Rats

[Ja1983]

the other week the lad next door said he saw a longtail in the back garden.... naturally i told him to go **** himself, as he is a joker...
SWMBO was in the kitchen the other day, when she screamed.... apparently she had seen roland dart across the drive...

within a short walk we have a river, a sewage treatment works, and a landfill (other side of the valley) so there are places wherre rattie may have come from...

question is...
whats good bait/time of day to wait round with suitable object with which i may bludgeon it to death?

cheers

[MudRat]

call the council straightaway, they will send people around to deal with it, do not leave any food out whatsoever (bins, birds rabbits etc) block up any holes in buildings etc, then go to a farm supplies shop and buy their strongest stuff, rats like tunnels and burrows, so create false ones away from the kids and pets, preferably near one of their runs. Good Luck, i hate rats almost as much as i hate Benefit Cheats!!!!

[diggerdog36]

I use Fenn Mk4 traps, but read up on the law with them, they need to be set in specific places facing the correct way, a few of these baited with chocolate are cool...watch your fingers though and remember to take the safety catch off!!!

Pest controllers will probably use Phostoxin or some thing like that, but we cant buy it anymore, you need a license now.

[lee celtic]

We have an old stone house and get a rat about once a year  :roll:

The best tool for the job is an air rifle if you can get a clear shot with a lump of land behind as the pellet might go straight through .

If you want to use poison then any good farm supplies shop will have it in brick form called tomcat, small blue blocks with a hole through so you can tie them down to moniter how many they eat .The best way to put them down is to put a bit of drain pipe about 2 foot long against a wall in the garden with a House brick blocking one end and somthing heavy on top this stops dogs/cats/birds etc from getting at the poison (make sure the poison block is well down the pipe . Usually only takes a few days to wipe them out . :D

[richo]

You only use phoctoxin below ground and it's not that great anyway.
Fenn traps might work but you MUST put them inside buckets or boxes with holes cut out big enough for rats only as you might catch a hedgehog.
Most rat poison that you will be able to buy will be pretty usless anyway as the strong stuff is for license only.
Rats like whole wheat size poison as they like to chew{Dead line].Poison water can be used but again only if you are licensed.
Best thing to do is give your local council a bell and get them out,some councils don't charge for mice and rats.
As for blocking up holes in buildings,if they want to get in they will chew there way in.Live traps are a good idea and work will but you will have to dispach them your self ,don't just let them go as they will come back.

[Boggert]

I tried traps and failed so got out my gun, lay on the garage roof and...

Waited

And


Waited

and


Waited


Then it appeared, scuttled around the side of the house, I got the devil in my 3-9 x56 super moon lighter scope, breathed out slowly and pulled the trigger...



Click! :shock: *&£%&^$ forgot to load the damn thing! :roll:

Just remember to tell the neighbours or you'll get a visit from an ARV! :shock:

[lee celtic]

Could you not get them to join you on the roof ,Many hands and all that :lol: :lol:

[Boggert]

Could you not get them to join you on the roof ,Many hands and all that :lol: :lol:

Now there's an idea!

But the problem is I have seen tham shoot.... everything would be blasted apart! House car the lot!

[graham]

Get a Jack Russell they luv rats  :lol:

[hobbit]

Reading this just keeps bringing up memories of this

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ljrGT-weS4

Also when I phoned the police about using an air rifle to get rid of rats, the reply on the other end of the line was
"Are they the two or four legged variety"
I replied 4

They said ok then with care

Wonder what the reply would have been if I had said 2 :twisted:

[carbore]

I have been trying to trap some for ages with little luck after we got a load in our pantry/barn over chrsitmas.  The traps need to be set for some time. Mine are humane cage traps with a little extra holse so the babies can get in. cost about £15.

Id phone the council and keep the bins etc secure (no bird feeding, not outdoor pet feeding, no compost heap)

If you do shoot, trap of find a dead on then dont pickit up, use pliers or something and dispose of it well. beware dog/cat bringing the corpse into the house.

Finally if you do poison them beware that if they are in the house (roof/floor etc) and die they will stink!

[Thrasher]

We have scrabbling in our roof space, could it be rats? I've seen a few squirrels up on the roof near the chimney could it be those?

I used to think it was birds, but the most noise is about 3am or 4am, which is before the birds wake up.

If it is rats :

1. What the hell are they eating in a loft?
2. How did they get there :)

[landraver]

I live on a working farm (we have the farmhouse & some land). About 8 years ago we started to get a problem with rats around the place because of the building work (piles of stone are a perfect home for the little ----s). I tried trapping & shooting & bagged quite a few (didn't want to poison as we had/have barn owls nesting) but it wasn't enough. Solution.... cats. Got a cat (have a few now!!) they live in the garage, keep the feeding to a minimum & I haven't seen a rat in years. I know there will be some about but the cats do a crackin' job.

