[Closed] Help , I've got a rat problem

Leave your dog in the shed.

Dout that would bode well with the wife

What's the floor of the shed made of? Pour concrete into the holes if it's a solid base or screw a thick piece of OSB over the area?

Find the inlet outside and put spring traps out after dark. Keep the dogs (and your fingers) away form the traps. They are deadly. Use peanut butter as bait.

Or find a mate with an air rifle and shoot it soon after dusk as it tries to get in.

Squirt bleach or vinegar round outide of shed, theyre usually put off by strong smells.

But theyre lovely, adaptable, intelligent, thinking creatures, so they may well get used to the smell or move elsewhere.

Dout that would bode well with the wife

Leave the wife in the shed then

Thanks jota , my laughing at that got me a wonderful scowl

Are they in your kitchen as well? Is that why you're in a bit of a quandary?

Know anyone with a Jack Russell?, this is [i]toby[/i] or [i]tobe's[/i] - his best kill rate/day so far is 33 up at a local chicken farm that had a few disused sheds that were overrun- don't be fooled by his cute looks, he's so ****ing quick when he spots them and one shake of the head - broken neck and thrown over his shoulder then he's onto the next one.

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I doubt he'd take to kindly to being parcelled up and sent through the post to you though, i imagine he'd get mighty pissed off.

Dog ftw

Not sure i want to use poison as i have a dog .

Poison in a dog-proof case, like Rentokill (et al) do?

Rats only out in the shed not in the house , I don't want the dog playing with a poisoned rat

I was told with mice to block the hole with expanding foam and wire wool, thy eat the wire wool and it shreds their innards, might be worth a shot

I wouldn't poison them either - nothing to do with the dog - the stink of dead rats is something else, and under the shed you'd have to put up with it.

How about a good old smash you over the head rat trap?

[url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15431933631_7a73230c77_s.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15431933631_7a73230c77_s.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/pvEGee ]image[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/123839053@N04/ ]hlpjones[/url], on Flickr

Lets not mess about with little nippers big brother, [url= http://www.uktraps.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=60 ]MKIV Fenn Trap ftw[/url]

I have, or rather had, a rat problem too. http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/rats-nest-in-my-composter

Kill them with poison.

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Not my dog. [i]My[/i] Fell Terrier is a sensitive soul, caught a rat once and looked guilty for days.
My Jack Russell though...

I've yet to see the thing in the flesh , just the mess and destruction it leaves

If you don't like the idea of poison get a big trap and blow its brains out of its arse.

HTH.

Above pic reminds me of something I saw today (zero help for OP, sorry)
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my dad lives in a chapel and we put 4 inches of rockwool between the inside of the walls and the dry lining. rats got in and you could hear them running around.
it was horrible, you could track them around the room by the noise.
couldnt use poison due to the stink when they decompose.

in the end he bought a ferret for £3 from the local paper and left it in the house while he went away for the weekend with water but no food.
no more rats!
but god knows where the ferret is now! probably out doing something terrible to the local ecosystem

I think you need a small axe.

Few weeks ago the old chap next door told me he'd spotted a rat in his garden, & put poison down.
Fast forward...I cleaned out our garden shed the other night, with a torch.
Shook out an old picnic blanket & one of the kids toys dropped on the floor.
I picked it up.
Only it wasn't a toy.

[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/16440872906_fe54fbeb9c_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/16440872906_fe54fbeb9c_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/takisawa2/16440872906/ ]IMAG4592_1[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/takisawa2/ ]pten2106[/url], on Flickr

Just noticed the OP's name Be more fox!

Bearnecessities - my 11 year old loves the Jedi squirrel pic!

[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/11394704/Pictures-of-the-day-6-February-2015.html?image=1 ]Source[/url]

dub dub

You could use a humane trap...

Be sure to check the traps hourly! The little animals will be hungry, thirsty, and frightened, and they may die if left in the traps too long. Traps should be disabled when not in use and during cold weather. Release rats within 100 yards of where they were caught. Releasing a rat into a strange area will almost surely result in his or her death.

http://www.peta.org/issues/wildlife/living-harmony-wildlife/rats/

They [i]love[/i] grapes, by the way!
They'll need a good nosh after a 100 metre yomp.

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My FIL has got one of these types of trap. He also had a rats nest in his garage/shed at the end of his garden. He put some really smelly lard in the trap and practically every night he managed to catch one of them and released them a few kilometers away.

