blasted rat!

[angie loves veg]

OK....so there I was, digging over the allotment, getting ahead, making trenches and filling with green waste for next years beans - suddenly, a (big, giant, ugly) rat appears out of nowhere and scuttles away

One week later, I find a tunnel in the side of the trench, and without doubt, the rat has decided to make a home for himself.... what should I do?

will he cause problems?
should I leave well alone?
poke and annoy until he decides to re-house himself?
attempt to kill (how??!!)

anyone got any bright ideas?

[Alison]

Think there was a thread about rats in compost heaps a few weeks ago - seem to remember that if you didn't want to kill them then it was generally felt that making it inhospitable for them was the best plan, lots of noise etc. Have a search under "rats" or something similar and hopefully you'll find the proper advice. Fortunately it's not a problem I've suffered from but then again I do have two cats.

[ugly gourd]

Id keep putting water down the hole to make it as uncost for the winter as possible and it should go looking for somewhere cosy

[Alice]

Sorry about your unwelcome visitor Angie. You do have to get rid of it and the sooner the better. The method is up to you but I'd go for kill it. If you leave it you'll soon have millions. !

[dexterdoglancashire]

If it was me I'd just scream, and scream, and scream........! DDL

[sewer rat]

Angie
Your Rat will undoubtedly cause you problems, not least when he or she starts to breed prolifically, so leaving well alone is not an option. No doubt you are aware of the potential disease risk re Weils Disease etc, so the sooner it's gone the better.
If you can get close enough to poke it and annoy it then I would poke it and annoy it with the flat side of a spade, until it is itself flat !!
You can get rat poison to put down - place it inside some old drainage pipe or similar as this tends to keep the birds away from it - but most poisons are based on the drug Warfarin which thins the blood, and many rats today have developed a fair amount of immunity to it.
Me - I'd get an air rifle (or a friend with one) and plug it.- or borrow a terrier from someone and let it have a go! If you are into blood sports, a brush handle with barbed wire wrapped round the last foot makes a good Rat tickling stick.
And before everyone starts on about how cruel I am, I've worked on farms for years and have seen more rats than most and the damage and injury to stock they cause is unbelievable

[angie loves veg]

Id keep putting water down the hole to make it as uncost for the winter as possible and it should go looking for somewhere cosy

seems a good plan..... i assume that this will not kill, just make the rat uncomfortable?

[angie loves veg]

Angie
If you can get close enough to poke it and annoy it then I would poke it and annoy it with the flat side of a spade, until it is itself flat !!

another good plan - I may try to 'dig enthusiastically' in the area, spade at the ready of course.....

i worry that poisons may affect other wildlife...?

[sewer rat]

Angie, there is a possibility that the poisons could be taken and ingested by other wildlife. You can buy traps that are specifically built to hold rat poison and exclude most other wildlife - but are unable to exclude mice, voles and shrews etc. Accurate placing of the trap is the best way to ensure it gets the Rat - worth looking for the runs it has and placing on them. Do not place it right at the tunnel entrance - the rat will just use a different exit.

[beefy]

And before everyone starts on about how cruel I am, I've worked on farms for years and have seen more rats than most and the damage and injury to stock they cause is unbelievable

Couldn't agree more Rat the only good rat is a dead rat (with one exception of course )

[angie loves veg]

Should I choose to go the poison route, where should I get it from.... I suppose the council could be a start (who should i ask for?), but anywhere else..... (can't Imagine my local shops will sell!)

thanks for your ideas so far...

[Snadger]

Just dig it out, but make sure you are wearing bicycle clips!

[sewer rat]

Where I live there are about ten shops I could go to - are you rural or city dwelling. If rural, try a local agricultural merchants, or equine supply store. If not, try your council or failing that a company like Rentakill I suppose.
Only problem with going down the poison route is you might not see the proof of the rat's demise - has been said that for every rat you find dead above ground, there can be up to ten others dead that you never find.

[angie loves veg]

Only problem with going down the poison route is you might not see the proof of the rat's demise - has been said that for every rat you find dead above ground, there can be up to ten others dead that you never find.

mmmm...(being daft here) and where is the problem in multiple dead rats (assuming that you intended to kill them of course)?

(oooooh.... realisation dawns....... festering dead rats hmmmmm......what do you do with a dead rat anyway?)

I am rural.... so it sounds like i 'just' need to find an agricultural shoppe

[sewer rat]

Angie
The more dead rats the better - there is NO problem at all with that - the problem is if you only have one rat and you kill it by poison, it may be one of the ten you never see, so you'll never be sure if it's dead or just gone away to tell his mates that he's got a new pad and they should all come over for a party