rats!!

O

oliviacharley

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 September 2006
Messages
1,250
Location
the moon!!
Visit site
Ok so slight problem with some rats who visit my summer house where I house my guinea pigs and rabbit....
In the summer I blocked up all the areas which seemed to be chewed ( as they have chewed through from the outside into the summer house) and they seemed to have vanished...
well unfortunately they have now come back.
I have moved the guinea pigs and rabbit into my shed to get away from it as they are obviously after the food....
they have chewed through my rugs, peed all over them, chewed everything in there and even damaged electrical wires!!
I put down environmental rat poision which was not harmful to cats or other animals which they seemed to happily nor away at but have still come back!!
I was looking at getting rentakil in as there seems to be fresh droppings in there every hour! I am an animal lover and I understand putting rat poision down can affect cats in the area...
Just wondering what people use around the yard...I dont have a cat unfortunately....are the rat traps good...? I dont want anything where I have to clean up....I want them to die as naturally as possible or move on if I can help with that...?
Any suggestions welcome...
 
[ QUOTE ]
TERRIERS!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto this- get a good working terrier!
smile.gif
 
Yup, terriers are good. So are ferrets.

As for wanting to be nice to the rats, they're too smart to fall for nice methods of shifting them so there's no point in even trying with humane traps etc!
 
I keep rat traps set permanently in my gp shed... baited with peanut butter.... catch a couple a month now, but used to get loads.

Also keep everything in bins so there is nothing else left for them to eat or nest in.

Also put poison down to start with, red rectangular blocks that they drag away and take to the nest with them. Got them from a mate who does pest control.
 
I think these are visiting rats more then anything as there is no nest...Ive searched....not found anything...
I would have problems having terriers as my garden is so small and there is no way a terrier could get around the summer house....thanks though good idea :0)
 
I had a rat problem (even though yard is OCD immaculate!) as I have a bunny in the barn. Gave me e bloody heart attack when I went outside to check the horses and a rat ran out the cage!
Call the council; I did and they came the same day! and its free!
 
The red rat blocks are called jaguar and they are very poisonous to people who handle them, also rats dont seem to like them very much and they have to be used indoors only.

Get the council pest officer round, they worked wonders for my mum. I cant have them as we are a farm
frown.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Get the council pest officer round, they worked wonders for my mum. I cant have them as we are a farm
frown.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

You are lucky your council still does pest control. Ours has been privatised, disbanded, utterly pointless now. Won't come out unless you pay very large amount of money
 
Rats are an utter nightmare. You need to clean immaculately and get rid of ANYTHING they may eat or nest in. All food in plastic or metal bins and put your rugs in a bin as well (you can squash lots of rugs into a bin!!). Terriers I'd agree are the best option, otherwise, ask your local cat rescue place if they have any good ratters!! Cats live anywhere, and a good feline ratter is just as good as a terrier, it's just they aren't as easy to find!! I used to have a cat that killed rabbits and squirrrels which are as much a challenge as a rat. Of course, other option is get an air rifle, stand still for a few mins, wait their appearance, and shoot!! Personally I wouldn't use poison but that's just me.
 
If you're an animal lover then Im sure you won't be going down the sick "terrier" route as some have offered...

You can get a pretty good gadget - its a metal box, with clear lid, has 2 entrances either side, you simply put food in the middle of it, they walk in and a spring thing they step on simply closes behind them. We use one for mice (I have seen a bigger one for rats) and have cleared an entire family of them from my feed room and also from our attic! Then you just take them far away and release them into the countryside. We thought they'd come back but seen none so far.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top