On 5 Apr, 11:45, Rusty Hinge wrote:
wrote:
John L wrote:
So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We had a rat earlier this year,

Delicious, aren't they? Casserole it?

eating hte chicken's feed.

Oh. As you were then...

The rat traps
were useless, all they cuaght were field mice.

Not doing it right, then. 1) carefully bend the trigger until it /only
just/ catches, and it will go off if you so much as look at it too hard;
2) use milk chocolate. Rats are discerning creatures, so don't use that
cheap stuff sold for making cake icing or filling; 3) heat the
prongs/plate of the trigger and melt the chocolate on, so ratty has to
gnaw it; 4) fix a length of chain to the trap and have some stout wire
to fix the other end to something solid; 5) place the trap where you
want it and set it there - if you can move a set trap safely, it's not
set right. [ See 1) ]

IME the best trps are the galvanised pressed steel ones.

--
Rusty

I poisoned the rats under my shed. I also know about the slow and
painful death that I caused them, but that did not make any
difference. I must have eaten cheap pork or eggs, and I would rather
have a few days slow death of a rat than a lifetime of sitting in my
own shit like the majority of chicken and pigs that provide cheap
produce to take-aways, restaurants and supermarkets in this country.
Millions eat that every day.

So, please spare me the animal welfare arguments.

The rats in my garden were living under my shed, so I made a funnel
from an old lemonade bottle and poured poison in the holes every
morning until there was some remaining after 24 hours (which took
about 8 days).

I have not seen a rat in my garden for 15 months, which is an
improvement over seeing 9 at one time in 2008.

Job done.