On 04/12/2014 19:31, Sam Plusnet wrote:
In article , lid
says...

On 2014-12-04, AnthonyL wrote:
Got rats in the garden enthusiastically getting at any food I'm
putting out for the birds.

Some do's and don'ts to get rid of them please.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheese-Ultra.../dp/B004MHR2GM

Which has

44 5 star reviews, but also
38 1 & 2 star reviews

Mind you, just about every other rat or mouse trap seems to get that
sort of response.



That sort of split opinion is pretty much par for the course for pretty
much any traps. I can only assume that about half of people simply
don't set them properly.
They have to be in the right place (ie in a run and not somewhere that
will trap other species), they have to be set for long enough for the
rats to get used to them in the environment (though checked often), they
have to carry no residual scent of either people or dead rats and,
importantly, they have to be the most available source of 'food' in the
locality, to tempt ratty into having a nibble. A little lubrication on
the action (cooking oil or butter are good, as mineral oil doesn't smell
inviting to a rat) may help a quick dispatch.
That said, I agree with Adam and you'll never get rid of every rat in
the world with traps, guns or poison. You just have to make sure they
have no good reason (food, water or shelter) to be near you.

GMM GlMiMa-AT-yahoo.co.uk wrote:

That said, I agree with Adam and you'll never get rid of every rat in the
world with traps, guns or poison. You just have to make sure they have
no good reason (food, water or shelter) to be near you.

+1. There's something obscene about poisoning animals if you haven't
stopped encouraging them in the first place.

Tim

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
GMM GlMiMa-AT-yahoo.co.uk wrote:

That said, I agree with Adam and you'll never get rid of every rat in the
world with traps, guns or poison. You just have to make sure they have
no good reason (food, water or shelter) to be near you.

+1. There's something obscene about poisoning animals if you haven't
stopped encouraging them in the first place.

Tim

Rats didn't get to be who they are today, by only going to places where
they already know they'll get food.

Individuals who are creatures of habit will soon lose out to individuals
who are more opportunistic. And the latter are the ones who will survive.

Even if you don't provide them with a ready source of food they're
still likely to visit your garden on the off-chance. There's not just
one or two rats, there's loads of them out there, and they're all
mainly opportunists.

This is probably different to house mice who have far less opportunity
to roam far and wide, where the removal of food sources - will probably
be far more effective.


michael adams

....

In article ,
GMM GlMiMa-AT-yahoo.co.uk wrote:

They have to be in the right place (ie in a run and not somewhere that
will trap other species), they have to be set for long enough for the
rats to get used to them in the environment (though checked often), they
have to carry no residual scent of either people or dead rats and,
importantly, they have to be the most available source of 'food' in the
locality, to tempt ratty into having a nibble. A little lubrication on
the action (cooking oil or butter are good, as mineral oil doesn't smell
inviting to a rat) may help a quick dispatch.
That said, I agree with Adam and you'll never get rid of every rat in
the world with traps, guns or poison. You just have to make sure they
have no good reason (food, water or shelter) to be near you.

An excellent summary of good advice. I followed similar advice a few
years ago, using two traps. I caught (killed) a few rats, then they
disappeared. (Not that we were over-run, but just seeing one suddenly
appear on your lawn is a nasty shock!)

People also told me that rats are intelligent enough to know that if
they see their family being killed, they'll go elsewhere. As for all
animals, minimal risk is the name of the survival game.

J.

On 04/12/2014 20:44, Huge wrote:
On 2014-12-04, Sam Plusnet wrote:
In article , lid
says...

On 2014-12-04, AnthonyL wrote:
Got rats in the garden enthusiastically getting at any food I'm
putting out for the birds.

Some do's and don'ts to get rid of them please.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheese-Ultra.../dp/B004MHR2GM

Which has

44 5 star reviews, but also
38 1 & 2 star reviews

Mind you, just about every other rat or mouse trap seems to get that
sort of response.

I used to use these;

http://www.powertoolsdirect.com/medi...ap-range_1.jpg

Chained down, after one vanished completely, but the second time I caught a
bird in one (even though there was a cover over it), I stopped using them
(although the smaller but similar mouse traps work very well), and these
days I use 1oz of #9 shot travelling at 1000 fps. (Actually, I use the .410
and I can't remember how much shot there is in a .410 cartridge, so that's
the numbers for the 12ga. which is a bit big for rats.)


That depends upon how much rat you want to be left after hitting them :-)

--
Colin Bignell