Furry Animals - an invasion - and struggling with life!

Gigervamp

Be careful about putting poison down if next door has cats. You can get rat traps that you put poison in and the rats can't get back out of them. We had one of those from the council once.

Now, we use heavy duty snappy type traps and also hubby goes out with an airgun some evenings.

The cats around here catch mice and voles, but they don't go for the rats.

tanith

Silly me always thought rats were the scourge of towns and cities I'd never considered they were a problem in the countryside.. how stoopid do I feel...

alyth

Thanks for all your replies - living out here I'm used to mice, it's just the extent of them. Thankfully only one has been caught in a trap in the house, the poison has been put down in the garage which is locked and down a hole by the side of the garage, again where no cat or dog can get to it. Some of the poison has been eaten so far, and a neigbour is bringing along one of the tube things later on that I can put near where I think the nest it.

I'm just frustrated at a few things, the mouse was the final straw last night!

Mojisola

alyth wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies - living out here I'm used to mice, it's just the extent of them. Thankfully only one has been caught in a trap in the house, the poison has been put down in the garage which is locked and down a hole by the side of the garage, again where no cat or dog can get to it. Some of the poison has been eaten so far, and a neigbour is bringing along one of the tube things later on that I can put near where I think the nest it.

The danger of poison isn't just another animal eating it, there's also a risk of secondary poisoning - the chance of a cat or dog catching a rat that has already eaten some poison and eating it.

Rats and mice that have already been at the poison will be slower to react and easier to catch.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

alyth wrote: »

My next point of contact is the gammies on the estate - we don't have foxes up here as they are all trapped, I'm just a bit horrified that having got rid of the mice they decide to come back again - and I hate dealing with their bodies, I had to do 14 within an hour last month, some people hate spiders or snakes, mine are dead mice - in my defence I threw them over next door's fence and his cat ate them!

The point of entry to the house has been blocked - I know exactly where is it is between the factor/my dad and workmen working next door nothing can get into the cottage - or so I thought! it must just have been a rogue one, the weather is so mild that the cold isn't killing them off, I'm just utterly frustrated at having to deal with furry things!

Yup. That'll be why you're infested. Is there a miraculous absence of owls, raptors and corvids in the area as well?

I do hope the mice you fed to the cat hadn't been poisoned.


It's not nice, but it's more about you struggling with your degree, I think. Perhaps you need to spend a couple of days away from it, then a couple of days devoted to it?

alyth

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Yup. That'll be why you're infested. Is there a miraculous absence of owls, raptors and corvids in the area as well?

I do hope the mice you fed to the cat hadn't been poisoned.


It's not nice, but it's more about you struggling with your degree, I think. Perhaps you need to spend a couple of days away from it, then a couple of days devoted to it?

The mice that were fed to the cat were taken from inside the house, absolutely no chance that they had any poison in them - only chocolate spread from the traps.

I am struggling with the degree but there have been workmen renovating the cottage next door since the day I started this semester so it's extremely difficult to get any peace and quiet. And I'm now on the third day of not having any heating as the boiler packed up, so I think it's just a combination of many factors.....

pearl123

OP - since it's a major infestation call your pest control department of your local county council. They will send a pest control person out free of charge to see to it.
With such a major infestation the danger to your health is high so giving them a ring really is a good idea. They will also give advice on where they are coming in from and what holes to block up in walls etc.
Just google pest control and your local council and you should get a contact number.

lostinrates

Alyth, you have my sympathy, we are in the middle of dealing with a sudden and large rat infestation too.

I second everyones caution about secondary poisoning....and the problem with a cat control is ...you would still have to deal with the body.

The sad truth of the matter is, while he was perhaps a little harsh lotus eater was right in that you might well have to steal yourself to deal with the bodies. Personally i find things my cats bring in less unpleasant than traps.....cleaning traps makes me feel a little nauseous, even though i am in otherways pretty hardered to country life.


Your level of investation sounds pretty unreasonable living conditions to me, really it does. The estate need to be encouraged to take an active involvemnt, not least because at that sort of investation level the chances of damage to electrical wiring etc is probably not that small.

But definitely call the council.

How long has this been going on, this investation?

lostinrates

alyth wrote: »

The mice that were fed to the cat were taken from inside the house, absolutely no chance that they had any poison in them - only chocolate spread from the traps.

I am struggling with the degree but there have been workmen renovating the cottage next door since the day I started this semester so it's extremely difficult to get any peace and quiet. And I'm now on the third day of not having any heating as the boiler packed up, so I think it's just a combination of many factors.....

They can eat poison, then come in and eat chocolate spread and get trapped!

lostinrates

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Yup. That'll be why you're infested. Is there a miraculous absence of owls, raptors and corvids in the area as well?

I do hope the mice you fed to the cat hadn't been poisoned.


It's not nice, but it's more about you struggling with your degree, I think. Perhaps you need to spend a couple of days away from it, then a couple of days devoted to it?

We have an owl in the hay barn, too many birds of prey fr the area to support accordiong to the wildlike agency guy here for various preservation reasopns and a rookery just about quarter of a mile to the north....yet still have rats and mice.

A hunting estate will likely be putting lots of food done at times over the year.....and as that dries up the rats seek new places. It took me a few days to corelate the rat investation here with my neighbours building a new silage clamp....and probably starting to dig out their cow sheds....

With animal feeds bought in bulk for cattle stroage rats find easy pickings, and even with a healthy population of all normal predadtors, the balance gets wrong in poor management or certain times of year or event.