Cans

 

[John Bumlick]

shave it.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

A quick, cheap and humane way to kill a caught rat is to drown it. But don't do anything,
and DO NOT PREPARE FOOD WITH, OR ALLOW TO TOUCH YOUR LIPS ANYTHING THAT THE RATS OR MICE HAVE BEEN OVER until you have learnt about Weil's Disease, carried by rodents.
JeanShaw: Leptospirosis (Weil's Disease) And Why You Should NEVER Drink From Cans

I know lots about leptospirosis - will be working in A&E in a few months time!

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

We used to shoot them. Or, if caught in traps, batter the fuckers with a spade. No time for humane treatment I'm afraid. Once they were dead, we'd take them out in a carrier bag and leave them in the woods for the foxes to get rid of the bodies. If they are under the floorboards, lift one up at the edge (they normally have their runs around the edges/in the safe parts of buildings), and drop a trap there. Raw bacon for rats, chocolate for mice.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Can you show us a pic of your rat Laura?

 

[Northstander]

You need one of these....

 

[jakarta]

Does what it says on the box.......

 

[Skintagain 1983]

I feel for you, I really do. We had rats for a number of years at our lovely flat in Alva. I say we .... they would have needed to be flying rats to access our flat... the old woman downstairs had the problem and we were suffering as a result.

The enviromental health officers tried poison, we had meetings with the council, enviromental health dept chiefs, with the water board (about the drainage), involved the local councillor and leader of the council and still couldn't find the source of the problem. There was veery little evidence of them but we knew they were there.

They kept finding dead rats under her floorboards; in the wall cavities; in our loft conversion cavities...The invasions of blue-bottles was a clue and then the stomach churning stench was unbearable for months at a time. The stench gets into your clothes, your washing... Made us all ill, physically, we had all sorts of problems with the water supply (the water board denied any link), and mentally with the stress of it all....

My wife had always been terrifed of mice and rats since growing up in the east end of Glasgow and she had to move out our home a couple of times. Living with the thought of these vermin just inches away from us every day made her very very ill indeed.

The final straw for her was when she was confronted by a juvenile rat perched on the kitchen worktop just as she was making the dinner... she screamed, turned and ran and never went back there! (wife not the rat). She hasn't ever really recovered from that.

I spent the next few days chasing this "one" rat around the kitchen with heavy implements. Nightmare! But where were his mum, dad, brothers and sisters? There is never only one! I dread to think..

We ended up trying to sell the property on. Luckily we had a certificate from the council that said the rat problem was a one-off and had been solved. Like f*ck it had!

Do whatever you can to get the f*cking things killed as quickly as possible or you will "live" to regret it and it will take over your life! If the property is not yours, get the f*ck out of there. Good luck!

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Just bought one of these:

B Rat Repellent, 0000003524459

Bit more expensive, but the other ones said they didn't go through ceilings / floorboards / cavities which is where the problem is! Haven't seen any rats running from the propert a la pied piper, however it might do the trick - if not, ratty's going to get poisoned!

It also said to put straight into a wall socket - i don't have one spare so have put it on one of my extension lead things! Also said put somewhere unobstructed, which is a bit impossible as i live in a single room with a desk / wardrobe / bed / bedside table in, which isn't exactly open plan!

Let's hope it does the trick!