rats do you kill them or humanely release them?

tigermatt

Cariad wrote:

If you feed the birds in the winter that is a definite enticement for the rats so you should try and feed an amount that will be eaten up by the birds daily, don't leave feed out.

Unfortunately, next door neighbours put food out - they put out quite a bit but they have *lots* of birds come to their garden. The trouble is, they actually put it under the bird table (on the floor) as well as on the bird table :rolleyes:, which used to entice the rats to collect the remaining crumbs... Rats are all gone now luckily.

fsdss

thanx 4 all your posts, they've been very useful..just to update you the LA pest control came out yesterday to visit all the neighbours and gain access to their gardens, however i was out at uni, so i dont know what the plan was, or what action was taken as yet, all i know that the problem seems to be more widespread as originally thought as a neighbour up the road had 3 rats in her kitchen that the cats had bought in!!

i'm off to ring the vet to see that my animals are protected as much as they can be.

oh and by the way, managed to borrow an airgun on Sat, and shot 5 in the neighbours garden (not the animal lover), he cremated them on his bonfire.

so glad to know that at least 8 are dead so far.

Zoetoes

You must be a pretty good shot!

Lendusapund

On the Friday before NY, our oil heating packed in. My brother did all he could to attempt to get it working but it appeared to have a leak in the system - outside somewhere, and the man who fitted it came out 31/12.

The very first thing he said was 'rats'! not rats as in oh darn, but rats as in rats nibbling the pipes. At first I thought he was joking but after my brothers & me dug up the yard to see which part of the water pipe was leaking, we came across a piece of large-tooth-bitten pipe. The vermin!

I didnt believe it but true - the rats ate our pipe, causing leak, causing us to sit in the cold - on NY Eve.

It didnt take long for the engineer & my bro's to dig far enough down, cut and replace the pipes, but he said couldnt confirm if theyd be back or not. therre wasnt actually a rat to be seen but they must have come from some underground tunnel.

His suggestion (along with guns, poison, council etc) was a device that gave off a frequency which rats didnt like (like a loud pitch device for dogs). May clear them from my house but itll just send them to the neighbours.

(PS - the number of times Ive heard recently about 'rats only 10 feet away' is too big a coincidence to be taken lightly - call the police - the countries being taken over!)

RichT

fsdss

zoeleigh wrote:

You must be a pretty good shot!

i must admit that i have in the past used guns alot on target practice, but never air pistols, but they were not difficult to miss as there were so many of them.

3 were killed by cats we think

A_brand_new_year

in answer to squirrelz post, rats can be re-released no problem. The reason grey squirrels can't be is because they are considered a "pest" as they are not a native to this country and have been the cause of the demise of the red variety, although they are really nice to watch in the garden!
:cool:

kenshaz

poisen is the most effective method and it is in your interest,rats carry wheels diesese
in their urine

safesound

Actually I think you'll find it slightly illegal to release rats *anywhere* as they are also considered a pest species (LOL).
My hubby is a pest controller (rat man) and its covered in their training.

sharon

fsdss

safesound wrote:

Actually I think you'll find it slightly illegal to release rats *anywhere* as they are also considered a pest species (LOL).
My hubby is a pest controller (rat man) and its covered in their training.

sharon

indeed it is illegal to release a rat, the neighbour has been given a serious ticking off from the LA pest control, and has been warned that she may face prosecution if she catches and releases any more. i have been warned too by the pest control that if i put any dead rat i find in the bin then i too will be acting illegally.

rats dead i believe !!!!!! watch this space

D_e_n_i_s_e

rat cages are too expensive had they have been cheaper id have caught them and release them. all other ways of catching them (sticky paper, traps) leave them with horrific injurues etc.

last month i caught one or two on the rat paper, they were all tangled up. and would have suffered a great deal as liftin them from the superstrong paper would have left them with missing limbs.

the only humane thing? put the really sticky paper in a placstic bag, a couple of newspapers on top and a heavy shoe, (one hard, strong whack - quick death - end of story). at least they dont suffer.