There's a rat in my kitchen.

Caroline_a

I had mice in the summer and bought 2 of those electronic traps. They take 2 C3 batteries and then when the mouse/rat goes in they get electrocuted. I bought the rat one, despite having mice, and caught 4 in the first couple of days! Then I got the cat... and no mice (touch wood!) since!

jennihen

Thank you every one for your responses.
I moved into this cottage in August - its an old building with a stream and woods at the back - I think that the rats have been here a lot longer than us! Its a hazard of living in a rural area.

I am going to try the sonic plugs because I have a suspicion it comes in the catflap.
Most of our dry stores are in plastic boxes anyway - but I have moved everything higher to be on the safe side.
My 2 cats are prolific hunters but I think the male has had a few encounters with the rat already as he has some small wounds on him.
I worry about using poison and will be contacting the council as soon as their pest control office opens in the new year. It only costs £30 - £40 which is money well spent in my opinion!
My sister is bringing in a couple of heavy traps to put down but I shall have to be really careful about the cats.

I will let you know how I get on - Thankyou all for your advice and I wish you all a very merry, rat free , Christmas!!
Thanks again
Jenni

shell_girl

My friend had a rat in her house and I caught it with bacon, oven gloves and a shoe box, then dropped it off a couple of miles away. It took a while, but we knew it was gone.

If you do go down the poison route, bear in mind that you have no control over where it will die. Another friend had a rat corpse rotting between floors after using poison, the smell was horrific.

jennihen

shell_girl wrote: »

My friend had a rat in her house and I caught it with bacon, oven gloves and a shoe box, then dropped it off a couple of miles away. It took a while, but we knew it was gone.

If you do go down the poison route, bear in mind that you have no control over where it will die. Another friend had a rat corpse rotting between floors after using poison, the smell was horrific.

Thats my biggest worry - my poor friend had to have most of her floorboards removed to get rid of a decaying corpe - the smell was horrendous and lingered long after you'd left the house!!

The interim solution is to clear out my kitchen and let DS's friends in here with the promise of a sustantial bounty to whoever catches it:rotfl:

rita-rabbit

jennihen wrote: »

Thank you every one for your responses.
I moved into this cottage in August - its an old building with a stream and woods at the back - I think that the rats have been here a lot longer than us! Its a hazard of living in a rural area.

I am going to try the sonic plugs because I have a suspicion it comes in the catflap.
Most of our dry stores are in plastic boxes anyway - but I have moved everything higher to be on the safe side.
My 2 cats are prolific hunters but I think the male has had a few encounters with the rat already as he has some small wounds on him.
I worry about using poison and will be contacting the council as soon as their pest control office opens in the new year. It only costs £30 - £40 which is money well spent in my opinion!
My sister is bringing in a couple of heavy traps to put down but I shall have to be really careful about the cats.

I will let you know how I get on - Thankyou all for your advice and I wish you all a very merry, rat free , Christmas!!
Thanks again
Jenni

just a thought - to a magnetic or other type - no point getting a continual stream of visitors!

lucky_charm_2

I wouldn't use eat poison I think it is cruel, anticoagulants take weeks to work and effectively break down the blood vessels of the rat/ mouse causing bleeding into the muscles which can result in moderate to severe pain not to mention that this can take up to a week of the poor rat turning to mush from the inside out. Rats have been proven to be intelligent creatures and don't deserve such a death. Unfortunately a trap will not always kill them quickly either, my dad used one once and when he came home from work the poor thing was screaming and screaming, he had to throw the whole thing into a plastic bag and stamp and stamp...

Cats unfortunately are not always quick or effective in their killing either- my cats once brought me a present of a pregnant mouse, she had been ripped open and some of the little foetuses had been pulled out, streaks of blood on the carpet and she was still breathing, my mum had to put her out of her misery with a hammer, most disgusting thing I ever saw.

You cant blame cats as it's their instinct and they don't know any better but humans should be able to show a little compassion... Why bit try a humane trap and see, it might work out best for you (no decaying corpse, or worse, still squealing half-dead creature to deal with) and of course it's better for the mouse/ rat.

[Deleted User]

jennihen wrote: »

...

I am going to try the sonic plugs because I have a suspicion it comes in the catflap...

