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I had a bit of a surprise this morning.
I was just preparing to head onto a client Teams call at 10.45 when I heard a shout from my wife downstairs - there was a massive farking rat in the hallway that legged it into the sitting room!
As she was due to give her class a Teams lesson at 10.50, she was rather keen for us to remove it from the sitting room.
Wily buggers, they are, rats. We've dealt with mice before (our dopey cat has a tendency to bring them in whilst still alive and then let them go, so we're fairly experienced at trapping and releasing mice. A rat, on the other hand - whole different ball game!
At one point we nearly herded it out the front door, but at the last minute it did a 180 and legged it into the kitchen. At least the sitting room was free! It disappeared under an old butcher's block so straightaway I pulled that out to try and coax it out the back door, but it had completely disappeared.
I ended up taking the kickboards off the cupboards next to it but there was no obvious place to escape to. There was a tiny (and I mean tiny) hole between the wall and cupboard, but this was a big old thing - I know mice can squeeze through tiny holes, but I would have been very surprised if this bugger had made it through.
Still, went into the void behind the hole and no sign of it.
At this point, the cat turns up, so we try to press him into service if only to flush it out. He seems vaguely interested in where old Roland had just been, but seemed more interested in licking his bum.
At this point we both have to go and do our respective meeting/lesson, so it was eyes off Roland.
We had left the back door open so we have a vain hope he's decided to bugger off, but if he hasn't, has anyone got any good tips for dealing with rats (that don't involve getting a terrier)?
Apparently looking at traps available we can poison it, electrocute it, break its neck, or try to catch it humanely. I would much prefer the latter, but do humane traps for rats work? I know they do for mice as used them before but suspect old rattus to be a bit wilier.
As for food source, we reckon it's come in from next door, who have chickens and have in the past said they'd had problems with rats, so we're reasonably hopeful we don't have any more than a single infestation (ho ho...).
Any tips gratefully received!
You missed out glue traps (not that these are humane and leave you with a totally different issue!)
Seriously though with an ample food source nearby you will really struggle, there is also never one rat.
They are cunning and very hard to eradicate. Breakback traps are my preference as it's usually quick and clean. If they are outside I would suggest leaving them, if any evidence indoors again traps in containers and let them have time to get used to them bait and the 'new' traps before expect to catch any.
Peanut butter and a snap trap, rats are territorial.
Snap trap all the way. Humane traps leave you having to either despatch it, or illegally release it to be someone else's problem.
I'm a full on animal rights hippy, but I use a good, powerful snap trap to deal with our rat issues.
Glue and poison are may solutions. Ultrasonic ones are crap.
I woke up on Monday, went to the bathroom to find a drowned rat stuck in the u-bend. I thought my Son had left a "double flusher" but on closer inspection it had teeth.
Traps that kill are the only option.
My GF nearly died 3 years ago from Weils Disease. Intensive care for a week, another week in a high dependency ward, then 3 months recovery at home.
They pee everywhere, the pee contains bacteria, that bacteria is all over your house where it has been, get some good cleaning spray and go over everything.
I'd be getting 3 or 4 traps, and also some poison, in hidden corners, where nothing else can get at it. Humane traps are useless,when you catch it, you are only passing that problem onto someone else. There will always be other rats nearby if you have seen one, so a mass extermination is the only way to get rid of them.
So you are saying you have a rat in your kitchen?
What am I going to do?
looking at traps available we can poison it, electrocute it, break its neck, or try to catch it humanely
I suggest the first three, ideally all at the same time.
matt_outandabout
So you are saying you have a rat in your kitchen?
What am I going to do?
If I worked with you, I'd be giving you a, er, P45 for that.
Aha - success. The cat had some use after all - he realised where Roland had been hiding, and we've managed to coax him outside without recourse to too much violence, so thankfully that's that chapter over.
We'll pop a couple of traps down though just in case.
Haha I remember from my childhood when we had rats - lived in a very rural area. Our next door neighbour was the brother of the local gamekeeper and as we were new to country life he helped us out. Turned out there was a banking next to our house where they had burrowed into and made a home - we had found them in our loft at one point!!!
Anyway traps were set and the warren laced with poison. The problem with poison is that rats go a bit loopy when they are dying and can bite and sure enough, one day my dad saw what can only be described as a rat spasming in our front garden. He put his wellies on and called on our neighbour who slipped his fishing waders on and headed off with a garden spade.
I didn’t actually see this happen but my dad says the sight of a 70yo but still sprightly country dressed old fella with waders on beating a rat to death with a spade in our front garden wasn’t one to forget quickly. 😂😂
They must have got the message though as we never saw the rats again.... 🤣🤣
Hammer a few frozen rats into the lawn - that should scare them off.
Where can i find frozen rats?
Asking for a friend . .
Aha – success. The cat had some use after all – he realised where Roland had been hiding, and we’ve managed to coax him outside without recourse to too much violence, so thankfully that’s that chapter over.
Do you know how it got into your house in the first place? If it's come in through a hole somewhere, you need to block it up with something preferably metal or it and other rats will follow. If it came in though an open door, that's a different matter, but rats can get through surprisingly small holes, so I'd have a proper root around for any obvious entry points. Sewers are a favourite.
Most cats - unless they're hardened ratters, usually farm cats - aren't much cop for rats. You need a Jack Russell or a Westie 🙂
Do you know how it got into your house in the first place? .
Cat flap probly. Or, mebbies like ours, sits at the backdoor looking useless for hours 'till you let it in...
You did mean the cat? 😁
STW rat trap of choice has to be the good nature one. Lost count of how many rats and mice we have dealt with now (here and work) very effective.
Most cats – unless they’re hardened ratters, usually farm cats – aren’t much cop for rats. You need a Jack Russell or a Westie
Westies, now they can have a vicious streak in them when faced with a rodent...
I've also seen a Rat Terrier at work when I was younger - bred for ratting back in 1800's I was told.
Where can i find frozen rats?
Asking for a friend . .
https://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/swell-frozen-rat-extra-large/
230 quid for 100!
Do you know how it got into your house in the first place?
No idea at present. It was by the front door so may have squeezed under it but nothing obvious.
Thought you might like to see Roland in all his glory:
Edit - can’t do pic link on iPad, will do tomorrow!
The best solutions are always the natural ones- just go to the rat's greatest enemy:
My mother tried a humane trap for a rat... she caught a hedgehog, then a squirrel, then gave up.
My mother tried a humane trap for a rat… she caught a hedgehog
At least she didn't kill the hedgehog with a snap trap!
Right, pics:
rats scent mark as they go, so however yours got in, either it, or it's siblings will follow.
humane traps are good, if they work. you can release brown rats into the wild, but take them quite far away, like, over a mile. Black rats you can't.
however, like others have said. snap traps are the most effective. Don't poison them, especially where you have pets, but more that they will die in the most inaccessible places and you'll end up with the fly-fest/maggots dropping from ceiling lights scenario.
My old flat had a rat problem. I left before it was resolved, but it had been over a year they were still getting in. we were setting snap traps and bleaching where we thought they were coming in to try to get rid of the scent. That and a lot of expanding foam in all of the gaps we could find.
Think the landlord ended up ripping up the hung floor and concreting it.