I read this thread before my first cup of coffee and I thought you were using peanut butter to attract cats.
No we were not. We've been around for less than a million years. Rats precede us. Your nice little quote talks about how they spread, but not when, and I can assure you that they got here first. Where I would quickly and humanely kill them, and not be all internet-hard-man about how I would mercilessly dispatch them as vermin because any animal that gets into the way of my lifestyle is evil and deserves to die.
This thread escalated quickly ! I like the bucket idea, may well gie that a try but I'll use bird fod rather than pea nut butter, don't want to waste good food
I'm a bit funny about killing animals - they are just going about their lives as we are, and don't mean any harm intentionally. I realise though that sometimes it is a necessary evil at times. It's quite amusing - I know a couple of pest controllers, and they are both massive animal lovers and both own small menageries of pets. Seems a weird profession to get in to. The only useful thing I have to add to this thread is that I seem to recall them both recommending Snickers as a lure.
I briefly worked in pest control and there are the obvious ways to go about it but usually there will be a factor in the garden that the rats will take to, food or shelter. Do you know where they are living? Sheds and decking are usual suspects. Our neighbour put a load of decking up last year, within 6 months we had rats in our shed running from the decking backed upto it. Humane traps will work but I am not so sure I would want to be messing about with a live rat, they aren't particularly friendly things when cornered and some of them can be the size of a house brick If you put poison down make sure its out the way of the dog and also clean up the rats when you find them as you wouldn't want the dog or anything else eating a poisoned rat. Oh and if you put poison down that isn't grain, like the wax stuff, make sure it is tethered to something with wire so they cant take it somewhere else and leave it for pets to get to in another garden etc.
Pull the other one Nexxo. Instead of internet hard man you are being internet holier than thou man whilst offering the same solution as Neil just phrased differently. It's false bravado in your own style.
True but most of us don't poop and pee all over the floor, i bet the rats would be pretty upset if i used their nest as a toilet. Probably like most people i started out trying to get rid of mice humanly but after a while i just wanted them gone, it ain't nice having them leave presents all over the place, chewing holes in things, and keeping you awake at night. Vermin are vermin because of the damage caused and the spreading of diseases, I'm a very much a live and let live kinda guy but when something has the ability to drastically effect how you live your life there is a need to address the problem.
Like MrB, I used to be in pest control - one of those jobs that was really interesting at the time from a sales perspective. My techs used to do all manner of baiting, trapping, filling holes and glue-boarding (*shudder). Once the gestation of said rat family is broken over a six to eight week period, you will be fine until, like squirrels, more move in to the neighbourhood. They are sexually mature to breed incestuously within around 17-20 weeks which is why you need to break the cycle. Don't expect results straight away on traps or baits as the rats are naturally wary of new things unlike mice who are inquisitive. Rats usually use a latrine system - they pee and poo in specific places away from the nest. Ian
I'm all up for shooting them or maybe a flame thrower.. Explain to you Misses the only humane way to remove them is a man in a funny suit armed with a flute.. I have heard he's pretty good.
This is a fu*king horrible thread, find there food source and take it away, don't be horrible c*nts about it. Some of the comments on here are sickening. I thought better of you bit-techers
Just call in a pest control company to sort it for you. Its not that expensive and you will get results.
Wouldn't finding their food source be a bit tricky? I'm not sure people would appreciate the need for you to go crawling through their houses searching for a food source, wouldn't they get a bit annoyed when you dig through all the stuff they have in the loft, or start tearing up floorboards, even if your direct neighbor didn't mind I'm fairly certain one of the houses in the 50-100 yards radius of where the rats nest is would protest.
The problem is with his house and next door, its not hard for them to both put there heads together and isolate whats attracting them, its also the cheapest way of dealing with it.
Do you care whether the meat you eat was reared and slaughtered humanely? It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it.
As IamJudd says, rats are very particular about where they poop and pee. Sure, but like our eating meat, there are ways to address the problem. There are ways to hunt and kill. It starts with a modicum of respect for your prey.
If just those two houses fell inside the rats territory then something like you suggest maybe possible, even if it involved a few days work checking every nook and cranny, sealing away all sources of food even the things you wouldn't consider edible, find and clean up the place they defecate as they eat that, and don't forget all that food in the garden like worms and bugs. But it's probably unlikely that you could create a sterile enough environment over a 50-100 foot radius, that being a typical rats territory, to make the rats consider moving somewhere with more food.
It's nothing to do with being a hardman, or a gun-totting loony hell bent on killing anything and everything I deem not worthy of life; it's about pest control of vermin species that are disease ridden and not something that you want running around your garden or kitchen if you can prevent it. Quick and painless is the best way- headshots or vital organs; I do respect my targets and don't want to just wound them, any good shooter knows how to behave and treat their quarry.