to not immediatley want to kill the creature living in our car?

[RubyRoseRed]

The boot of our car is quite full at the moment. DH and I were looking through some bags when we found a box of ferrero rocher that we had been given as a present about a month ago. The previously closed box was opened and it appears a cheeky little critter has delicately um wrapped several chocs and has a good nibble at them. DH freaked out as he was absolutely sure it must be a rat!

I was convinced, from the delicate nibbling and the fact that it didn't devour all the Ambassador's favourites, that it must been a wee mousey.

I found a little humane trap (mouse size). DH has purchased two medieval rat traps.

AIBU to want to try the humane trap first?

Update: DH has just pooped back in with the news that a box of chocs we had wrapped up for a friends birthday and left in the car due to not being able to get out because of snow has also been broken into......perhaps it isn't such a delicate little mouse after all? (At least it didn't get into the champers in the same bag...that would have been a tragedy!

Wild rats are not suitable as pets! They tend to carry diseases for a start. Fancy rats are domesticated -- think of dog vs. wolf and you understand fancy rat vs. wild rat. Same species, but very different brain wiring from very many generations of breeding.

I wasn't entirely serious about keeping it as a pet.

But wild rats and fancy rats aren't really different species. I think ther eis only one species of rat - albeit one line had been domestically bred and one has let natural selection run its course.

Forget the humane stuff. The problem always returns.

Remove all the food from the car, then leave one of the Homebase/B&Q bait boxes in its place. Quick and clean.

We had mice a few years ago at Christmas.

This is absolutely true; they were moving boxes of chocolates (which i had conveniently left at arms-length on the floor beside the couch)around and hiding chocolates behind the couch and all over the living-room.

Not to mention sitting at the top of the stairs eating choc and leaving the wrappers!!

They also chewed through the hose on my brand new washing machine. Due to the time of year, it took about 3 weeks to get the right spare part. When the engineer removed the hose, it was obvious what had happened.

He said I wasn't covered for mice damage but by then, he'd already fitted the new hose!

It took ages to get rid of them all and I went through loads of bleach etc cleaning out kitchen drawers. I threw out lots of place mats etc cos I just freaked out.

I've since had mice a couple of times and it doesn't bother me as much. There was 1 sitting on top of my washing basket just as I was about to go to bed a few months ago!

I'm afraid that i would just set bait for them as in my experience, you let them go and they come back in. Obviously enjoy the ambience too much!

My dh chased one out with a broom and 2 days later, it was back!
Environmental health told me there is very rarely just one, they usually have their families with them!

It's not a nice thought to "eliminate" the wee souls, but they are very destructive.

Wild rats carry a couple of diseases that are dangerous to humans, as can wild mice, so do be careful with your hygene and with cleaning out your car after you've caught the critters.

Yuleno, there are two species of wild rats, the black and the brown. Fancy rats (that make lovely pets ) are bred from brown rats. I used to have a colony of pet rats, I still miss them.

Any rodent poop visible ?

There generally is if it's a rodent.

Well DH won! We checked the car last night before heading out to dinner and there was the sad site of a rat in one of DH's hideous medieval contraptions.

I feel awful. A bit relieved I guess but....

Just to make it worse DH and my MIL, who was picking us up as our car is stuck in snow, now think it must have been a pet rat as is was a kind of golden colour.....

Poor blighter. I hope it managed to enjoy its last white chocolate capacious truffle.

We use the humane traps then drop the captives off down the road on the school run!

Ha! Sorry Just reread my post and I have written "chocolate CAPACIOUS truffle" when I obviously intended to write "chocolate CAPPUCCINO truffle!"

lol

Don't feel too bad. A well-socialised fancy rat would have come out to say hello to you, not kept hidden away. You didn't have a lot of choices. Plus a fancy rat that's been living out long may well have picked up vermin+diseases (or be pregnant now by its wild relatives). So even if you caught it alive it'd be cruel to release it again into the wild and it might well have been impossible to rehome if was unfriendly/diseased.

At least the medieval contraption was probably quick? Perhaps better than it being taken by a dog or fox which easily could have been its fate, instead.

I liked capacious!

Had visions of some rodent-sized Hanzel + Grettel utopia, where ratty could gorge himself prior to his demise.

He was probably thinking "actually I'd prefer a mochachino or perha" KERRSNAPP.

There's no justice. Really none.

Where is this car full of chocolate and champagne? And can I have the keys?