"Colin" wrote in message
...
The best way to get rid of a rat problem is to find where thay are coming
from - if you cant do this (eg they may be coming from someone elses
property) it can be a reocurring problem.

If you are seeing rats in the day time, that suggests that;

1.THere are LOTS of rats - My advice is hire a professional - it can be
expensive, but if you find a good one, the job will be done properly and
you
should be left without any problems
as you would be if you bought bait boxes and poison yourself :-)



2.There are a few very hungry / thirsty rats - Feed them! If poss find the
holes and pour loose bait poison down- this is the best way. If you cant
find the holes, try and find a run( a polished area of ground that is used
frequently by the rats) and find somewhere to hide some loose bait - it
could be under a board or under a shed - somewhere that canat be accessed
by
birds / dogs or similar. When you place loose bait the rats will sometimes
dig it out or just spread it everywhere maliiously - keep an eye foe this
and tidy it up ASAP -
much safer to use bait boxes and bait therefore, save poisoning other
animals and birds from spilled poison.

if you bait a hole and the rats seal it up with earth
and debris this normally means that the rat has eaten the bait and is
ill -
he will do this to keep warm untill he dies. If neither of the a\bove is
possible, yo can get bait station (or you can make them yourself) These
will
bait dry and away from birds etc, but they will have the disadvantage of
being new, so it ay take the rats a time to get used to them and take the
bait.
only a couple of weeks, then leave in position permanently and you will
never have another rat problem. Good long term solution .


The best sort to use is like a long peice of drain pipe and you put
the bait in the middle. With all methods of poisoning, rats prefer to die
at
home in their burrows, so it is unlikely to find 15 dead rats with paws
in
the air one morning. However, there is alwayws the odd one that doesnt
make
it back to the burrow so keep an eye out for this. Also,when they are
ill,
it makes them a lot slower so keep an eye on dogs aand cats as it will
make
it easy for them to catch a posinoned rat. (i was always told that a dog
..
cat would have to eat a good 30/ 40 posined rats before it would be
killed,
but being a cat owner myself, i would notlike to teest this theory)
Most modern baits say on the tub that there is nom secondary poisoning. I
have 12 cats so this was important. Pplus cats would not normally touch
carrion (dead rats) nor target something sick. They are sensible :0)

..


3. Something / some one has ivicted them from somewhere near by. -
Hopefully
they are just passing through and maybe gone in a weeek. If they arnt
....see
above.
Unlikely. rats would soon colonise an unbaited territory if no other rats
are in residence. It is a permanent battle.