The message
from moghouse contains these words:
On Jan 28, 6:22*am, bobharvey wrote:
On 27 Jan, 00:53, Rusty_Hinge
wrote:

I've been killing rats (on and off) for fifty years or more, so I think
I have a good idea of their modus operandi.

Blimey. *It only took 6 years to polish off Hitler.

How long would it have taken had there been millions of him?
Remember that reassuring adage "You are never more than ten yards from
a rat!"

Very difficult to disprove, but for all that, very difficult to believe.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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In article ,
Martin wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:27:53 -0800 (PST),
moghouse wrote:

Remember that reassuring adage "You are never more than ten yards from
a rat!"

Unless you are sailing in a small open boat.

There are places on land in the UK where you are likely to be a
mile or so from the nearest rat, though I agree damn few.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Jan 28, 10:33*am, Martin wrote:
Remember that reassuring adage "You are never more than ten yards from
a rat!"

Unless you are sailing in a small open boat.

You're behind the times, Martin, the Rat Navy now has submarines!

"Amateur Gardener" wrote in message
...
I've just become aware of rats running up the bird table to get
the bread. The rats seem to live under the shed.

I've put down poison bait on tobacco tin lids under the shed,
and this gets taken, but so do the tin lids!

The rats ignore the spring traps and the squirrel trap (big square
wire frame)

How do I get rid of them and also know that I've got rid of them?

They're only 10 foot from the kitchen door which I now keep
resolutely closed.


Tie the poison into plastic sandwich bags and throw them under your shed.
Nothing else can get it but the rats will. You'll know they are gone when a
couple of bags are not touched.
I've stopped using poison here, though, because the tawny owls disappeared.
I keep poultry and it's pretty impossible not to get rats. They got too
wise for traps.
I get terrier men in every 3 months or so.
They come and smoke the rats out from under the huts into the jaws of the
terriers and the rats are gone in a second. Far nicer than dying of poison
over several days.
It's mutually benificial. I want to get rid of my rats and the terrier men
want to have rats to exercise their terriers on.

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Spider" wrote after...
"Amateur Gardener" wrote in message

I've just become aware of rats running up the bird table to get
the bread. The rats seem to live under the shed.

I've put down poison bait on tobacco tin lids under the shed,
and this gets taken, but so do the tin lids!

The rats ignore the spring traps and the squirrel trap (big square
wire frame)

How do I get rid of them and also know that I've got rid of them?

They're only 10 foot from the kitchen door which I now keep
resolutely closed.



If you only put bread on the bird table and not the ground, try using a
squirrel baffle (large plastic dome used umbrella-like on the leg of the
bird table) to stop the rats reaching the table surface. If you don't
want to buy one of these, a large tin lid usually does the same job.
However, if pigeons feed at the table, their messy eating habits will
scatter food on the ground anyway, which will still attract the rats.

The only remaining options are to a) stop putting out bread for the birds
:~( or b) to call in the council rat operative, who will probably tell
you to stop putting out bread anyway :~(

Also, there is a kind of pepper which you can buy to dust on bird food.
Squirrels can't stand it, but birds are still able to eat the food. Only
guessing, but since a squirrel is essentially a rat, it may deter rats
too. Alas, I can't remember the name .. it may be cayenne or paprika ..
or something else. Hopefully, someone else here will know ... or you
could google for the RSPB site.


IME not all Local Councils have Pest Controllers nowadays, ours hasn't. We
had to pay Rentakil to rid us of our rats in our garden at home, they were
even swimming out onto our pond to take the Koi food!
We also found that the rodent poisons sold by GCs didn't work on the ones
on our allotment that were eating stuff so we got hold of some
professional poison in sachets which works well but I think some of the
small rodents that are causing problems don't like the peanut butter
smell. Oh for a few good hunting cats locally.


My cat kills young rats happily which is good as they don't grow up to be
big ones.
He does not try to tackle the large grandfather ones with the huge teeth.
He pretends he does not see them and washes himself if he spots one.
I don't blame him.
Some are almost too much for the terriers. Big uns that cling on their nose
and make them bleed, antiseptic needed afterwards.
It just seems to make the terriers more determined. No rat has lived no
matter how it makes the dogs yelp.

The message
from "Christina Websell" contains
these words:

My cat kills young rats happily which is good as they don't grow up to be
big ones.
He does not try to tackle the large grandfather ones with the huge teeth.
He pretends he does not see them and washes himself if he spots one.
I don't blame him.

I had a cat which had a proportion of Highland wildcat in her genes. The
first rat she saw was a big one - her eyes grew like saucers, and she
went and sat by the hole (under next-door's summerhouse - the girls kept
guinea pigs...)

I called her for her meal.

She ignored me.

The next morning she was still sitting there, her meal untouched.

When I came home in the evening she was still sitting there, her meal
still untouched.

In the morning her meal was untouched, but had grown by the addition of
the hind legs and tail of a rather large rat.

Guess where she was sitting?

Some are almost too much for the terriers. Big uns that cling on
their nose
and make them bleed, antiseptic needed afterwards.
It just seems to make the terriers more determined. No rat has lived no
matter how it makes the dogs yelp.

