[Bill Hicks]

I'm having a problem with rats that keep coming into my garden. So far i've killed 3 of them in the past 4 days via the old fashioned Tom & Jerry style rat traps. But there is at least another 2-3 that that I've seen out of my window that so far have avoided my traps! I bought a ultrasonic rat/mouse deterant on saturday but that's about as effective as a chocolate teapot! All this nice weather and the missus doesn't want to go out into the garden. Is there a chemical that I can use to kill them? What if I put bleach on the floor, will that stop them coming in?
Gotta be something more effective than peanut butter baited traps!

[WibXL]

If there's a lot of them call the council and they'll try to find out where they are coming from (broken pipe etc) and put poison down.

[Jacksonjnr]

The 2 methods I use are Poison & a.22 BSA Superten Airifle. If you live in a built up area and don't want a visit from the Armed Response Unit you are probably better going for poison. My advice though would be to call your Local Authority, tell them you have a rat problem and they may come and sought it out for you.

Do you have any idea where they are coming from/nesting?

Also if you use bird feeders I would stop until you get rid.

[Naaktgeboren]

Your council will have a contract with a firm who can deal with this, probably free of charge.

Rats will stay near a source of food, no food = no rats. Have you got a rabbit hutch outdoors or any other outdoor animal? If so, its worth having a good clean up everyday until the rats are gone. Also make sure that all household rubbish (food wastes) are stored somewhere with no access to the rats.

[mjn]

I can loan out my Bengal if you want....he's an expert catcher.

Somebody's pet rabbit this morning.........

[JohnG]

I recently got rid of a few rats, there were 3 of them feeding under the bird table one day so i got some poison pellets which you wrap up in clingfilm and place somewhere where they will pick them up. I found a couple of rat holes in my garden so placed them near those. I haven't seen the rats since
My local council will not come out if you have a bird table in the garden so I had to sort it myself. I think they came from over the back from me as there used to be some waste land there, but they have started building on it so I assume that cleared the rat population out and they came to my garden to make use of my bird feeders and ponds !

[GasDad]

Our next door neighbour once phoned us up to complain that:

"Your rats our in our garden"

Wy she thought they were our rats she didn't have an answer for - it turned out they were nesting in her compost heap

The council came and got rid of the nest and she now has a rat proof compost bin.

[Jacksonjnr]

How clever and tough are Rats?

We live out in the middle of nowhere with most of Noah's Ark so we have Rats permenently. Amongst other things they have unscrewed bottle tops to get at animal suppliments, shown immunity to poison if we use the same sort all the time and regularly eat chicks and ducklings if not defended by their mothers. They also dig under or chew through anything that isn't metal and climb like Monkeys. As a rule I would never hurt another living thing but I dispise rats with such intensity that I have no qualms about killing them.

A few years ago we had Fox trouble but apart from trying to scare it off I would never dream of hurting it. We have also had Stoats kill chickens but we just put it down to nature doing what nature does which is OK......as long as it is not a Rat.

I can only put this down to reading the James Herbert horror novel "The Rats" as a teenager and the traumatic effect it must of had on me.

[nheather]

Know anyone with an air rifle?

Most are desperate to be given permission to shoot vermin.

Cheers,

Nigel

[biggles1958]

Originally Posted by nheather

Know anyone with an air rifle?

Most are desperate to be given permission to shoot vermin.

Cheers,

Nigel

or borrow a Jack Russell - and proverbially let loose the dog of war

[Razor]

Petrol and a box of matches.

[WibXL]

Originally Posted by Jacksonjnr

How clever and tough are Rats?

We had a rat once and it used to be able to eat the bait from the trap without setting it off so we glued the bait to the trap only to find the next day that the bait had gone but so had the trap. The rat actually dragged the trap off so that it could remove the bait at it's own leisure.

This went on for a few nights until we finally got it and it was huge, longer than my size 11 foot. The rat catcher was coming around that day to see if he could find out how it had got in and said that it was the biggest rat he'd seen in years.

EDIT: and my Jack Russell was useless with it.

[razz1979]

Originally Posted by nheather

Know anyone with an air rifle?

Most are desperate to be given permission to shoot vermin.

Cheers,

Nigel

That just rats or other pests? Stray cats/dogs/teenagers...

[danmc_82]

Use them to make a rat burger

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EtyNGuenZHY

[Decadence]

Yeah rats can get massive, especially out in the country...I shot one once that was almost as big as a cat! Another time one went for me because I had it cornered, I had to whack it with my rifle before it could bite! It was a bit of a tense moment!

