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One big wuss....

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  • #1

    One big wuss....

    There was a rat in the polytunnel, I was very unhappy [understatement] because it was taking one bite out of all of the toms I was supposed to be seed saving form. I was all gung-ho to kill it, the rat trap was set up, it eventually caught it, and it was dispatched by the polytunnel owner, mostly because I couldnt work out a way of getting it out without it running away because I couldnt find a suitable inplement to break its neck in the trap.

    Yesterday went up there to turn the compost, and halfway through heard this tiny sqeaky noise, turned out to be a nest of rats, they were all babies, pink and squirmy, hadn't opened their eyes, so I collected them all up, finished turning the compost, and put them back.

    How come I can quite happily contemplate killing an adult one, and only be stopped because of no idea how to catch the damn thing, but I can't kill a load of baby ones that are going to grow into big ones that'll probably eat more tomatoes? I am such a wuss.
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  • #2
    How about "Rat Salad"?
    YouTube - Rat Salad- Black Sabbath
    The river Trent is lovely, I know because I have walked on it for 18 years.
    Brian Clough

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    • #3
      Oh dear, I dont envy you!
      I would have borrowed my Mum's jack russell - rats are her favourite.
      Maybe you could borrow someone's dog?

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      • #4
        Not nice, is it?

        The first time I found a litter of mice/rats in my compost, I chucked them all in with the chickens and ducks, and walked away sharpish

        Now I go 'ratting' 2 or 3 times a week with my dogs (Boxers) and they despatch anything they find - babies or adults - and leave them for me to throw away. Still unpleasant, but I don't want to use poison or traps.

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        • #5
          I think it was Konrad Lorenz who wrote (waay back in the 60s I believe) about keeping snakes in a place where mice and rats were bred and raised for experiments. The right size feed for each snake was 1 adult mouse, or a baby rat. After 'representations' from the breeders of mice (mice are apparently much harder to breed then rats) he decided to 'be sensible' and give his snakes baby rats, duly killed enough for 1 to each snake and delivered them. He had nightmares about it for several days, and never did that again.
          This is someone involved in animal research, and you'd think pretty hard headed about it, but....
          Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

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          • #6
            Gulp, p'raps I'm just evil then??
            Was at Mme Pastis' a couple of days ago and the dogs were going mad in the duck enclosure. They had unearthed a nest of rats, about a dozen babys in all, just starting to open their eyes.
            I killed all of them, quickly and as humanely as possible, and would do so again if the dogs unearthed another nest.
            Bob Leponge
            Life's disappointments are so much harder to take if you don't know any swear words.

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            • #7
              I'm with you bob on the rat thing............Taff couldn't you have suspended the trap in the water butt and whether the baby ones grow into big ones kinda depends if they were still relying on mum to feed them.
              S*d the housework I have a lottie to dig
              a batch of jam is always an act of creation ..Christine Ferber

              You can't beat a bit of garden porn

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              • #8
                Originally posted by binley100 View Post
                I'm with you bob on the rat thing............Taff couldn't you have suspended the trap in the water butt and whether the baby ones grow into big ones kinda depends if they were still relying on mum to feed them.
                Drowning is hardly a humane way to kill anything!
                Air rifle works, poke the end of the barrel into the trap, rat bites end, pull trigger, dead rat!
                I did wonder whether the previous capture was 'Mum', and if so they would simply starve.....
                Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

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                • #9
                  I used an air pistol, very quick and about as humane as its possible to be whilst despatching live animals.
                  Bob Leponge
                  Life's disappointments are so much harder to take if you don't know any swear words.

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                  • #10
                    Going to have get an air rifle then...I thought about the spade and chopping their heads off, the quickest way I could think of but that was after I left them. And thinking and doing are two different things.....
                    DOn't think the capture was the mother, there were two lots of babies, and I gathered them all together and put in one.
                    I'd never make a farmers wife....

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                    • #11
                      Well the mother rat will probably kill the other rats babies, and possibily even hers now. They're a bit funny about nests being disturbed and quite often kill the babies if the nest is compromised.

                      The easiest thing would have been to leave the babies exposed to the open. Crows, Kestrels etc would have taken them for food - something to remember if you come across a nest again, plus it will encourage mum to leave the area too.

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                      • #12
                        Someone I used to know bred rats and mice to feed to his snakes. He used to put the 'pinkies' (newborn rats and mice) into a tupperware container and place it in the freezer to dispatch them, as this was believed to be the most humane way to euthanise as they simply went to sleep and never woke up.

                        Not sure if I could bring myself to do this, especially with wild rat pups.

                        Reet
                        x

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                        • #13
                          a quick splat with shovel would have sorted them out.

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