My OH has a Moby Dick ........

[reetnproper]

........ It's a rat!!!! A large, female brown rat!!!! He's been trying to get rid of her for months now! We've found and destroyed 2 nests in the past 4 months, each with 10 furless babies in it which he disposed of - not a job he enjoys.

We've tried poison but she either isn't taking it or is immune (possibly from the vitamin K that is apparently in layers pellets which my neighbours feed to their massive flock of hens).

She can stretch into the live rat trap to reach the bait in there but is so big that the door shuts on her back so she's able to get out again and she happily wonders across the garden in full view, in broad daylight, as if to say "Come and get me". Someone forgot to tell her that she's supposed to be timid and nocturnal!!!

Now he's worried that all the veg will be contaminated by Wiels disease, although I have pointed out that all the outside veg is 'boiling/cooking' veg and all the 'raw' stuff (salads etc) are in the GHs. He was talking about scrapping all the veg I'd grown but one look at my face made him realise he was over reacting somewhat (or maybe it was what I said to him in reply to this suggestion ).

Bless him. He's obsessed with catching this rat and believes that if he can only dispose of her then all the ratties will disappear or at least, start to take the poison etc. Mind you, it's taken his mind of lack of funds for rebuilding the Landy .

As I said at the start, my OH has a Moby Dick ..................

[binley100]

Then he needs a bigger trap.......

[shirlthegirl43]

Phone the council pest controller. Mind you it sounds like it might be a tame rat that has been released into the wild.

[Nicos]

I was going to suggest a special cream for your OH....and then thought bettre of it!!!

That rat sounds like a whopper!
And pretty bright with it too!

There are several types of poison- have you tried different ones?

If all else fails- you may need to find someone who is a crackshot who could sort you out pretty quickly- or are you in a built up area???
Failing that a catapult could do the trick- you just need someone who is very accurate!

[SueA]

Like Shirl I was thinking maybe it's a tame one which has escaped as you see it so often but I can understand you (well your O.H. !) wanting to get rid of it.
Can you borrow a cat (very large!) or a jack russell dog or other 'ratter'?
Or get a bigger trap (sort for rabbits etc.)

[ginger ninger]

I'll send Jinny Cat to you for his holiday's...He loves a big fat rat for supper.
I have to say it does sound like a tame rat that's ether escaped or has been set free, is she causing much damage?

[Patchninja]

If she's making babies, then there's a Mr rat about. I can see why you want rid of it.

[Brengirl]

I still don't get it. What's a Moby Dick ?

[shirlthegirl43]

I still don't get it. What's a Moby Dick ?

Wasn't Moby Dick about a sailor's obsession with the whale he couldn't find/catch?

[Pies]

I still don't get it. What's a Moby Dick ?

an obsession,as in the film moby dick

[Brengirl]

Oh how silly of me there was me thinking it was a big stick lol

[Liza]

I still don't get it. What's a Moby Dick ?

In cockney rhyming slang it means "Sick"

[reetnproper]

Mind you it sounds like it might be a tame rat that has been released into the wild.

Well we've spoken to environmental health and the general consensus of opinion is that she's a 'Super Rat' (nothing super about her IMO ). Seriously though,these particular types of rat are impervious to most types of poison, are more 'new object' savvy than your ordinary, lesser brained variety, are extremely intelligent and are not afraid of humans - kind of an 'I may be smaller than you but my bite hurts' mentality . Normal, wild, brown rats have evolved into these so called 'super' rats.

We've had to dispose of 5 rats so far in only 16 hrs of trapping. Poor OH has to do the deed and he hates it. The 5 have ranged from around 3-4 mths old to about 9-10 mths, I'd say and the 2 youngest ones were female. Apparently we're not the only ones who've been getting a little annoyed by the cause of this problem and the close proximity to the primary school has now started to make people twitch at County Hall!

Mind you the big mother rat still hasn't been caught - there has to be a bigger word than obsession to describe OH at the moment - he now thinks she's taunting him specifically. Me? I think he needs a holiday in a padded cell with a cute little white jacket that fastens at the back .....

Reet
x

[lizzylemon]

My suggestion is with Shirlthegirl, if she's out and about during the day and you have the space, I'd leave something tasty but slow to eat in a fairly secluded area so she gets used to it and make sure theres a window with direct access to the area. After a week or so get an airgun, or someone who's got one to shoot her. The ratter on the farm where we lived did it quite often with 'canny' rats.

Good luck

[Hilary B]

I'd go with the airgun option (get an experienced user to do it, and ask them to advise on siting the feeding area for safe and convenient shooting).
When you destroyed the nests, I presume you removed everything? If the airgun option doesn't work out, and you find another nest, leave the dead babies for her to find. It sounds nasty, but it may make her move on to another area!
When we had a large garden, and rats coming after the stored feed (in spite of the use of strong storage containers) one day I opened a feed tub and found 6 half-grown rats in there, unable to climb up to the hole by which they had got in. I got angry with the aid of the poker, removed the corpses, and left them on the floor nearby, intending to tidy up next morning. In the morning the bodies had gone, and we had no evidence of rats for the next 3 months.....