In article ,
Vortex wrote:

Alpha Rat (now called "Shredder Bin Laden") is definitely a boy
and has at least one wife. Scorched earth tactics are called
for before we have a plague. I have various questions:

TRAPS Can anybody recommend a bait that is absolutely irrestible
to rats?

I use a Big Nipper with a piece of fatty fried bacon
securely tied to it. That catches youngsters, but the
big old ones got to be old ones by being more cautious
and crafty. They are very leery of anything strange.

My pal uses a cage, because he reckons that once one
youngster is seen in the cage (apparently ok) then all
the others will follow. But then you have to kill them.

ASASSINATION Maybe an excuse to get an Air Rifle or pistol. I
really don't have the patience to stalk the Prey though...but
the Dirty Harry fantasy "Probably the most powerful airgun in
the world" does have some appeal.

An air rifle needs practice but it is interesting,
and practicing gets the rats used to the sound.

Rat's eyes seem to be very sensitive to the slightest
movement near their level, but they don't appear to
have much awareness of things above them. So I bait
a particular area below an upstairs window and zero
the air rifle for that distance. Choose a day when
the wind is in your face.

If you shoot a youngster, stay still and leave it there,
because there is a good chance that a parent will come
to investigate, quite quickly.

--
Tony Williams.