Rat murder

Cats, terriers, traps, poison and a couple of decent shots with air rifles.

That should reduce the population by about 1% :mad:

They are dreadful things to try and get rid of.
 
I don't use poison anymore after using it once and the rat dying in a pipe indoors and stunk the place out. With poison you've got no control over where they go to die and also you never know what animal may pick them up and eat them and accidently get poisoning as well. I use traps but rats tend to be too smart for that. My dog does the job better than anything and if I could I'd get a few cats as well I would- I think they're your best bet- good luck!
 
Get a terrier guy in or borrow some terriers and start lifting pallets/ moving boards etc etc. It's not pleasant but I think it's better than poison as a more 'natural' death isn't it. Our dogs are pretty good but they are a little big to get in some of the smaller gaps the rats get in.

Our cat is next to useless when it comes to ratting - he just seems to laze about and the rats just get on with their own business living in the same field shelter the cat lives in!!! Honestly, bloody useless he is.

I think you have to resigns yourself to the fact you will nevre get rid of them totally but we did have a load at the beginning of the year, they'd drop down the walls as you went in the tack room, it was horrid. The dogs cleared out a few but we did also get one of those auduble rat repellers (rats and rodents can hear it but not larger animals. We plugged that in in the tack room and I think it did work as we certainly didn't see any more in there.
 
I know but I think my liveries would think I am evil if I keep a yard dog becasue it would be kenneled :(
 
You need to find their "runs" and lay poison (covered so no other animals can get at it) along those runs.

Also have a chat with the locals and see if you can drum up a gang of ferrets or JRT's to have a ratting day to clear some out.

For every rat you see there will be 20 close by... Check out areas for droppings and knawed bits of wood etc and make those your target areas. Get everyone to report where they saw a rat what time of day and what it was doing at the time...

I hate rats.
 
I think if you get the right cat they are very effective - mine was born feral and is hard as nails, despite looking like a set of cheer-leader pom poms on legs. The only rat I've seen around our place was a dead one in the middle of the lawn, which I assume she put there. You could speak to Cats Protection - they often have semi-feral cats in need of homes.
 
You could always borrow our Welsh Section D Mare - when they used to get into her old stable she used to stomp on them - the first day she did it it sounded like a massacre going on but they soon got the message, she also used to chase the rabbits in the field trying to stomp on them - Welshies - don't you just love them :)
 
You can buy poison that is certified by the Hedgerow Trust (I think its them anyway) as being non toxic to other animals - doesn't stop them dying in innacessible places and stinking the place out but at least you don't have to worry about other animals picking up the carcass and being poisoned.

I'd also try the air rifle, JRT (preferable several) route :-)
 
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