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A rat in the garden ran into the hedgehog hotel, so I blocked the entrance. Its all bricks and paving slab,on dirt floor.
So what now, its illegal to release it and i dont want it around here. I dont know how to despatch it
Unless you have the means and stomach to humanely kill it then you don't have any other option than to let it go. It's just a rat being a rat, as long as it's not coming into the house or garage and destroying stuff.
You have rats, not a rat. Releasing it will make no difference. Let it out, Its not illegal
Get the hedgehog food station out in the open lay off the birdfood.
Sorry, I thought they were classed as vermin, so werent allowed to be released?
So what now, its illegal to release it
No it’s not. Just release it.
Moot point - it is illegal to cause unnecessary suffering which could include releasing it in an unfamiliar area / away from food sources, etc., if there's a chance it'll then starve - potentially counts as cruelty which is what the above is alluding to.
Releasing it back into its own area, is a different matter.
The longer you keep it trapped, the more likely it'll be that you are causing suffering.
Remove brick, introduce snap trap, replace brick.
If the 'hotel' is on dirt I'd imagine it'll tunnel out sooner or later.
You have rats, not a rat.
Also, this.
I don't know much about rats, but if they're anything like mice then you've got a problem. Wild mice are doubly incontinent, often disease-carriers, and breed like wildfire. They can go from newborn to fertile in something nuts like six weeks and squeeze out babies a dozen at a time.
Sorry, I thought they were classed as vermin, so werent allowed to be released?
There is no legal definition of "vermin"* and even if there was, it's not illegal to release. You are getting confused with the law about releasing non native species. Grey squirrels for example, are classed as as a non-native and invasive species, so are not allowed to be released. Doesn't apply to rats.
*An animal only becomes "vermin" or a pest because of where it is, not what it is. They are all just following their instinct to survive and procreate. A fox in a chicken shed or lambing field is a pest. A fox on an arable farm munching on rabbits is a farmers friend.
thats good to know.
I dont want to put hedgehog food out if the rats eat it
You over over thinking "rats"
They will have been there for years just minding their own business. They are absolutely fine outside as long as you don't give them ideas like food and shelter thats easier than oitside.
Feeding hedgehogs... Rats do not like the open. Hedghogs couldn't give a shit. Put the feeder right out in the largest space you have.
- Rats will have plenty of food for the three seasons. I bit more challenging in winter but feeding hedgehogs then is a bit daft!
You're gonna fix that rat that's what you're gonna do
Get back to us when it's in your kitchen
Can you access a trebuchet?
Open a trendy restaurant.
Beat on the rat,beat on the rat, beat on the rat with a baseball bat.
I have it on good legal authority that killing vermin with a baseball bat is the thing to do.
I suspect it may have escaped through a gap ]n the bricks.
Failing that, whenit walks into the bag at the entrance, it will be on the menu for the red kites that are always circling overhead
I wouldnt make a very good gaoler
Lift it up onto top of drainpipe, let it fall down, try to whack it with baseball bat. It might escape, it might not, one of you will win.
I inadvertently caught a rat in a record crate a while back - inside rather than out, was one of two left in the house after I fitted a rat-flap to the main sewer outlet and blocked drain-pipe access - and had a similar dilemma. You have two or three choices: kill it yourself, pay someone to kill it for you if you're squeamish, or let the thing go on the basis that outside of your house it's not really a problem for you and no-one will know.
My solution was sort of a mix, I let the thing out in the back garden and shortly afterwards, next door's cat dispatched it free of charge a few hours later.
I you want to batch kill rodents humanely, relatively anyway, I thoroughly recommend the Good Nature trap from NZ. CO2-powered ram operated by a hair trigger which goes off when a rat tries to get to some bait. Resets automatically and repeats.
Beat on the rat,beat on the rat, beat on the rat with a baseball bat.
My gran encountered a rat in the yard back when we lived on a farm. She had at it with a Number 10 muck shovel. Damn thing was about 2 foot by 3 foot and 5mm thick by the time my uncle managed to drag her off it.
Made of stern stuff, farmers' wives.
if you feed birds or wildlife, you’ll have rats pay a visit. If you stop, they’ll go elsewhere. We have one that comes around the bottom of the bird feeder. I’ve switched to fatballs and a big plant pot underneath to catch the fall. A hedgehog home with food is a rat hotel. Let it go and remove the food.
Our garden backs onto a railway line. There is ample thoroughfare to find food in gardens. Only worry when they are near the house.
Own it with some Bombers?
Of you could go medieval on it with a spade and leave the head on a spike in the garden as a warning to the other rats......
Sorry, no sensible suggestions.
I'd just let it go, it'll just be doing it's own thing round the garden and it'll be one of several who've probably been there for years and you haven't even noticed