Rattus Rattus Bastardus!

[mahking51]

I have a rat!
It has just eaten through the plastic pipe from my water softener in the WS to the sink in the kitchen. Fortunately it was the waste that is only flowing when on regeneration. Found it at 0400 hrs when I got up to go to a film job in London. Missus had no water for two days which hardly contributed to marital harmony.
Little bar steward had also nearly chomped through the two that carry mains pressure! He gets at them from the cavity in the wall, there are lots of bits of insulation by the hole where he is rummaging about.

I have placed a rat trap of the cage variety near the hole with a lump of Waitrose's best bacon in it but so far nada!

Should I order some delicacy from Fortnums? :lol:

Anyone know how to deal mit dis schwein!

I have zwei pussies so no poison. :lol:

I have reun all the pipes and placed them inside 22mm copper where they go through the wall and intend to foam the whole area after he is caught and given an excrutiating death! (Just kidding!) :twisted:

All help along the lines of 'One thousand and one ways to kill a rat' will be much appreciated.
Regards,
Martin
Worlds worst rat hunter

 

[DomValente]

Don't feed the cats for a day or even two

 

[Anonymous]

Try chocolate as bait

 

[Alf]

Take away its HSS cutters and it won't be able to cut through anything.

Ooops, wrong sort of rat...

I belive chocolate is supposed to be most desirable in traps, fwiw. Possibly Cadbury's Dairy Milk which is almost cheese anyway.

Cheers, Alf

 

[mahking51]

Hmmm, not sure I wouldn't rather put up with the rat than try to take chocloate away from my missus...............
Martin

Who will be waiting outside the sweet shop at 0730 in the morning!

 

[llangatwgnedd]

Sling those fat pussies out in the night, tin opener as well.

They do like a bit of chocolate Dark if I recall, and empty crisp packets for a nest.

BTW find they run or how are they gaining entry into house

 

[dedee]

Another vote for chocolate, Cadbury's Bournville is what I used,

Andy

 

[DomValente]

Jokes aside, put the trap in a sack(preferably hessian and bait with flour, they love flour and before anyone asks, any flour.

 

[LyNx]

Mars Bars

Works a treat. I almost miss the sound of the "neck breakers" in the attic.

 

[llangatwgnedd]

I said

BTW find they run or how are they gaining entry into house

As there will be more than one :?

 

[Anonymous]

Chocolate and also bacon rind, thats what we used in the pallet factry, they find it hard to resist it as its fat rich. One of those galvanised steel traps works fine. (Please someone tell me they are still legal, you never know with all the barmy laws they come up with now do you?) I heard you can build a funnel trap that will allow them to crawl in but they cant get back out again ("humane" :roll: ) but if you let it go it'll breed more and come back. So you'd still have to drown it. Poison can be dodgy, not least for children, but also those other unwelcome (to me) creatures, cat's, and other small rodents birds and fish etc but also if the rat dies in the gap between the floor and ceiling or some other hidey hole it will stench the place out when it rot's. Plus its not a pretty sight watching a rat die of poison they have a massive hemmorage and sort of convulse and collapse. I also heard off of a bloke (dont know if this was just a wind up) that you can frighten them off as they are sensitive to being made to feel unwelcome. Aparently best place to set a trap is right next to a wall where they run along, they HATE to run in exposed places if they can help it as they feel more vulnerable there eyesight is poor.
Biggest rat my grandad ever saw (he ran a grain mill) was over 2 foot long it and a pack of others emerged from a cellar during a war time bombing raid :shock:

 

[mailee]

No Rats but have a lot of mice and I use chocolate spread in the traps and they love it to death, he he. Literaly as my traps are NOT humane. :twisted: So far I have caught over twenty Mice this way as they can't resist the spread. Well got to give them a good last meal heven't you?

 

[Scrit]

Biggest rat my grandad ever saw (he ran a grain mill) was over 2 foot long it and a pack of others emerged from a cellar during a war time bombing raid :shock:

Not sure I can top that but I did on one occasion relieve our old tom cat of what looked in the evening gloom like a very bloody Sunday joint . It turmed out to be a 5 or 6lb rat, or what was left of a rat after the nutter had had his evil way :twisted: . In general, though, cats aren't such good ratters - rats are big enough and strong enough to inflict serious injury on cats who quite sensibly opt to avoid them (all excepting "old dim", that was). Jack Russell terriers on the other hand tend not to be intimidated nearly so much by rats.

Still favour something greasy and smelly and the biggest steel rat traps (plural) you can get hold of, though. I also know that shotguns can be effective, if somewhat lethat in confined spaces - so on second thoughts maybe not

Scrit

 

[PowerTool]

Gin traps are very effective (although illegal) - I agree with Sawdust Producer,there will be more than one.
My great-uncle used to live on a farm,and had gin traps around all over the place.Caught about three rats a day for about ten years - said "I'm sure every one I kill invites ten of it's friends to it's funeral.." :lol:

Andrew

 

[StevieB]

Mars Bar - they love the mallow centre rather than the chocolate outer. The only thing you have to watch is the pressure setting on the trap - I had a Houdini mouse that would not set off a rat trap (too light I guess) but pinched whatever I loaded it with. Over xmas he made the mistake of running across the floor in front of me and didn't survive being hit on the noggin with a length of 2"x2" I was carrying at the time....

Steve.

 

[RogerS]

Martin

Don't get sentimental about how you deal with them. They must go...successive mild winters and arguably the direct result of local authorities encouraging green recycling which results in people leaving out green sacks of tasty rat banquets has led to an explosion in rat numbers.

They carry a whole host of diseases not least of which is Weill's disease.

 

[Alf]

Mars Bar - they love the mallow centre rather than the chocolate outer.

If it's the mallow they like, wouldn't a Milky Way be preferable? :-k (I'm exhibiting too much familiarity with the fine nuances of chocolate bars here, aren't I...? )

Cheers, Alf

 

[mahking51]

All traps set with Premier Grand Cru Mars Bar!
Waiting....
Martin :twisted:

 

[StevieB]

If it's the mallow they like, wouldn't a Milky Way be preferable?

Ah, but its yours truly that finishes the 7/8ths of the bar that doesn't get put on the trap, and I like Mars Bars better :lol:

Steve.

 

[Alf]

Fair enough :lol: