Getting rid of rats/mice (merged threads)

Leif

Funniest thing I saw was a mouse on a smooth wooden floor. When it saw me it hurtled off, but had problems with road holding when cornering.

Grey squirrels are horrible tree rats. It is fun watching one try to climb up a metal pole to get to a peanut feeder. Eventually it slides down, but keeps on trying.

Regarding a 2p piece sized hole, that is easy for a mouse. I can easily believe the 12mm gap suggested by cyclonebri1.The real problem with mice (and I assume rats) is the lack of bowel and bladder control, so they leave a trail of excrement and wee. Fortunately poison pellets are very effective, so I'd put down pellets in the WC just in case, assuming of course there are no pets and/or children about. It is a bit cruel, as I left poison out and one evening there was a squeakathon, which I assume to have been the death throws of the mice, as they bled internally to death.

Leif

daffodil wrote: »

Never mind about holes - what about my phobia - its still here, imagining a rat as a squirrel doesnt work although it did seem like a good idea and I am very grateful for it.

Back later

How bad is your phobia? I don't like rats, because they are dirty. I was standing by a metal gate one day, watching Red Legged Partridge on hay bales, when a huge rat ran along the base of the gate, and across my feet. I think a phobia of rats is healthy.

cyclonebri1

They say you are never more than 20ft away from a rat:eek: That should help with the phobia, not.
The thing is with both rats and mice they don't need any size hole to start off with. If they can smell food inside a sealed container they will go for it.

They can scale vertical brick walls to 2 storeys easily.

Put down a rat trap with a sticky quality street or slice of mars bar, seems the best bait from my experience.

daffodil

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

They say you are never more than 20ft away from a rat:eek: That should help with the phobia, not.

Now how is that going to help me?

Leif

daffodil wrote: »

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

They say you are never more than 20ft away from a rat:eek: That should help with the phobia, not.

Now how is that going to help me?

It won't and it is not true. You might be within a few meters of a rat if for example you walk along a railway embankment, there are loads there. When I lived in Luton I saw them all the while, no doubt due to the dirty locals leaving food waste on paths. But if you are in a house, they might be far away, it all depends on hygiene levels in the house and outside. About 0.5% of houses have rats indoors, and 3% have rats in the grounds.

The R4 programme More Or Less did an article on rats and how far away they are. They worked out there is one urban rat per 5,000 m2 meaning you can easily be 164 feet away or roughly 50m.

Mice are fairly common, far more so than rats in my experience. I see them in woods all the time, and my mother had them in her garage. They ate an entire 25kg bag of sunflower seed and destroyed a rug.

Oh, and if there are cats in your area, that will help keep the rodent levels down.

daffodil

Cats dont make any difference at all - I have a cat - and a rat lived in my dammed garage for ages before I found it and my cat went in there every day since the garage is attached to my house. Not only that but I found the rat in one of my kitchen cupboards one day. A huge specimen - I opened the cupboard once and there it was looking at me as happy as Larry. I slammed the door shut, composed myself and opened it again - there it was again, still staring right at me. My daughter wanted to see it - by now I was trembling all over - I wish I hadnt opened it a 3rd time .......so traumatic I cant remember what happened, I think the rat was traumatised too, it ran into one of my other cupboards I think. Put poison down eventually - few days later it turned up in my neighbours house - they can get anywhere. No wonder I cant go to the tpoilet downstairs anymore!! I have this image of lifting the seat - and one of them staring right back at me - its awful I dont think it will EVER go!!:eek:

cyclonebri1

daffodil wrote: »

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

They say you are never more than 20ft away from a rat:eek: That should help with the phobia, not.

Now how is that going to help me?

It's not, it was background info with a touch of humour, sorry if you are genuinely too traumatised to see the funnier side.

The rest of my infor is all true and from personal exp.

Leif, the never more than 20ft thing was just from memory, I remember a BBC doc on pest control that said something like that, the point was that you are always closer to a rat than you my think..;)

daffodil

Dear cyclonebri1

Thankyou - thankyou for that at last I have found someone with a sense of humour!!:beer:

We are a dying breed you know.

Know any good jokes? Years ago people, usually men told lots of great jokes - where have they gone?

muckybutt

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

daffodil wrote: »

Leif, the never more than 20ft thing was just from memory, I remember a BBC doc on pest control that said something like that, the point was that you are always closer to a rat than you my think..;)

I remember something like that too cyclone you aint the only one.

Two funny instances with rats recently, first one was one stangling itself in some netting trying to get our ducks eggs, the other was one that had eaten its way into a tub of rat bait and carked it in ther with a full tummy lol

Got them in the bloody loft now, so baited up there yesterday, choc chips and rat bait they cant resist.

Leif

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Leif, the never more than 20ft thing was just from memory, I remember a BBC doc on pest control that said something like that, the point was that you are always closer to a rat than you my think..;)

It is widely believed and stated but fortunately not true. 50m (150 foot) is more like it. Of course if you live next to a barn with animals in it, or you put meat on your compost heap ...