Rat in my composter what am i gonna do

[baldrick]

I much prefer lethal traps. Detest poisons. Know someone whose dog is luckily recovering from rat poison. Please please please dont use glue traps. They are vile and inhumane and should be banned. Rats are sentient beings, as intelligent as dogs and suffer terribly in glue traps. Sorry about the pinkies. Must have been horrible for you but what choice did you have? you couldnt leave him on your fork, and much as rats are devoted mums I doubt she would have come back so the others would have starved to death. You took the brave and humane choice. :-(

[Hilary B]

Cage traps are tolerable if you have an effective way of despatching once caught (and check often). My one-time neighbour used what he called 'dust' cartridge in his .22 rifle; poke tip of barrel into cage-trap, rat bites at it, pull trigger, dead rat. Most alternatives are decidedly less humane (drowning is often suggested, not kind!) Unfortunately the 'breakback' type trap is a lot less effective in actually catching them, especially after the first one....
Something that is not a poison, but IS deadly to any rat that eats it (but not to a predator eating the rat) is a dry blend of flour and plaster-of-paris. It must be a cruel way to kill the rat though....

[Snadger]

Decided against getting the ratbuster pistol. Instead I've just bought a second hand one of these.

Crosman Ratcatcher Co2 .22 Air Rifle - Ronnie Sunshines

Bye bye rat buster, hello rat catcher.