We also live in a very rural area and get mice and rats in the garden (and owls too who like to hunt them).

Anyway, when we moved into our house, as it had been empty for two years, we had lots and lots of mice living in the house. We spent the first few weeks humanly trapping them and managed to get rid of them all...until winter came and they moved back in.

In the end we got one of the electronic sonic devices. We were lucky to be able to get one that was powerful enough to cover the whole house. It has worked brilliantly and we have never had any mice in the house since.

Also, someone mentioned earlier that his girlfriend was the only woman he knew not scared of mice or rats. I am not either. However, in summer we were moving a large wood pile from one area of the garden to another and I, by accident, picked up a dead dessicated rat by the tail (with bare hands) it did make me go "eugghhh".

Froglet

lucky_charm wrote: »

I wouldn't use eat poison I think it is cruel, anticoagulants take weeks to work and effectively break down the blood vessels of the rat/ mouse causing bleeding into the muscles which can result in moderate to severe pain not to mention that this can take up to a week of the poor rat turning to mush from the inside out. Rats have been proven to be intelligent creatures and don't deserve such a death. Unfortunately a trap will not always kill them quickly either, my dad used one once and when he came home from work the poor thing was screaming and screaming, he had to throw the whole thing into a plastic bag and stamp and stamp...

Cats unfortunately are not always quick or effective in their killing either- my cats once brought me a present of a pregnant mouse, she had been ripped open and some of the little foetuses had been pulled out, streaks of blood on the carpet and she was still breathing, my mum had to put her out of her misery with a hammer, most disgusting thing I ever saw.

You cant blame cats as it's their instinct and they don't know any better but humans should be able to show a little compassion... Why bit try a humane trap and see, it might work out best for you (no decaying corpse, or worse, still squealing half-dead creature to deal with) and of course it's better for the mouse/ rat.

Totally agree with all you say.A sonic repellent is a very good idea.Humane traps are ok but in this weather you are possibly condemning them to a slow death also from cold and hunger.Depends where you release them i suppose.

There is no easy answer.I just wish they could find a more humane way of ensuring a quick death if it has to be done.

fairytinkerbell

i use a 4 in 1 sonic plug in aswell, make sure it has an electomagnetic pulse . when i first moved into my house there was mice already here, i couldnt use poison as i have 2 jack russells and was worried about them catching the mice after they ate the poison, so i used loads of snap traps and glue traps. i ended up catching 11 in less than a week and was told by a pest controller that theres at least 100 in my house. but they was so braisen they was walking about my kitchen and living room about 7 pm at night when i was still up.
i got recomended these plug ins and within a few days they was all gone and havent come back.

a mouse is preganant for around 20 days and can have up to 12 babies, and can get pregnant straight after. they generaly have about 8 litters a year.

so 1 pregnant mouse can lead to alot of trouble

moggies

are you sure they are rats and not little field mice?have you found any droppings?tiny little black bits or longer bits,the latter rats droppings.

I know people advise poison,but where you have felines I would not advise it,there are lots of traps and things on the market for mice that are humane,my son had them last year and would you believe they were eating candles:eek:along with vimto flavoured chews:eek:Cant remember off the top of my head how he got rid of them,I think we got that spray foam filler stuff,and filled in all the mouse size holes,got rid of all the candles and vimto chews,have now weaned my 41 year old son off eating chews and candles:rotfl:,no on a serious note he keeps no food in the house he eats with me at my house,its cheaper to buy and cook for two of us than just me on my own,plus I do proper food,homemade Stews and soups and other food rather than pizza`s, me being an OAP,plus he is here more than his own house which is two minutes away.

If on the other hand you have rats ,wow, I dont know,where we live here in MK , the other year the whole estate was over run with large rats,and there were dead rats laying all over the place, dead in the road,bushes,people`s gardens and decaying phew.

One local pussey was hunting these rats,and I came out one day to find outside nearly every gate in my block including mine had been left a present of a very dead unwanted freshly killed rat,thing is pussey only has one eye ,but bless her she is a real expert ratter.

The council came along and did away with all the council owned shrubbery out the front of our houses,where the rats were living,and not seen a rat since,but maybe you should leave the cats in the place where mice/rats are,see if they catch anything or at least scare away what ever is there?