the unexpected silver lining in a fat grey cloud

[shushkin!]

My strange fact for the day!

Rattus Rattus eat slugs and snails

[Lumpy]

They also carried the Black Death!

[shushkin!]

If I am not optimist then I dont know who is! lol

Sadly I know only too well what they carry Lumpy! Eek....but it was apparently gerbils that brought the Black Death

[mothhawk]

My strange fact for the day!

Rattus Rattus eat slugs and snails

The fact that they are so rare in the UK probably explains why I have so many slugs then.

[Lumpy]

Ratus Ratus = The Common Black Rat.

It was not the rat but the fleas that lived on them that carried the plague. Apparantly, if you lived in the stables with horses you would not get the plague as rats don't like horses.

Either way I have no rats so lots of slugs party regularly.

[veggiechicken]

The fact that they are so rare in the UK probably explains why I have so many slugs then.

Have you checked under your fridge lately?

The black rat, Rattus rattus, is believed to have made a comeback in the UK after one was found under a woman's fridge in Cornwall.
BBC News | UK | Black rat back in the UK

[Lumpy]

Gerbils................ummmmmm...........novel thought of little bouncy ratty things scampering around the decks

[mothhawk]

Have you checked under your fridge lately?

The black rat, Rattus rattus, is believed to have made a comeback in the UK after one was found under a woman's fridge in Cornwall.
BBC News | UK | Black rat back in the UK

Not lately, but I'm fairly sure there are no slugs under my fridge, so not likely to find one there. Also I have no trees in my garden, so where would it build a nest? We call squirrels tree rats but funnily enough, black rats actually are tree rats.

I expect the one in the news was a tourist off a cruise ship

Lumpy, it's the rat that carries the plague bacteria in its blood. The flea bites the rat, sucks up some of the infected blood, and then passes it on to the next bite victim. Apparently black rats can carry lots of different pathogens, including typhus and toxoplasmosis, without harm to themselves.

Hmmm....can we change the subject now, I'm beginning to feel itchy.

[SusieG]

Yuk! They're all nasty vermin - don't care if they eat slugs! I'd rather have slugs to deal with than a plague of rats ...
(Bet you can't guess what I'm terrified of now, can you..!!???? ...)

[shushkin!]

Me thinks I can guess Susie!
Our allotment currently has a plague of the furry beasties and I am also battling with them at home!! You can understand why my twisted mind might like to find some sort of positive in this nightmarish situation.

[Bal]

Get a cat. My Iani cat once bought home a dead rat ( not black) complete with its trap when he was a kitten. Luckily it wouldn't fit through the cat flap

[Patsy]

Rats love stables and horses! That's why so many horsey people have Jack Russell terriers to kill the blighters. They use to nip out of the corners of my horses bedding even when I was there sometimes!