There's a rat in the garden, what am I going to do?

[hyphen]

littlebasher said:

The waterfall empties into a fish pond. I also have a swimming pool

What are the names of your new pets

[mickyh7]

AstonZagato said:

It is illegal to release capture vermin. Once captured, they MUST be destroyed.

Try telling that to all the do gooders catching and releasing town Foxes into the Countryside, for their own good apparently, to starve to death.

[littlebasher]

This is what i was thinking

https://www.guns-r-us.co.uk/product/remington-expr...

Not ideal i know, but can't think of any quicker solution to deal with them rather than digging out the waterfall and chasing them round the garden with a spade

[Nightmare]

We’ve had a rat living under the house for about the last 3 years. Seems to rub along fine with everything else in the garden. Very rarely seen, has made zero impact on anything we own (including shed full of bird food) and contrary to popular myth hasn’t turned into hundreds of rats. Unless something is actually causing a problem I’d rather just let it get on with life personally

[littlebasher]

Nightmare said:

We’ve had a rat living under the house for about the last 3 years. Seems to rub along fine with everything else in the garden. Very rarely seen, has made zero impact on anything we own (including shed full of bird food) and contrary to popular myth hasn’t turned into hundreds of rats. Unless something is actually causing a problem I’d rather just let it get on with life personally

Last week there was one, now there are four. I dread to think what they're building down there!

[BobToc]

I used to think we could live in harmony with rats, then they did £2k worth of damage to the wiring of my car.

[so called]

I haven't seen a rat for a few weeks now but my garage stinks of rat piss.

[Nightmare]

littlebasher said:

Last week there was one, now there are four. I dread to think what they're building down there!

it’s the rat version of the Legion of Doom!
I’m amazed you’ve seen them that much - it’s a real treat for me to spot mine at all and I’m looking!

On a more serious note - without being able to comment on your marksmanship skills (you might ex special forces for all I know!), shooting something as small and fast as a rat really isn’t a realistic means of control in my opinion. You would need to commit a lot of time and patience to it unless you have rats which stick to a really tight timetable. I’ve certainly never seen one just sitting still somewhere

[so called]

Nightmare said:

littlebasher said:

Last week there was one, now there are four. I dread to think what they're building down there!

it’s the rat version of the Legion of Doom!
I’m amazed you’ve seen them that much - it’s a real treat for me to spot mine at all and I’m looking!

On a more serious note - without being able to comment on your marksmanship skills (you might ex special forces for all I know!), shooting something as small and fast as a rat really isn’t a realistic means of control in my opinion. You would need to commit a lot of time and patience to it unless you have rats which stick to a really tight timetable. I’ve certainly never seen one just sitting still somewhere

I have.
It was in the garden of my last house, sat on the path having a general clean.
I had time to go across the street to my favorite neighbour, borrow his air rifle, go back home, go up stairs, carefully open a window and shoot it.
The shooting bit was masterly as the old air rifle was a wonky old Russian one with bent sights.

[magpie215]

You should bury an oil drum with a hinged the lid. Then put bait on the lid and the rats will come for the bait and fall into the drum. After a month, you will have trapped all the rats, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one...they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat car wiring socks or anything important anymore. Now, they only eat rat. You have changed their nature.

[hyphen]

magpie215 said:

You should bury an oil drum with a hinged the lid. Then put bait on the lid and the rats will come for the bait and fall into the drum. After a month, you will have trapped all the rats, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one...they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat car wiring socks or anything important anymore. Now, they only eat rat. You have changed their nature.

They eat any meat now?, so OP best not get drunk in the garden and fall asleep outside!

[v8cerb]

magpie215 said:

You should bury an oil drum with a hinged the lid. Then put bait on the lid and the rats will come for the bait and fall into the drum. After a month, you will have trapped all the rats, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one...they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat car wiring socks or anything important anymore. Now, they only eat rat. You have changed their nature.

The names Bond

[mickyh7]

so called said:

I have.
It was in the garden of my last house, sat on the path having a general clean.
I had time to go across the street to my favorite neighbour, borrow his air rifle, go back home, go up stairs, carefully open a window and shoot it.
The shooting bit was Lucky as the old air rifle was a wonky old Russian one with bent sights.

Fixed that for you!

[Boosted LS1]

v8cerb said:

magpie215 said:

You should bury an oil drum with a hinged the lid. Then put bait on the lid and the rats will come for the bait and fall into the drum. After a month, you will have trapped all the rats, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one...they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don't eat car wiring socks or anything important anymore. Now, they only eat rat. You have changed their nature.

The names Bond

Lol, hardly. I can think of a more apt name.

[XCP]

we used to have rats at our previous address, eating our ducks food.

I used to put a small pile of said food down and wait for the rat to appear. Then use air rifle.

I used to snipe out of the kitchen window, sat on a chair. Not very Rambo, but quite effective.

[magpie215]

XCP said:

we used to have rats at our previous address, eating our ducks food.

I used to put a small pile of said food down and wait for the rat to appear. Then use air rifle.

I used to snipe out of the kitchen window, sat on a chair. Not very Rambo, but quite effective.

They dont tend to recover from lead poisoning...... I used to have a BSA supersport in .25cal purely as a ratting gun.

[Rewe]

mickyh7 said:

Try telling that to all the do gooders catching and releasing town Foxes into the Countryside, for their own good apparently, to starve to death.

Seriously? Is that a thing?

Legions of towny do-gooders with both the will and skill to catch their own foxes?? It doesn't seem very likely.....

[littlebasher]

magpie215 said:

They dont tend to recover from lead poisoning...... I used to have a BSA supersport in .25cal purely as a ratting gun.

Similarly, this dealt with my problems in the end

[TheJimi]

Busterbulldog said:

Jasandjules said:

Busterbulldog said:

Jasandjules said:

Busterbulldog said:

Oh yeah , they are fast , really fast and act like they are rabid. Last 2 I caught I slung one in a barrel fire and shot the other.

You threw a live rat into a fire?

I did not feel good about it , but if you had seen the damage they done and the effort I had to go to to catch them you would appreciate it. Try going into your attic and finding your electric cables stripped of insulation. Besides that once it was in a cage u wouldn't want to open the hatch to let it out it really was mental.

Well I spent rather a lot of money getting my car re-wired (TVR Chimaera) due to mice getting in and chewing stuff up. Never would I throw them on a fire alive though that is quite awful.

Ok so you have a rat trapped in a cage , it's going mental freaking out like a lunatic thing , blood coming out of its mouth where it's trying to chew the cage fast as hell , its taken you months to finally catch the bd. You have had professionals in setting traps , you have had people in with ratting dogs , you have set up cameras and trigger lights in your attics and garage , you have replaced wiring and all your newly fitted insulation has been ripped off your rafters they are chewing through your cavity closers and running through your wall cavities in the garage you are building , you can hear them in the loft , they eat all the poison you put down as if its smarties but don't die , so you finally trap it with some home made curry there happens to be a nice barrel fire feet away from you...seriously what would you have done?

Honestly, I'd have came up with some way to kill it as quickly as possible, but it wouldn't have crossed my mind to chuck it alive into a fire.

[Ayahuasca]

so called said:

I haven't seen a rat for a few weeks now but my garage stinks of rat piss.

Careful with that. Leptospirosis is no fun at all.