Mentioned in an earlier thread that I'd had some livestock on the bench in the workshop and a lot f stuff had been knocked over.
A Ginger Nut had been stolen after I'd left it there after a cuppa. It had been nibbled all the way round and was wet...pee, presumably. There were clumps of damp, undigested grass amongst the spilled bits and pieces....I didn't think this was a mouse. I cleaned and disinfected everything and laid my cunning plans.
I knew we had some mouse traps in the house so I dug them out but they were too small for a rat and I didn't like to think of anything suffering for hours with a broken back or neck.
The next step was to invent a trap that might just hasten a rat's demise. I designed and built my own 'Rattocutor ' with a jam jar, some cable, insulting tape and a 13 amp plug. A H&S nightmare...but I'm the only one with a key to get in there. Laced the trap with fresh broken Ginger Nut and wedged it between two weights on the bench.
Blow me, the following morning I had a dead mouse who'd poked his head in.........followed by another three over the next day or so. Collateral damage, I'm afraid.
Opening up today I found Ratty...a big fat feller, asleep with his head in the jar. Result ! I'm going to leave the trap to see if he's got mates.
The beggars won't outwit me ! Funeral at 1000hrs tomorrow. No flowers by request.
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>> jam jar, some cable, insulting tape and a 13 amp plug
I know people like to keep sources to themselves but where do you get insulting tape Ted?
I often feel I need it.
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I gets rats as big as otters up 'ere on the moor, like. I hears 'em in the loft and I'm sure they all wear DM's.
But, a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do, and that. I got rat traps baited with peanut butter, which is of course organic. Now these 'king traps are sooooooo power-full that they would break ya finger if yoos not care-ful but;
What really gets 'em is:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEOSOREXA-GOLD-RAT-MOUSE-RODENT-BAIT-POISON-1kg-ready-to-use-/251417240066?hash=item3a89a2a202:g:co0AAOxydB1SgkAY
That REALLY pi$$es them orf. Only problem is I keep finding dead rats - hope-fully b4 my two dogs do!!
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I used to sell that stuff from the shop where I worked. Bought by farmers & others who reckoned it did the job.
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>> I used to sell that stuff from the shop where I worked. Bought by farmers
>> & others who reckoned it did the job.
>>
I've tried that - the small grain stuff is useless in my experience.
There's a different kind that has big red blocks about the size of cotton reels. The rats love it, and drag the blocks home to their nests for the family to gorge on.
Also, I notice, they don't crawl away to die in a corner but come out looking for fresh air.
I found three on the path the other day next to the bird aviary and corn store. Two were dead, the other sitting looking dazed. I finished him off with a spade.
The test of completeness is to put down another block and see if it disappears.
So it's all clear at present. But some more will move in shortly.
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That REALLY pi$$es them orf. Only problem is I keep finding dead rats - hope-fully b4 my two dogs do!!
It's when you don't find the dead rat that your problems will start. They often find inaccessible places like under the floorboards to die and boy will you smell it!
What's attracting the rats? - They are normally after food of some sort
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>> What's attracting the rats? - They are normally after food of some sort
Teds an old git, old tea cups with sugary spoons in, forgotten biscuits, dribble.
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Pretty much up there in bus pass territory yourself aren't you?
;-)
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>> Pretty much up there in bus pass territory yourself aren't you?
>>
>> ;-)
Actually no, I can't get a buss pass yet, but on the scale of buspassness ted has me beat hands down.
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>> Actually no, I can't get a buss pass yet, but on the scale of buspassness
>> ted has me beat hands down.
Aren't you banned for life for assaulting a bus with a 'goona anyway????
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>> www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEOSOREXA-GOLD-RAT-MOUSE-RODENT-BAIT-POISON-1kg-ready-to-use-/251417240066?hash=item3a89a2a202:g:co0AAOxydB1SgkAY
>>
>> That REALLY pi$$es them orf. Only problem is I keep finding dead rats - hope-fully
>> b4 my two dogs do!!
You would be mad to use that in a household situation with dogs around.
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>> You would be mad to use that in a household situation with dogs around.
>>
Cats are more discriminating. They catch rats and sometimes bring them in, but never eat them. They must know they eat muck.
Squirrels on the other hand they love.
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Never had to use the Sorexa Gold myself, but customers told me they found where the rat run was then put it in a metre + length of pipe work inaccessible to dogs & cats.
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>>It's when you don't find the dead rat that your problems will start. They often find inaccessible places like under the floorboards to die and boy will you smell it!
>>What's attracting the rats? - They are normally after food of some sort
Had a deaden in the loft a phew weeks ago, did it stink!! I half knew what it was but it was a case of getting a roun tuit. Big sod he was too, obviously not following a low glycemic regime.
I used to put bird feeders out but I've knocked that idea on the bonce now. Tis a farming area of course. I know where they are getting in but it's awkward to get to for a uman. I should sort it out really, but you know what it's like :)
>>You would be mad to use that in a household situation with dogs around.
I only use it up in the loft and the dogs haven't been able to wreck that part of the cottage, yet.
Last edited by: Dog on Sat 12 Dec 15 at 11:22
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Yeah, Z is quite correct.........as a bus pass carrying old git I claim immunity from logical thought processes. My afternoon snack was left in a spot where I could see it....for consumption next time. Ratto beat me to it, sadly. It was a bit soggy and chewed but it didn't taste too bad and it was easier for me old gums to cope with.
Some time ago I removed a wide exterior door and made an infill panel out of T & G incorporating a redundant double glazed unit from elsewhere. Never chuck owt out, us oldies. Any road up, I made the panel an inch or so short so it wouldn't quite reach the ground and get soaked every time it rained. I think chummy gets in there so I've blocked it off with some bricks.
My trap was simple...a jamjar with two stripped cables across the open end about an inch apart. The area either side was blocked with the tape leaving just the portals of oblivion for the beasts to squeeze through. The cadavers just lie where they die....no rotten smell issues....apart from the pensioner who sets the thing up !
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>>You would be mad to use that in a household situation with dogs around.
Provided they don't get at the poison itself (and as discussed rats will carry blocks around, which is when they become available to your pets) then eating a poisoned rat won't actually do your dog (or cat) harm.
My cat must eat poisoned rats and mice. Not my poison, but I can't control it; Thames Water fill their sewers with poison.
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>> >> eating a poisoned rat
>> won't actually do your dog (or cat) harm.
>>
>
That's what I've often wondered. Are you sure?
Does that apply also to hegehogs eating slugs that have been poisoned? The anti-slug bait lobby always claim you are poisoning hegehogs too. Or is the argument that hegehogs eat the bait?
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The amount of poison required to kill an 8 oz rat shouldn't do too much damage to a 10lb cat. Not to be encouraged though. It is possible for secondary poisoning to kill a cat or dog. The reality though is that every farm has cats and rat poison. Provided they don't get at the poison itself they should be fine. Don't try this with your £10,000 pedigree show cat.
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>> Does that apply also to hegehogs eating slugs that have been poisoned? The anti-slug bait
>> lobby always claim you are poisoning hegehogs too. Or is the argument that hegehogs eat
>> the bait?
When I contacted a hedgehog rescue concern about an injured hedgehog, I was told slug pellets did no harm to hedgehogs as the amount required to kill a slug or snail was too small to harm a hedgehog if they ate a slug or snail that had taken slug pellets.
I assumed the same applied to cats and mice/rats, although the moggie that deigns to share our house seems to eat just the heads.
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Ratted - Armel Coussine