[Panda]

We have scrabbling in our roof space, could it be rats? I've seen a few squirrels up on the roof near the chimney could it be those?

I used to think it was birds, but the most noise is about 3am or 4am, which is before the birds wake up.

If it is rats :

1. What the hell are they eating in a loft?
2. How did they get there :)

Sounds like rats to me. An ex-girlfriend of mine lived in a top floor flat and had them running around in her roof space, I'm told they can climb walls, drain pipes etc she had the land lord sort it out they used poison which killed them but then left dead rats in her roof which then meant she then got magets, not nice but in the end it all cleared up.

So I think that the council will come out and lay traps for you or if not i have a few rifles you can borrow and we can see how good your new eyes are. ;) :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[SimonHarwood]

We have scrabbling in our roof space, could it be rats? I've seen a few squirrels up on the roof near the chimney could it be those?

I used to think it was birds, but the most noise is about 3am or 4am, which is before the birds wake up.

If it is rats :

1. What the hell are they eating in a loft?
2. How did they get there :)

1. You would be surprised... The insulation from your electric cables is a good one. (They might just be nesting though.)
2. Up the inside of your cavity walls most likely.

[V8MoneyPit]

Yeah, I'd have to agree..... rats. We have recently had exactly the same. That time of the morning seems to be when they are active. They can get up drain pipes in to the gutter. They arch their backs in the pipe to take up the space and wriggle up. As said elsewhere, they chew through just about anything, so it's difficult to keep them out.

We used a wheat based bait (can't remember the brand) and it seems to have done the job. Just hope they haven't died in the loft or we could have a nasty smell about to develop  :roll:

Problem is, the bait now seems to be eaten by mice! They peel off the husk that has the poison in it and eat the middle of the grain... crafty little blighters! So now, I've put a broken grain bait up there for them. What next, I wonder?

There are some monstrous great rats around this year and they are plentiful. the weather has been perfect for them to breed. Saw one run across the garden the other day.... it must have been 10" long and that's just the body (and no exageration)  :shock:

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

I like rats, especially in a nice satay sauce. Very tasty, very sweet! Yum Yum!

[Boggert]

I like rats, especially in a nice satay sauce. Very tasty, very sweet! Yum Yum!

Not if you shoot them with that .458 Magnum... It will be more like soup!

[Bishops Finger]

Wern't they a 80's LA glam metal band....?

[Thrasher]

Magnum? LA no ... more like Birmingham  :D

[Sharpshooter]

I have a trap that electrocutes them.

It never fails. Just put a Malteeser in, and youll have one every night.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELECTRONIC-RAT-KILLER-ZAPPER-TRAP-RATS-RODENTS-SQUIRRLS_W0QQitemZ350033015647QQihZ022QQcategoryZ52509QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It takes a couple of D Cell batteries. Kills about 20 rats.

It has two plates on the bottom that are insulated from each other. When the rat/Mouse walks in and completes the circuit. Frizzle. And no mess. :)

I had two in it one night.  :twisted:

[richo]

We have scrabbling in our roof space, could it be rats? I've seen a few squirrels up on the roof near the chimney could it be those?

I used to think it was birds, but the most noise is about 3am or 4am, which is before the birds wake up.

If it is rats :

1. What the hell are they eating in a loft?
2. How did they get there :)

If you have squirrels in your loft mate get them out quick.The little sods will chew every thing.Your plumbing ,electric wires,loft insulation and have even been known to chew all the way though roof joists.

[lee celtic]

That leccy rat fryer looks the biz .

I think I might be getting myself one of them :twisted:

Do they make bigger ones for chavs???

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

We have scrabbling in our roof space, could it be rats? I've seen a few squirrels up on the roof near the chimney could it be those?

I used to think it was birds, but the most noise is about 3am or 4am, which is before the birds wake up.

If it is rats :

1. What the hell are they eating in a loft?
2. How did they get there :)

It may be you have a bat colony. What ever you do, don't disturb them. Contact your local bat conservancy people and they will come out and check with a high frequencey sound detector to see if they are active.

[mike142sl]

We have rats in our compost bins now and again. They do a good job aerating the compost for me before providing a nice meal for the local Owl population.

[Sharpshooter]

That leccy rat fryer looks the biz .

Do they make bigger ones for chavs???

If you can get them to like Malteesers youve cracked it. :)

[lee celtic]

Found this might be of use to you :lol: :lol:

http://rat-hunter.com/

Sample of what to expect :twisted:

[Bishops Finger]

Magnum? LA no ... more like Birmingham  :D

>>>>>>Please don't remind me...... :D

[lee celtic]

The old Manager of Magnum used to run The Harp pub in Bangor you can guess what the juke box was like :roll: :roll:

[carbore]

Those action men with Squirrel is hilarious.....