Catching rats

[Ranger]

Yes, those sticky traps look horrible to me. I'd rather they were finished off quickly in some sort of spring trap, assuming you can get them for rats...

You can get lethal traps for rats, http://www.pestcontroldirect.co.uk/acatalog/Little_Nipper__Break_Back__RAT_Trap_.html the only trouble is setting them without losing bits of your anatomy. Also they tend to be lethal for non-target species as well, though this can be remedied by putting them in a box with hole big enough for a rat (and you would be surprised at how small a hole they can get through) which deters most other animals.

Back to the whole shooting them debate, not only are you likely to have the police abseiling over your wall, it is increadibly inefficient. The most efficient, and humane, is to use a humane trap and then shoot them in that. It is also less likely to attract the attention of your neighbours

 

[red_tom]

OK if Fnaar isn't going to help you, how about some sort of device that forces them into a maze? Then, if they're clever enough, they may escape and be wiser for it, and the dirty stupid ones will perish. You could even keep the clever ones and train them to pickpocket for you, or attack enemies.

I, for one, welcome our new genius rat overlords.

 

[Arch]

What's the most humane, poisoning them (do they still use that warfarin stuff), or smacking them with a spade once they're stuck on a sticky trap?

If you can guarantee they won't be stuck for more than a few minutes, the smack with the spade. But if you would be leaving them for any length of time (I think more than half an hour...), I think the poison, although I don't know how ill it makes them feel before it kills them. And the more people poison rats, the more they'll become resistant, I guess. I think a humane trap followed by swift dispatch is probably better than either.

 

[yorkshiregoth]

Problem with poison is that they have a very selfish habit of crawling away and then having the audacity to leave this mortal coil somewhere unreachable, normally under floorboards and it can get a tad smelly.

 

[red_tom]

They can't vomit, I don't know whether this means they would feel better or worse.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Trouble is, there are 20 little fingers in our house that would no doubt find the Tom and Jerry comedy trap.

And use the little fingers to shove rat poison into little mouths. No option then, but for sticky pads and ear plugs so you can't hear the little blighters howling as they chew their feet off.

 

[mr_hippo]

Can I just ask, please don't use those sticky boards. Once you get a rat (or passing cat, hedgehog, bird etc) stuck to it, what are you going to do then? The board doesn't kill them, and the trapped animal makes a hell of a row until the animal is finished off.

If you want to deal with rats yourself, buy a poison baiting station (B&Q do them) and and a box of poison far more humane and a cheaper, long term treatment, just keep topping it up and rat problem controlled, not eradicated as you will never manage it

This is very sensible advice! Don't use sticky traps as you might catch other animals so put poison down and you'll only get the rats, why? Oh, I forgot, Henry Hedgehog can read and if he sees 'Rat Trap', he will then know that it is not for him.

 

[Maz]

I've used a sticky-board and caught a mouse on it. Little fella was still trying to wriggle off it in the morning when I found it...but its fur was well and truly stuck in the glue stuff.
I guess a rat version would be a bit more beefed up with stronger glue.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I've used a sticky-board and caught a mouse on it. Little fella was still trying to wriggle off it in the morning when I found it...but its fur was well and truly stuck in the glue stuff.
I guess a rat version would be a bit more beefed up with stronger glue.

You can get cats as well with the stronger versions. It gives the rat on the board additional hell as the cat leans to within a millimetre of its tail.

 

[Maz]

It gives the rat on the board additional hell as the cat leans to within a millimetre of its tail.

COOL!

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

COOL!

In fact, the rat will be begging Mr. Paul to whack it with a spade.

 

[wafflycat]

Problem with poison is that they have a very selfish habit of crawling away and then having the audacity to leave this mortal coil somewhere unreachable, normally under floorboards and it can get a tad smelly.

And there's the unintended side-effect of said dead rat being eaten by any passing cat or dog and then *it* ends up suffering horribly by becoming seriously ill or dying a nasty death.

Living where I am, there's loads of rats in the countryside, and I see loads in the verges & running about the roads when I'm out on my bike around the lanes.

The two things that control them *successfully* near to home are the cats & terrier-type dogs hereabouts. Whereas away from home I can see loads about the lanes, even during the day, around Chez Wafflycat & nearby environs, you just don't see them. Unless a cat brings home a dead one, of course...

Cheers, helen s

 

[alecstilleyedye]

And there's the unintended side-effect of said dead rat being eaten by any passing cat or dog and then *it* ends up suffering horribly by becoming seriously ill or dying a nasty death.

Living where I am, there's loads of rats in the countryside, and I see loads in the verges & running about the roads when I'm out on my bike around the lanes.

The two things that control them *successfully* near to home are the cats & terrier-type dogs hereabouts. Whereas away from home I can see loads about the lanes, even during the day, around Chez Wafflycat & nearby environs, you just don't see them. Unless a cat brings home a dead one, of course...

Cheers, helen s

we had a cat bring a live one in the house (twice) and drop it (twice). on one occasion we couldn't catch it, so we starved that cats for a day and locked them overnight in the kitchen where said rat, ub40 style, had hidden itself. did the trick, although curiously the dead rat was unmolested by either cat.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

We've had the rat man lay poison where it can't be reached several times..

Another urban myth. Have you seen any badgers round your garden?

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

No. No badgers. Before nor after.

Shows that rat poison is being used all round your area. I think there's no alternative but for your family to learn to coexist with nature and accept the rats as part of it.