Edit: Oops just read the above post about not releasing them not far away from where they are caught.

Edit: Oops just read the above post about not releasing them not far away from where they are caught.

**** 'em!
They're rats, They'll live!

They're rats, They'll live!

Yeah and return to where they came from, that's why you don't do it.

The cure.

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They may look cute but they hate rats.

[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8673/16421620235_104021aa68_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8673/16421620235_104021aa68_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/r286zn ]1st February 2015[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/93823783@N00/ ]Rob Sutherland[/url], on Flickr

Ed the Cat - Destroyer of Rats and wider eco-systems

Release rats within 100 yards of where they were caught

Yeah, and watch it go scurrying back to where you caught it.

Don't get me wrong, I love the little buggers (have them as pets) but sod having them in uninvited.

They're not stupid, if you leave them somewhere strange they'll figure it out soon enough.

I made a bucket trap this afternoon as got rats down the bottom of my garden - like this

Some ideas here [url= http://www.thehuntinglife.com/rat-snaring/ ]LINK[/url]

Two cats (full on British Shorthair genocidal maniacs) and a 1yr old Border Terrier here. No rats in our garden.

I reckon that cats are actually better for domestic properties at ratting.

I think you want one of these 😉

Just caught one - quite a large beast really

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Congratulations, you have a live rat!

Now what?

I think I'm going to take it for a walk

Insane that anyone would consider going to all the trouble catching a rat, then release it within close distance of where you caught it.

Personally, humane traps make no sense to me. Either get one that snaps its neck or get one that catches them them smack the vermin with a shovel.

Cant think of anything worse than having to listen to a rat ripping the house to bits from the inside.

Congratulations, you have a live rat!

Now what?

Whenever any of my customers proudly show me a live capture trap I always ask them the same thing. Many of them can't come up with an answer; and no, it isn't legal to drown them in the cage.

To the OP my advice would be to consider a mix of poison bait and maybe a couple of break back traps. If there is a decent sized hole try getting hold of some pasta based bait and placing it directly into the hole. Rats absolutely love it in my experience and you should top it up as soon as it gets eaten. When the bait stops being eaten the rats will be dead.And don't go messing about and buying the smallest tub you can find. Get yourself to a farm suppliers and buy a decent sized tub as you most likely have a burrow near to/ under your shed and you will have many rats to kill.

Any traps you use should be placed against the regular runs along the edge of walls. You can always cover them over with piece of wood or slate to stop the dog taking an interest.

Isn't it illegal to release them? That's the case with squirrels.

How far do I need to go before letting it out? I had this trap anyway but didn't want to risk catching my son or a chicken, didn't think it would work as too big for rats but this rat is big enough.

^^ they are vermin, who on earth would you let it out somewhere ? 🙄

great pic that mudshark, it seems to be posing for the camera!

How far do I need to go before letting it out?

Depends. Who do you know who wants a rat?

More seriously,

You do know how fast the buggers breed, don't you? A pair of rats will have thousands of babies before they cark it, and the babies are ready to make more from about 3 months old IIRC. How many of those cages have you got?

Stop fannying about with cages and wipe them out with extreme prejudice, it's you or them.

I have this killer

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Hence why we have meeces in under the shed 😐

Isn't it illegal to release them? That's the case with squirrels

It is indeed illegal to release squirrels but not technically illegal to release trapped mice and rats. However, if the release of the rodent into a different area could be seen to be having an impact on its welfare (i.e. to an area where there is no food, a recognisably harsh environment etc) then it could be seen as inhumane.

Far better to shoot captured rats or whack 'em with something lethal (my favoured tool is a mallet). Besides, as said above, they will more than likely find their way back home if not released far enough away.

What you really need is one of these:

I'm trying to justify the cost of buying one at the moment...

Well I released it 30 mins walk from home in a secret location in woods not far from fields so hope it has a good chance of making a new life there. I checked a few times and pretty sure it didn't follow me back.

Are you [i]sure[/i] the rat didn't recognise your "secret location"? They are very good at bluffing.

Got a small petrol engine handy?
Strimmer, chainsaw etc will do - put a pipe from the exhaust into the rat hole. Start your engine and go get a cup of tea. Petrol fumes sink into the burrows - no more rats.

Did you spin it round three times first?

Mudsharks home later on

I like the chainsaw idea.

Can borrow my boa constrictor she is due a feed! But more likely to curl up on the couch. Lazy snake.