Carlos said

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

I had a similar problem  15 years ago.  I live on the edge of the countryside. Rats were coming in (and nesting in) through ‘dead’ drains that hadn’t been capped off in the house we had just bought.  I called Environmental Services.  They sent a guy who came in and placed poison in the obvious places. He spotted the drain issue and told me where to get caps and how to fit them…..but only after he was sure he had “driven the buggers out”.  He showed me how to block off all other potential access points with chicken wire.

Once I had done all that he came back and checked everything was ok.  And it was.   Total cost and 15 years rodent free….

about £140 inc VAT.

He said killing them is unavoidable as “they are really intelligent…and because of that they will avoid all the non lethal stuff”.  He had also be killing rats since he was about 8 and got a terrier puppy.  The dog sought out rats on his farm and he just followed in from that.  He also opined that today’s moggies were too fat and happy to take on grown rats red in tooth and claw……but terriers did it for fun.

That's a good price for all that work. I will see how it goes. I've been laying bait on the unsprung traps for a couple of nights, and it has taken it each night off both. I want it to develop a routine where it expects to find the food before I spring the traps. That's cold, pre-meditated murder of a rat that only wants to feed itself, but what else do you do? If it was one I might live with it, but one turns to many quite quickly. 

Terriers are the perfect dog for rats. 

Mark671 said

Carlos said

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

I had a similar problem  15 years ago.  I live on the edge of the countryside. Rats were coming in (and nesting in) through ‘dead’ drains that hadn’t been capped off in the house we had just bought.  I called Environmental Services.  They sent a guy who came in and placed poison in the obvious places. He spotted the drain issue and told me where to get caps and how to fit them…..but only after he was sure he had “driven the buggers out”.  He showed me how to block off all other potential access points with chicken wire.

Once I had done all that he came back and checked everything was ok.  And it was.   Total cost and 15 years rodent free….

about £140 inc VAT.

He said killing them is unavoidable as “they are really intelligent…and because of that they will avoid all the non lethal stuff”.  He had also be killing rats since he was about 8 and got a terrier puppy.  The dog sought out rats on his farm and he just followed in from that.  He also opined that today’s moggies were too fat and happy to take on grown rats red in tooth and claw……but terriers did it for fun.

That's a good price for all that work. I will see how it goes. I've been laying bait on the unsprung traps for a couple of nights, and it has taken it each night off both. I want it to develop a routine where it expects to find the food before I spring the traps. That's cold, pre-meditated murder of a rat that only wants to feed itself, but what else do you do? If it was one I might live with it, but one turns to many quite quickly. 

Terriers are the perfect dog for rats. 

i have a friend in truro in cornwall who has a very large farm and 3 terriers which she originally used for rats, two of them have lost an eye but all are marked by it in one way or another, there are kinder ways to get rid of rat problems i have to say. 

Mark671 said

Carlos said

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

I had a similar problem  15 years ago.  I live on the edge of the countryside. Rats were coming in (and nesting in) through ‘dead’ drains that hadn’t been capped off in the house we had just bought.  I called Environmental Services.  They sent a guy who came in and placed poison in the obvious places. He spotted the drain issue and told me where to get caps and how to fit them…..but only after he was sure he had “driven the buggers out”.  He showed me how to block off all other potential access points with chicken wire.

Once I had done all that he came back and checked everything was ok.  And it was.   Total cost and 15 years rodent free….

about £140 inc VAT.

He said killing them is unavoidable as “they are really intelligent…and because of that they will avoid all the non lethal stuff”.  He had also be killing rats since he was about 8 and got a terrier puppy.  The dog sought out rats on his farm and he just followed in from that.  He also opined that today’s moggies were too fat and happy to take on grown rats red in tooth and claw……but terriers did it for fun.

That's a good price for all that work. I will see how it goes. I've been laying bait on the unsprung traps for a couple of nights, and it has taken it each night off both. I want it to develop a routine where it expects to find the food before I spring the traps. That's cold, pre-meditated murder of a rat that only wants to feed itself, but what else do you do? If it was one I might live with it, but one turns to many quite quickly. 

Terriers are the perfect dog for rats. 

If you have a pair of rats….  Mummy and Daddy….   They can produce 1250 more rats in a year.

https://www.rentokil.com/us/about/blog/all-industries/quickly-can-rats-multiply-facility#:~:text=The%20rise%20of%20the%20rats,-The%20rise%20of&text=A%20female%20rat%20typically%20births,the%20potential%20to%20grow%20exponentially.

Old farm buildings, nearest neighbours 1/2 a mile away.

Hundreds of rats living in the banks and hedges.

All fine until Bird Flu, when I had to house the chickens for the winter. If you feed chickens indoors, the rats follow. We also had ducks outside in a pen, which they stayed in. I kept finding duck eggs 30 feet away. It seems that one rat lies on its back, hugging the egg, and the others drag it.

Problem was, the rats were eating more food than the chickens, and slowly destroying the 200 year old walls of the farm buildings they were nesting in.

Ferrets are the best way of getting rid of rats, but I wouldn’t have any chickens left either.

Rats also make great pets.

My two little girls used to answer the door with great big pet rats on their shoulders….   Freaked a few visitors out.

I had a grey squirrel problem in my loft about 15 years ago. They were stripping all my electric wiring and insulation. Bought a trap for them and then had to dispatch them by hand, a blow to the head was the humane recommendation but I got an air pistol as whacking them on the head was unpleasant. One day before leaving work I heard a commotion in the loft and found a massive rat had been trapped instead. It was vicious so I put the trap in the garden and anticipated dispatching it when I got back. That evening I discovered that it managed to escape the trap. After a month there was no more visitors or at least the escaped rat didn’t fall for the peanut butter bait after its first experience. Definitely better to get a lethal trap rather than having to deal with a hissing angry rat.  

