I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

Cheers
John

p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost heaps
(with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.

"John L" wrote ..
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost heaps
(with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.

We have seen them here a few times and this is a built up area. However, we
are quite close to a railway line (Waterloo /Reading) and the Thames is only
a couple of hundred yards away.
Our Council does not have a "Rat Catcher" any more you have to...
1. employ Rentokil or similar yourself at £120+
2. do the job yourself
3. live with it.
Unfortunately we tried living with one for a while hoping that it would go
away as others have but it turned into a family that got so brazen they
started to swim out on our pond to eat the fish pellets as I threw them in.
Rentokil came, set baited traps and told us where they were and what we
needed to do to make life difficult for the pests (Remove 30ft of large
leaved Ivy and the fence it was over**, make sure there were no hiding
places, keep everything spotlessly tidy). None of the traps ever showed
signs of being used but the rats were never seen again.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

** the fence was in front of a wall so there was a gap between the two for
the rats comfort.

On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:50:32 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

Our Council does not have a "Rat Catcher" any more you have to...
1. employ Rentokil or similar yourself at £120+

I thought councils had a statutary requirement to provide a vermin
(rat/mouse) service? Rats and mice are an enviromental health issue.
They might not offer services to deal with wasps or other "pests".

As for the OP not seeing a rat before, he's just not been looking...
They are every where but mostly keep out of sight.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article o.uk,
"Dave Liquorice" wrote:

On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:50:32 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

Our Council does not have a "Rat Catcher" any more you have to...
1. employ Rentokil or similar yourself at £120+

I thought councils had a statutary requirement to provide a vermin
(rat/mouse) service? Rats and mice are an enviromental health issue.
They might not offer services to deal with wasps or other "pests".

As for the OP not seeing a rat before, he's just not been looking...
They are every where but mostly keep out of sight.

Thanks Dave -- though I didn't say I'd never seen a rat -- I said I'd
never seen one in such "flagrant proximity".

I don't mind 'em living nearby if I never see them -- because that
usually means that the population is "in balance". When they're running
round the garden in broad daylight it implies (to me) that the
population has become unacceptably large and bold.

I blame fatballs: perfect birdfood, but *even more* perfect rat-food:
swipe one of those and run back to the nest with it: you've got a day's
food! We may have to give them up. (I mean: give up putting them out
for the birds!)

John

John L wrote:
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

If you can remove the top, make a plate of something like the bottom of
a big plastic tub, cut a hole in the middle to fit the post and fix it
somewhere high enough that the rat(s) can't take a flying leap to get over.

Fixing blocks preferably on the top surface...

You could use the ratbaffle/catbaffle as an auxillary feeding surface.

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

And not eeing such before is the surprising thing. If it's safe, you
might borrow an air rifle and forget about the council.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

Hum. People have been trying to do that for centuries. You might keep
themm down - eradicate them, never.

p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost heaps
(with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.

Quite right too.

--
Rusty

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:50:32 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

Our Council does not have a "Rat Catcher" any more you have to...
1. employ Rentokil or similar yourself at £120+

I thought councils had a statutary requirement to provide a vermin
(rat/mouse) service? Rats and mice are an enviromental health issue.
They might not offer services to deal with wasps or other "pests".

I don't think they do.

As for the OP not seeing a rat before, he's just not been looking...
They are every where but mostly keep out of sight.

He said he hadn't seen anything quite so brazen OWTTE

--
Rusty

John L wrote:
In article o.uk,
"Dave Liquorice" wrote:

On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:50:32 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

Our Council does not have a "Rat Catcher" any more you have to...
1. employ Rentokil or similar yourself at £120+
I thought councils had a statutary requirement to provide a vermin
(rat/mouse) service? Rats and mice are an enviromental health issue.
They might not offer services to deal with wasps or other "pests".

As for the OP not seeing a rat before, he's just not been looking...
They are every where but mostly keep out of sight.

Thanks Dave -- though I didn't say I'd never seen a rat -- I said I'd
never seen one in such "flagrant proximity".

I don't mind 'em living nearby if I never see them -- because that
usually means that the population is "in balance". When they're running
round the garden in broad daylight it implies (to me) that the
population has become unacceptably large and bold.

I blame fatballs: perfect birdfood, but *even more* perfect rat-food:
swipe one of those and run back to the nest with it: you've got a day's
food! We may have to give them up. (I mean: give up putting them out
for the birds!)

Nah - just hang them from a ratbaffle. They will climb down the string,
step onto the plate, plate tips and they slide off.

Now if you're feeling very vindictive, place a deep-sided tub with water
in it under the contraption.

