Ray wrote:
Not much point in this tail really other than to vent my thoughts &
frustration. Perhaps a rant as I am tearing my hair out.
We all live close to rats. I don't like them but have to live with
them, a fact of life.
I live in an early 20C cottage in Berkshire. Have done for 27 years.
Semi-rural area with a stream flowing along the front. Quite idyllic
on a good day.
Built on a 12inch concrete raft with suspended floors on sleeper
walls. The old place has recently suffered a quite severe infestation
of rats. All feed, both animal & human, is kept secure.
From whence they came I know not but they certainly have made merry
below floors.
There are about 2 dozen airbricks around the perimeter just above
ground level, these are all sound. I can see no signs of burrowing
but I don't think rats burrow anyway.

This is where you are mistaken, they burrowed under an 18 inch deep by 2 ft
concrete footing into my greenhouse (and before anyone remarks about the
overkill WRT footings, they were already there, we just demolished a shed
and built a GH on top)
So I dug down to the bottom of the concrete and inserted (with a large
hammer) roofing slates stood on their end to make the total; burrowing depth
about 2ft, they got in the following night.


Wife & I keep 3 cats, 2 dogs and 2 goats. Goaties are cleaned daily
and all is composted. Goats are a couple of hundred yards away.

One day about 6 weeks ago we heard some scurrying in a kitchen
cupboard. Open the door and see ratty nonchalantly munching on a
block of my favourite olive oil hand soap, I'm almost sure he winked
at me! Close door. Open door again and scoop all contents onto floor
and then most into bin. Clean whole kitchen (I do mean whole) and put
down some poison bait in, around and about. 3 separate locations all
safe from domestic animals. I don't like using poison but when needs
must.......... A few minutes after several hours labour more scurrying
from a now
freshly cleaned empty, bar poison, kitchen cupboard.
There's ratty munching on a lump of poison. Close door.
Take unhappy wife to local hostelry for a bit of lunch and a chat with
friends.
On return find bait all gone. Replace all. More scurrying and more
bait gone. That afternoon 7 bait blocks were taken from a single


The council 'ratman' came and put down 3kgs of poison blocks down (around
75) in both our greenhouses this spring, they were all gone within 4 hours.

location. Following morning had the dubious pleasure of seeing a dead
rat lying on a shelf in a kitchen cupboard. Continued to place bait
until it was not taken. Still have some in place but it hasn't been
touched in a couple of weeks.
Have found a couple more carcasses since then, but this must have
been a fairly severe infestation. I presume there will be more
carcasses beneath floors.

It's almost a certainty

The buggers have destroyed wiring beneath the floors. A major problem
for me is that 22 years ago I laid 1.25inch thick pitch pine block
flooring over 2/3rds of the ground floor. Most of the underfloor is
now inaccessible and the whole house needs rewiring. I know its
overdue for rewiring but it would break my heart to rip this
wonderful floor up. Rats!
One little bonus to this sorry affair is that my wife saw a ringed
tail disappear under a unit in our utility area whilst all the above
was going on. She didn't know what it was but said it looked like a
raccoon. I've never seen a raccoon in the flesh but Rocky, as she is now
known, is still with with us and can be seen here~
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95403421@N00/

Rats!

rats live on no evil star
Blimey, that's an old one from my school days 50 odd years ago (read
it backwards).

Rant over and apologies for bothering you kind folk.

Rats ar harder to eradicate than many people think...for starters, they
become resistant to poisons quite easily, they are far too clever to walk
into a trap (you may get one, but after that you may as well throw the trap
in the bin) and they won't go into somewhere unless there's a way out other
than where they came in - that is to say, if they dig under your floor, the
first thing they will do is dig another tunnel out in another location, then
another, then another.
You need to find out where they are coming in, and I do mean *IN*, if you
look aroun the banks of the stream, or along a hedge or some other overgrown
area within say 10 yards of your property, you will see their 'entrance',
this needs to be blocked *pronto*, it's usually best to shove a hosepipe
down it and leave it running for 20 minutes or so, this will make the
interior like mud, and I have found that mud keeps them out, theyu cannot
dig in it and also any pups or adults down there stand a good chance of
being drowned, when the hose is running, take a long stick and keep ramming
it down the hole, this will help cave in the sides and also wash away their
smells, which obviously act as a beacon for other rats to take up
residence....you may find that there are half a dozen holes, they will all
be interlinked and they all need the same treatment.