This has taken a bit of dark turn. I will spring the traps tonight and hope for the best.

ANDY00 said

Mark671 said

Carlos said

Mark671 said

Huw said

I used to shoot around 200 rats a year on the farm - keep chickens, keep rats. Air rifle and night sights.
Two new young farm cats have taken over - I've maybe shot three rats this year.

Rat traps of any type - useless.
Even had a fancy Australian one which worked off a CO2 cylinder.
Most of the traps we tried caught one rat and the rest of them avoided it.

I've got a cat that keeps on top of the rats outside, but this one has got in under the floorboards and made itself at home. I reckon it's probably one the cat brought in and hadn't killed. If the trap doesn't work I will have to stay up all night with an air rifle, I just wanted to avoid that if i could. 

Anyway, I've been out and bought a couple of little nipper traps. Maybe they will do the trick. With a bit of luck it's only the one. 

I had a similar problem  15 years ago.  I live on the edge of the countryside. Rats were coming in (and nesting in) through ‘dead’ drains that hadn’t been capped off in the house we had just bought.  I called Environmental Services.  They sent a guy who came in and placed poison in the obvious places. He spotted the drain issue and told me where to get caps and how to fit them…..but only after he was sure he had “driven the buggers out”.  He showed me how to block off all other potential access points with chicken wire.

Once I had done all that he came back and checked everything was ok.  And it was.   Total cost and 15 years rodent free….

about £140 inc VAT.

He said killing them is unavoidable as “they are really intelligent…and because of that they will avoid all the non lethal stuff”.  He had also be killing rats since he was about 8 and got a terrier puppy.  The dog sought out rats on his farm and he just followed in from that.  He also opined that today’s moggies were too fat and happy to take on grown rats red in tooth and claw……but terriers did it for fun.

That's a good price for all that work. I will see how it goes. I've been laying bait on the unsprung traps for a couple of nights, and it has taken it each night off both. I want it to develop a routine where it expects to find the food before I spring the traps. That's cold, pre-meditated murder of a rat that only wants to feed itself, but what else do you do? If it was one I might live with it, but one turns to many quite quickly. 

Terriers are the perfect dog for rats. 

i have a friend in truro in cornwall who has a very large farm and 3 terriers which she originally used for rats, two of them have lost an eye but all are marked by it in one way or another, there are kinder ways to get rid of rat problems i have to say. 

My guess is you have never come face to face with a large rat eating the inside of your loaf, inside your bread bin.  Trust me ‘kinder ways’ goes out iof the window!  Rats are BIG.  They are not mice.  I’ve used ‘kinder ways’ successful on mice.  Rats are not dumb.  Greedy maybe but not dumb.  They are not gentle and assume (quite rightly as it happens) that they are always under threat so are always ready to fight in the most vicious manner.

I have badgers, foxes, hedgehogs and deer in my garden.  I leave them all be and am content to photograph them.  But rats in my kitchen.  Yeh to swift and permanent efficiency.  
Nah to ‘kinder ways’.  Sorry.

In maybe 200 years there will be a successful civilisation of super-rats.

They will remember the rather stupid monkeys that toasted the planet and then died out.

;)

Victory. I can recommend the Little Nipper mechanical trap, and some patience. The rat ate the bait without triggering it several times before it over-reached and met its doom. Death would have been instantaneous, I'm relieved to report. Very efficient device. 

I cannot confirm that this definitely works - but it seems to have done the trick for us. We had (what I presume was) a rat in a roof void above one of the guest bedrooms. It could be heard scurrying around and scratching. I read that they do not like peppermint, presumably because they have such a fine sense of smell. So we removed a plank from the wooden ceiling and put some peppermint extract that is used in the sauna, (after heavy dilution). Put it neat on some cotton wool in the roof void and the rats have not been heard since.

The sauna essence is very strong, so may not work with weaker solutions.

Edited by EdenGarden

I hate killing anything but rats are a hazard to health and breed like crazy, you really must nip an infestation in the bud.

I read somewhere that they've become a big problem since Covid temporarily shut down all the takeaway restaurants, as a result they relocated to domestic areas where they found the next-best food supply. 

One thing you can do to discourage them is to cut off that food supply - take extra care with bins and food waste, and don't throw left-overs on the compost heap.

'electronic rat traps'

Saw this title and wrongly anticipated a discussion about upgrading your existing camera to a multi thousand pound high-end mirrorless camera with 60 megapixels, 30 fps, & 8K video. 😜

Edited by Timmee

LifeModel said

I hate killing anything but rats are a hazard to health and breed like crazy, you really must nip an infestation in the bud.

I read somewhere that they've become a big problem since Covid temporarily shut down all the takeaway restaurants, as a result they relocated to domestic areas where they found the next-best food supply. 

One thing you can do to discourage them is to cut off that food supply - take extra care with bins and food waste, and don't throw left-overs on the compost heap.

I know they are outside - open country - and that's fine as long as the cat keeps their presence down, but inside the house is a different matter. I might put a couple of traps in the loft now, just in case.

Timmee said

'electronic rat traps'

Saw this title and wrongly anticipated a discussion about upgrading your existing camera to a multi thousand pound high-end mirrorless camera with 60 megapixels, 30 fps, & 8K video. 😜

Edited by Timmee

That's an electronic poverty trap.