Well actually not. But I do seem to have one (probably more a lot more than one) in my garden.

Seen him (it) outside my front window a couple of days ago, no more than 2 feet from me. He didn’t give a sh*t I was there. Not a horrible black super rat, just a very very very big feild mouse looking thing.

Seem plenty of them in my time, I used to go to uni in Birmingham and saw plenty of horrible looking urban rats that would kill and eat as soon as look at you (not really, but you know what I mean).

But as we live in a nice rural location, this is a much healthier looking example. We’ve lived here for about 15 years and never saw one before, but Ive now saw this one (again maybe not the same one) every day since. Although mostly round the bird table.

So the question for the STW group mind is do I live and let live (very much my philosophy in life) or do Im I risking being over run and thus have to get them out (kill in other words)?

His life in your hands

A breeding pair can have something like 6,000 babies in their 2-year lifetime, and the offspring will be of breeding age themselves in three months.

Kill it with fire dirty great traps and poison.

someone told me that if you put chilli on the birdseed, the birds cant taste it but rodents will be put off. might deter them hanging around and multiplying. sooner or later it will realise the house is full of food so i would kill it but i dont do it gladly

shot one in the back garden yesterday, head shot followed by twitching, big bugger threw him into the field behind the house…. 3 red kites arrived within an hour incredible sense of smell 🙂

He didn’t give a sh*t I was there.

they have very poor hearing and eyesight it’s a wonder they do as well as they do 😕

I had one similar a few weeks ago. My dog was visiting and next thing I know this big ol’ mouse/rat critter was lying in the garden twitching, dog having a little play… I hit it with a shovel. (Mouse/rat, not dog).
Best rid, I reckon.

I’m afraid you have to get rid of it. The damage they can do with their digging/chewing is incredible. I’d suggest a good quality spring trap or live trap it and drive it a long way away. Peanut butter is their bait of choice. Crunchy.

Rat disposal. It’s your only real option. No live and let live when it comes to rats.

I doubt I’ll see many more today with him skulking around in the garden

Between next door’s 12 cats and the red kite that flies figure of eights overhead we don’t have a rodent problem (except squirrels).

Lead it and it’s family to water?

johnikgriff – Member
So the question for the STW group mind is do I live and let live (very much my philosophy in life) or do Im I risking being over run and thus have to get them out (kill in other words)?

His life in your hands

Live and let live. No need to kill everything in sight except ZMs.

I used to feed the birds with my left over rice sometimes then one day I noticed a rat (just one) joined the bird for the feeding so I let it be. However, several weeks later I saw a rat in the middle of the road half death with maggots crawling all over it. I went to have a look, it was alive but half death and I think it was the same rat that came to feed at my location but might have consumed some rat poison put out by the surrounding households. I have never seen any rat coming over since. 😮

In the far east if we can find rats in the area then the possibility of finding cobra snakes is also very high. We have had incidents of cobras (think we had 3 in the house at one point) in the kitchen many times. Scare the shite out of my parents. 😆

As long as they stay out of the house then I’m generally live and let live.

Inside the house I’ve taken the usual measures (blocked up holes with wire wool, keep food in boxes, placed sonic deterrents). If they don’t get the hint and come in anyway then we call the council rat guy. Can’t risk rats about when we have young kids.

We had one coming into our garden a few months ago.

I decided it was better for him/her to leave us alone so a rat sized snap trap did the trick.
I wouldn’t use poison as we used to live somewhere where they did and the buggers died under the floor of a flat and the smell was horrible.

Stop feeding the birds for a while. The problem with one rat is it won’t be one for long and will keep returning as long as there is ready availability of food. Clean and tidy he may be but if he he starts digging and the like it’s a nuisance. Also if you have kids or anything you don’t want them near where the rat may have urinated or the like because of the risk of weil’s disease. (not a high chance but very much not nice)

Stop feeding it (the birds) and it will most likely go away.

the buggers died under the floor of a flat and the smell was horrible.

Agreed – we had one die under the floor in the bathroom and we had to lift floorboards to clear it because the room was unusable due to the stink.

Also, FWIW, the twisted look of agony on its dead face suggested poison isn’t exactly a humane death. 🙁

I doubt I’ll see many more today with him skulking around in the garden

I could have been more wrong 20 minutes later right under where he was sitting.

Dead rat it is, I had a felling it would be, I’m hoping my resident pair of Buzzard’s get it before I get round to getting a trap.

I have got an air rife so I guess I could go down the peanut butter route and get him to sit still in the open

I’ll update my progress…….

I too have a rats.. Made a rookie mistake of not tying down the traps.. One of them is now missing.
What’s the best way of dispatching one that’s caught in a trap but not dead?

I found a hole in Miss Houns Garden yesterday, about the diameter of a tin of beans. No rat sightings, no droppings around but I fear it’s rats. Poison is out of the question due to cats/dogs. Think I may ask neighbour to send their jack Russell around

Spade.

I wouldn’t use poison as we used to live somewhere where they did and the buggers died under the floor of a flat and the smell was horrible.

I’ve seen mouse poison that claims to dessicate them (sounds nice) so that they don’t smell. Whether that’d work for rattus rattus, I’ve no idea.

Get a cat. Ours brought this chap in the other night, thankfully, already dead and minus it’s head. The photos don’t really do it justice, it was a decent sized beast, I’d estimate an 8″ body plus the same again for the tail. I noticed a fair bit of heft when I chucked it back outside. The rat, not the cat 😛

Nah, cats just bring them in half dead and let them go so they can play, evil little shits…

I’ve seen mouse poison that claims to dessicate them (sounds nice) so that they don’t smell.

That’s what the council guy told us about the rat poison he put down.

He lied!

He also told us the smell would go away on its own in a day or two. It got worse. Much worse.

On the subject of cats, I was thinking the fact we “lost” our cat of 18years in the last 6 six months may not be a coincidence.

Sui – Member
Nah, cats just bring them in half dead and let them go…

A rat with it’s head missing is not ‘half dead’.

…so they can play, evil little shits…

You’re anthropomorphising, get a grip man.[/quote]

johnikgriff – Member
On the subject of cats, I was thinking the fact we “lost” our cat of 18years in the last 6 six months may not be a coincidence.

That’s a shame…and also a sign! Get a couple of kittens, a male & female, job done.

Borrow a dog;shake( mildly sickening) SNAP!

Dog we have, he doesn’t seem intrested.

A cautionary tale if you decide to liva and let live….

A cousin of mine has just had his two year old VW Touran written off after rats set up home in it. The car was used every day 😯