Return of Roland

[trebellangeminired]

Well Roland and Rolandetta by the looks of things. Had an absolute nightmare with them last year. Off to set humane traps now. Any ideas gratefully received.

[jackie j]

Cant help but lots of rats at our allotment site not that I have seen any yet.

[lynda66]

rats are the only things i wont set humane traps for .... they are horrible and carry nasty diseases ...... kill em alllllll

if they are round your house, the council should provide a free service to get rid of them, we had them under the floorboards a few years ago, they were living and breeding in a derelict house,which had an open drain in it, council came twice a week to put traps and poison down, took about 2 months to get rid of them all there was so many.

[quark1]

One of my semi-feral cats caught and delivered the tribute of a large field rat - 8"+8" jobbie body+tail yuck - a few days ago - an advantage I guess that they are good ratters as not so far removed from their wild/farm cat status.

Yesterday - by contrast - one of them had just found a fieldmouse as I was taking the dog down to the garden for a wee. I was able to get this delightful little creature away from my most ruthless, serial 'murderess' in time to safely release it at the front of house.

[terrier]

I was working in Liverpool town centre today. As I walked back to my car, a rather large rat sauntered across the road right in front of me. Evidently, no matter where you are, you're not more than a few yards away from a rat.

[trebellangeminired]

Thanks folks. I caught sight of the blighters feeding on the spilt food under our neighbours bird table when I was cleaning the upstairs windows. As yet, no sighting in our garden. So far we've managed to keep them out of the house but that is my biggest fear. We keep all doors and even windows shut wherever possible and monitor for any attempt to get in other ways. Earlier on this year I counted 24 individuals on and around this bird table and we trapped and killed dozens in our own garden. We prefer to use the humane traps then despatch them quickly with an air rifle rather than poison as they have a habit of slowly dying in awkward places. The smell is quite unbelievable. Having said that, last year the council did come round to our neighbours house and they had to tidy their garden, wash all the stale food off their "patio" and use one bird table. They also put down bait. Sadly the rats didn't know that they were supposed to die outside their back door Now they have 3 bird tables, the "patio" is covered in spilt food and the garden is really cluttered, providing excellent cover for the rodents. I despair. We feed birds in winter, but we only put out what they can easily eat in one day and we put it out first thing in the morning as recommended by the RSPB. I have known them go out just as it going dark with a huge scoop of bird feed to put on the tables. The birds have gone to bed so who exactly do they think they are feeding? I know you are never more than 6 feet from a rat but it really felt like it was getting to plague proportions earlier this year. I've spent most of my life on or around farms and am fully aware of the realities of country life but I can honestly say that I have never seen so many rats around a farm as I have seen in our neighbours garden. Anyway, I'm off on patrol, thanks again.

[jackie j]

I would get on to the council again.

[trebellangeminired]

Hi Jackie,

I know you're right and sooner rather than later would be best. It wasn't us who complained earlier, we tried to resolve the problem ourselves but I suppose we should share the burden of our other neighbours. Everyone is really unhappy but most of us suffer from debilitating British reserve As a member of a well known band said in a recent interview, "It was so bad we nearly said something..."

Hey ho

[Cloud]

Why humane traps Nuke em all little buggers!!!

[trebellangeminired]

Aah Cloud, you're right. I guess it's the latent Buddhist in me. I don't like the thought of cruelty even to rats. The gun is quick. Poison is slow and as I said before, they die in the most awkward places. Rat traps that "kill" quite often don't but injure horribly, so you have to despatch them somehow anyway. However if it came to a straight us or them it would be no contest.

[snuffer]

We often get a few rats coming into the garden at this time of year. I think it is because the combines are out harvesting in the fields that surround our house. The cats soon take care of them. If it is possible I really would reccomend that you get yourself a couple of cats. Once ours have caught sight of a rat they will not rest until it has been dispatched. They will lie in wait for ages. As soon as ratty ventures out they strike. I'm not overly keen on seeing things killed but the cats are fascinating to watch and at least they kill quickly and the corpses can be easily found and removed. As has already been said, the problem with poisons is that the rats crawl away and die in out of the way places and create a very nasty pong. Remember a poisoned rat may pose a risk to any dog that might come along and think he has found himself a tasty snack. Dogs will eat anything, the more maggot infested and smelly the better.

[trebellangeminired]

Hi Snuffer,

I have been thinking along those lines for a while. When I lived and worked on a farm for a while, we took on some feral rescue cats and they lived in the outbuildings doing a very efficient job of keeping the rodent population down. There are a number of reasons it's less than ideal here, the most significant being the proximity of a fairly big road which has fast moving traffic on it. I'll give it some more thought.

Thanks,