Grow Your Own Magazine

OK....so there I was, digging over the allotment, getting ahead, making trenches and filling with green waste for next years beans - suddenly, a (big, giant, ugly) rat appears out of nowhere and scuttles away

One week later, I find a tunnel in the side of the trench, and without doubt, the rat has decided to make a home for himself.... what should I do?

will he cause problems?
should I leave well alone?
poke and annoy until he decides to re-house himself?
attempt to kill (how??!!)

anyone got any bright ideas?

Think there was a thread about rats in compost heaps a few weeks ago - seem to remember that if you didn't want to kill them then it was generally felt that making it inhospitable for them was the best plan, lots of noise etc. Have a search under "rats" or something similar and hopefully you'll find the proper advice. Fortunately it's not a problem I've suffered from but then again I do have two cats.

__________________

Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

Id keep putting water down the hole to make it as uncost for the winter as possible and it should go looking for somewhere cosy

Sorry about your unwelcome visitor Angie. You do have to get rid of it and the sooner the better. The method is up to you but I'd go for kill it. If you leave it you'll soon have millions. !

If it was me I'd just scream, and scream, and scream........! DDL

__________________
Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

Angie
Your Rat will undoubtedly cause you problems, not least when he or she starts to breed prolifically, so leaving well alone is not an option. No doubt you are aware of the potential disease risk re Weils Disease etc, so the sooner it's gone the better.
If you can get close enough to poke it and annoy it then I would poke it and annoy it with the flat side of a spade, until it is itself flat !!
You can get rat poison to put down - place it inside some old drainage pipe or similar as this tends to keep the birds away from it - but most poisons are based on the drug Warfarin which thins the blood, and many rats today have developed a fair amount of immunity to it.
Me - I'd get an air rifle (or a friend with one) and plug it.- or borrow a terrier from someone and let it have a go! If you are into blood sports, a brush handle with barbed wire wrapped round the last foot makes a good Rat tickling stick.
And before everyone starts on about how cruel I am, I've worked on farms for years and have seen more rats than most and the damage and injury to stock they cause is unbelievable

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

[size="1"]Journal updated Tuesday 5th August

seems a good plan..... i assume that this will not kill, just make the rat uncomfortable?

another good plan - I may try to 'dig enthusiastically' in the area, spade at the ready of course.....

i worry that poisons may affect other wildlife...?

Angie, there is a possibility that the poisons could be taken and ingested by other wildlife. You can buy traps that are specifically built to hold rat poison and exclude most other wildlife - but are unable to exclude mice, voles and shrews etc. Accurate placing of the trap is the best way to ensure it gets the Rat - worth looking for the runs it has and placing on them. Do not place it right at the tunnel entrance - the rat will just use a different exit.

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

[size="1"]Journal updated Tuesday 5th August

Couldn't agree more Rat the only good rat is a dead rat (with one exception of course )

__________________
Don't take away the SNC

Should I choose to go the poison route, where should I get it from.... I suppose the council could be a start (who should i ask for?), but anywhere else..... (can't Imagine my local shops will sell!)

thanks for your ideas so far...

Just dig it out, but make sure you are wearing bicycle clips!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Where I live there are about ten shops I could go to - are you rural or city dwelling. If rural, try a local agricultural merchants, or equine supply store. If not, try your council or failing that a company like Rentakill I suppose.
Only problem with going down the poison route is you might not see the proof of the rat's demise - has been said that for every rat you find dead above ground, there can be up to ten others dead that you never find.

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

[size="1"]Journal updated Tuesday 5th August

mmmm...(being daft here) and where is the problem in multiple dead rats (assuming that you intended to kill them of course)?

(oooooh.... realisation dawns....... festering dead rats hmmmmm......what do you do with a dead rat anyway?)

I am rural.... so it sounds like i 'just' need to find an agricultural shoppe

Angie
The more dead rats the better - there is NO problem at all with that - the problem is if you only have one rat and you kill it by poison, it may be one of the ten you never see, so you'll never be sure if it's dead or just gone away to tell his mates that he's got a new pad and they should all come over for a party

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

[size="1"]Journal updated Tuesday 5th August

[QUOTE

.what do you do with a dead rat anyway?)
[/quote]

Rat on a stick? Rat curry? Rat & potato pie?

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Personally speaking, this Rat wants to be cremated and have my ashes scattered on the summit of Buchaille Etive Mor in Glen Etive.

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

[size="1"]Journal updated Tuesday 5th August

You could be in worse places Rat. Just did a quick google and it looks like a good place .

__________________
Don't take away the SNC

Rat on a stick? Rat curry? Rat & potato pie? [/quote]

Didn't Baldrick have a whole recipe book on rat delicacies?Blackadder liked the coffee if I remember rightly.

I've said I want mine scattering on the top of The Ben - I'm going to be a pain in the arse to the end

Can I suggest you insist the cortage starts from the Tailrace inn in kinlochleven Over the devil staircase then up the buchaille - that should test the buggers

__________________
ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

not forgetting rattaoille

Or a rat-ion of rat-tlesnake f-rat-tata served with a 'shot' of rat-afia??

On a less Dibbler/Baldrick note, it may be worth speaking to the allotment officer at the council. If we have a problem with rats they send someone in. I note that said someone has been in recently as the big black things marked poison are laid at various spots around our site. Your council may have a preferred method/poison and may also prefer to have control of who is putting pesticides etc down in these instances.

__________________
Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.