"Peter Crosland" wrote in
:

It is certainly the case in South Somerset. Mice and wasps are charged
for but rats are free!

Rats are free here too (Cornwall). The Rat Man puts down plastic bags of
poisoned corn, in the hope that the rats will gnaw through the bag and eat
the corn (so you can tell if the bait has been touched or not).

According to him, the poison makes the rat very thirsty, but is not
painful.

Presumably this works on some rats: in my case my rat showed no interest in
the corn at all! The Rat Man came and took the bait away after a while,
but he didn't seem to have a backup plan.

I moved my rabbits and their food to a rat-proof location instead, and the
rat went away. If it hadn't, I was planning to borrow a ferret ;-)

Victoria