On 18 Oct 2005 05:22:08 -0700, "pammyT"
wrote:

"Another option albeit slightly more expensive is a live trap. It will
allow you to check that what you really have is a rat, if not you can
let it go." and do what with it if it is a rat? Most people don't have
a gun handy nor are they able to safely get the rat out and bash it on
the head with a brick. Drowing is cruel and illegal.

Use poison, use it safely and it is effective. Most modern poisons
have no secondary effects. Get the council out to do it as they know
what they are doing. Buy a rat zapper which electrocutes instantly and
mostly, stop throwing food on the ground as it will attract rats. Get a
bird table with a lip to stop seed blowing off it.

Actually I suggested live trapping because I thought there were
secondary effects from the anticoagulants such as bromadilone (sp?).
Another reason I prefer live trapping is that I do have access to a
gun to dispatch the prey, only an air rifle but still more than
adequate.

More importantly than the secondary effects though would be the
primary effects if non prey species get to the poison, similarly with
snap traps and self set traps. So while I'll use them in a closed
controlled environment (e.g. inside the garden shed or in a sealed box
where I know it is only prey) elsewhere I'll always try live trapping
or shooting in the first instance. Are you sure that there are no
secondary effects?

A lesser consideration with the modern poisons, but actually quite a
serious consideration with some of the first generation anticoagulants
such as warfarin are that there is some evidence that their use has
lead to some resistance building up in the rat population.