Generally, the terriers only get bitten once...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Amateur Gardener" wrote in message
...
I've just become aware of rats running up the bird table to get
the bread. The rats seem to live under the shed.
I've put down poison bait on tobacco tin lids under the shed,
and this gets taken, but so do the tin lids!
The rats ignore the spring traps and the squirrel trap (big square
wire frame)

Many thanks to all who responded with tips.

No bait has been taken for over 5 days now, so either they've
deaded or else gone back into hibernation because of the cold.

Thanks again.

The message
from "Amateur Gardener" contains
these words:
"Amateur Gardener" wrote in message
...

I've just become aware of rats running up the bird table to get
the bread. The rats seem to live under the shed.
I've put down poison bait on tobacco tin lids under the shed,
and this gets taken, but so do the tin lids!
The rats ignore the spring traps and the squirrel trap (big square
wire frame)

Many thanks to all who responded with tips.

No bait has been taken for over 5 days now, so either they've
deaded or else gone back into hibernation because of the cold.

Thanks again.

Good.

Just so long as you haven't sent them packing - over here.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 26/1/09 10:08, in article
,
"bobharvey" wrote:

On 25 Jan, 14:00, "Amateur Gardener"
wrote:

How do I get rid of them and also know that I've got rid of them?

Get a Jack Russel Terrier, or if you can't bring yourself to own one
get someone else's.

We have JR Terrier's but we still use a company called Baroque which sends
someone along regularly during the 'rat season' to put down bait in safe
boxes.

Poison is all very well, it works in a few days to have half dead rats all
over the place that the tawny owls pick up and then it wipes them out too.
I've lost my tawnies now and it's probably my fault.
I will not use poison now.
You cannot trust your own JR's to do the job. Get a bloke in whose terriers
live to kill rats. They are not pets, they live to kill,
You should see them here. We have ex-rats.
The JR is not brilliant but has got one or two. The Patterdale terriers are
something else.

The message
from "Christina Websell" contains
these words:

The JR is not brilliant but has got one or two. The Patterdale
terriers are
something else.

Ah, one of my fiends (a gamekeeper) has one of those.

Even the postman's not safe...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

One of my aunts who always kept Pekingeses said that they were the best ratters she had ever met. They lived for trips to the country and ratting-sport.

On 10/2/09 20:04, in article , "Christina
Websell" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 26/1/09 10:08, in article
,
"bobharvey" wrote:

On 25 Jan, 14:00, "Amateur Gardener"
wrote:

How do I get rid of them and also know that I've got rid of them?

Get a Jack Russel Terrier, or if you can't bring yourself to own one
get someone else's.

We have JR Terrier's but we still use a company called Baroque which sends
someone along regularly during the 'rat season' to put down bait in safe
boxes.

Poison is all very well, it works in a few days to have half dead rats all
over the place that the tawny owls pick up and then it wipes them out too.
I've lost my tawnies now and it's probably my fault.
I will not use poison now.
You cannot trust your own JR's to do the job. Get a bloke in whose terriers
live to kill rats. They are not pets, they live to kill,
You should see them here. We have ex-rats.
The JR is not brilliant but has got one or two. The Patterdale terriers are
something else.


We've been using Baroque for years, literally years. None of us has seen a
half dead rat anywhere and our tawnies are going strong. They were shouting
their heads off this afternoon, in fact.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
Perennials & shrubs online

On Feb 11, 4:24*am, Anne Welsh Jackson wrote:

When you get a rat that crawls inside the wall, in an older house,
then dies after taking the poison, you know about it - for weeks after!


There is no doubt that the most efficient and environmentally friendly
solution to rats is cats or dogs. Failing that I hear there is a
German fellow who has a pipe that is pretty effective!

The message
from moghouse contains these words:
On Feb 11, 4:24*am, Anne Welsh Jackson wrote:

When you get a rat that crawls inside the wall, in an older house,
then dies after taking the poison, you know about it - for weeks after!


There is no doubt that the most efficient and environmentally friendly
solution to rats is cats or dogs. Failing that I hear there is a
German fellow who has a pipe that is pretty effective!

However, what with Elf and Safety, he's not allowed to smoke it indoors...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Rusty_Hinge" wrote in message
. uk...
The message
from "Christina Websell" contains
these words:

My cat kills young rats happily which is good as they don't grow up to be
big ones.
He does not try to tackle the large grandfather ones with the huge teeth.
He pretends he does not see them and washes himself if he spots one.
I don't blame him.

I had a cat which had a proportion of Highland wildcat in her genes. The
first rat she saw was a big one - her eyes grew like saucers, and she
went and sat by the hole (under next-door's summerhouse - the girls kept
guinea pigs...)

I called her for her meal.

She ignored me.

The next morning she was still sitting there, her meal untouched.

When I came home in the evening she was still sitting there, her meal
still untouched.

In the morning her meal was untouched, but had grown by the addition of
the hind legs and tail of a rather large rat.

Guess where she was sitting?

Some are almost too much for the terriers. Big uns that cling on
their nose
and make them bleed, antiseptic needed afterwards.
It just seems to make the terriers more determined. No rat has lived no
matter how it makes the dogs yelp.

Generally, the terriers only get bitten once...

Yes. I've stopped using poison, I don't like what it does.
I will always have rats here because I have poultry and they come for the
food. Every few weeks I invite the terriers and the rats get smoked out
into their jaws.
Sometimes we get a huge grandfather rat that bites the terriers faces to
bits but they still hang on and lets say that the terriers win.
It's not something I like to do.