--
Rusty

On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 21:48:16 +0100, "cineman"
wrote:

In my garden they climb acheap metal arch, down a thin piece of wire to get
to a hanging birdfeeder, i do see them during day, have now found they have
a hidey hole under my Phormium, have used a £3 rattrap this last 3 weeks
baited with cheese, this has been triggered twice with bait gone and no
catch, have had 6 rats in those weeks, one trap has gone missing, so if
anyone in the west midlands sees a rat with a trap attached to it, the trap

Use chocolate spread. It takes longer for the rat to get it off.
That's if they bring your trap back when they've snaffled the cheese.


is mine..
The usual advice is to stop feeding the birds removing the larder of the
rats, however, the birds sit and sing waiting for me to fill the feeders and
are not so shy now.
I feed the magpies with toast crusts, they drop some on the floor for the
pigeons and blackbirds, and hard bits they dunk in the birdbath to soften
them. as far as I know this feeder is 6 foot tall and is alleged to be
rodent proof.
You will control the rat population but never rid of them. It is said that
no matter where you go , you are never more than 20 foot from a rat.
Some areas of the country are getting infested with a new breed of rat,
almost impervious to most modern baits.
Sorry about length of post. 3 glasses of wine and I write a book.
regards


"John L" wrote in message
...
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

Cheers
John

p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost heaps
(with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.

--
http://www.Voucherfreebies.co.uk
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk

Buy an air rifle.

wrote:

In my garden they climb acheap metal arch, down a thin piece of wire to
get
to a hanging birdfeeder, i do see them during day, have now found they
have
a hidey hole under my Phormium, have used a £3 rattrap this last 3 weeks
baited with cheese, this has been triggered twice with bait gone and no
catch, have had 6 rats in those weeks, one trap has gone missing, so if
anyone in the west midlands sees a rat with a trap attached to it, the
trap
is mine..

I once had a cat who was fond of bringing her rodent kills to me to admire.
One day she presented me with a dead mouse ... in a trap!

None of my neighbours admitted to it being theirs :-}

Sorry to piggyback on Mogga's post, but I didn't get the OP.

--
Kathy

Hello John,

I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter,
up the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding
itself. It did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then:
they always do I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink
paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

Cheers
John
p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost
heaps (with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.


Get yourself a cat. Ours caught 13 rats when our previous neighbours had
chicken.
Now we have a new neighbour he only catches mice.
Council Rat service was useless.

Ann

"John L" wrote in message
...
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.



As I keep poultry, rats will always be a part of my life. I used to poison
them until I realised how very cruel this was.
Now I get the terrier men in every six weeks which means the rats either get
away completely or they are snuffed out in one second, which I feel much
happier with.
Seeing a poisoned rat not yet dead and in distress stopped me from using
poison forever. I had to kill it.
There will be terrier men in your area longing to exercise their dogs on
your rats.
Tina

The message
from "Christina Websell" contains these
words:

Seeing a poisoned rat not yet dead and in distress stopped me from using
poison forever. I had to kill it.
There will be terrier men in your area longing to exercise their dogs on
your rats.
Tina

But whatever you do do NOT use poison when there are dogs about. Our
neighbour's dog got some and was very ill for a month or more, and the
vet's bill was astronomic!

"John L" wrote in message
...
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.


We've lived on the edge of a small town in Wilts for over 30 years. There
are lots of old houses and cottages, with crumbling drains and so on, and
everybody round about has always had rats. We have a big compost heap into
which we put our kitchen stuff. The real problem is not our compost heap,
it's people on the nearby main street eating takeaways and tossing their
chips and stuff away.

So yes, we've seen a lot of rats in our time. But we have always had two
cats that take care of the problem.

A bigger problem is on our allotment a quarter mile away: we have to plant
either early or late sweetcorn, to fool the rats. If we plant ordinary
sweetcorn they have the lot.

I was standing in the bus station in Swindon a while back, there is a very
small hedge, about 6' long x 2' wide x 4' high nearby. Little rats were
playing among the roots.

You're never more than ten feet away from a rat, wherever you are. Google
it and see.

Gotta learn to live with them, or, as you say, kill them.

someone

In my garden they climb acheap metal arch, down a thin piece of wire to get
to a hanging birdfeeder, i do see them during day, have now found they have
a hidey hole under my Phormium, have used a £3 rattrap this last 3 weeks
baited with cheese, this has been triggered twice with bait gone and no
catch, have had 6 rats in those weeks, one trap has gone missing, so if
anyone in the west midlands sees a rat with a trap attached to it, the trap
is mine..
The usual advice is to stop feeding the birds removing the larder of the
rats, however, the birds sit and sing waiting for me to fill the feeders and
are not so shy now.
I feed the magpies with toast crusts, they drop some on the floor for the
pigeons and blackbirds, and hard bits they dunk in the birdbath to soften
them. as far as I know this feeder is 6 foot tall and is alleged to be
rodent proof.
You will control the rat population but never rid of them. It is said that
no matter where you go , you are never more than 20 foot from a rat.
Some areas of the country are getting infested with a new breed of rat,
almost impervious to most modern baits.
Sorry about length of post. 3 glasses of wine and I write a book.
regards


"John L" wrote in message
...
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

Cheers
John

p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost heaps
(with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.