[Jacksonjnr]

You could by a pet Rat, strap a home made mini pipe bomb to its back then send it behind enemy lines and either remote detonate it or train it to detonate it itself

Suicide Rat

[oakie]

What ever you do dont corner them - i remember one time me and a friend cornered one in a chicken shed, my mate bent down to wack it with a stick and the thing jumped off the floor and went for his neck

[danmc_82]

Ive never seen a rat in real life. Are they shy creatures like mice or just comeout whenever they want?

[bekko]

Capture it in a jar and keep it as a pet in the kitchen(ratatouille).

[the_watcher87]

Originally Posted by Jacksonjnr

You could by a pet Rat, strap a home made mini pipe bomb to its back then send it behind enemy lines and either remote detonate it or train it to detonate it itself

Suicide Rat

lol, thats a great idea heehee. I live on a farm and we used to have lots of rats until the cat population got built up a bit. Now it's rarely to see a rat, but in saying that my brother was coming home from school the other day, he throws his bike over the hedge before he gets the bus and gets it when he comes home. Anway, he was cycling from end of road up home when this rat ran from one side of the road to the other, if he had been half a second sooner the wee bugger would have gotten ran over.

[Chris Muriel]

In my youth in rural Kent we had lots of rats from next door's farm. Getting pet cats minimized any problems from them.
One day a huge rat was on our back lawn; Blackie, our adolescent cat (too big to be called a kitten by then) moved towards it but then backed off - I assume when he realised that it was around the same size as himself.
Blackie's mum (Thomasina) then successfully dispensed with the rat - but only after giving Blackie a good cuff rond the ear for cowardice in the face of the enemy!

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[kingfats]

Originally Posted by danmc_82

Ive never seen a rat in real life. Are they shy creatures like mice or just comeout whenever they want?

Hi danmc_82.
Normally there shy but can be bold when they want
I've got some baby rats in my compost heap................very cute.
All the best.

[Singh400]

Buy yourself a gun, and settle down for the evening for a bit of target practice mate. I've never seen a rat in real life either. Heard they can get pretty big though

[Bill Hicks]

I had to dispatch one the other day with my trusty metal shovell.
CLLLLAAAANNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

[Jacksonjnr]

Originally Posted by progressive ed

I had to dispatch one the other day with my trusty metal shovell.
CLLLLAAAANNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

A tried & trusted weopon indeed, although I nearly killed one of our cats with one once when it jumped on a rat just as I swung down. I just about managed to reduce the force in time letting the rat escape and leaving the cat with a bad headache .

[shane515]

I have never heard there's a rat in my garden but There's A Rat In My Kitchen I beleive to be a classic UB40 track......sorry I'll shut up

Good Luck with getting rid of the rats

Shane

[biggles1958]

Originally Posted by Singh400

Buy yourself a gun, and settle down for the evening for a bit of target practice mate. I've never seen a rat in real life either. Heard they can get pretty big though

the 'best' gun for rats at close range is a .22 rimfire using the 'shotgun' cartridges (basically microshot with a low powder load) - no damage to property and the 'shot' will not carry any distance so reducing the risk of collateral damage!

used these hundreds of times in barns/outbuilding etc (ie indoors)

the only problem is you need a FAC for the rifle

[jerryfb]

Cats. Proper mongrel hybrid english bred ginger toms. We had a rat problem from our compost heaps until the arrival of our ginger tom brothers. Rat by rat they were found dead on the lawn until one day ... No more rats. I found one of the lawn that must have been the size of a small dog. Dead on its back mind you. IMHO ginger toms are just born rat killers. I'm sure the odd rat wanders into the garden now and then but they keep their heads down

[dhali2105]

i got a .22 air rifle to shoot the bastards with. perfectly legal to use within your own property. they come from the garden behind us. i think the people who live there have died or something but their garden is a mess. put some chocolate biscuits down and get myself comfortable in the backroom window and shoot it in its head as soon as it comes to get the food. my dads found three holes where they are coming from and we put poision in them and blocked them up but one hole they took the posion out and then made another hole. i cant stand them.
the strange thing is they run around in the middle of the day from one place to another. i thought they only move around at night but obv. i was wrong. the biggest one ive seen so far is around 12 inches without its tail. pretty disgusting.

[Rapid 17]

I would use a 11.5 ft Ib air rifle in .22 calibre together with flat head pellets.

Geoff.