AIBU to not know what to do with the rat?!

[TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge]

And to name it Campbell, after UB40?! (May have changed the lyrics and sang 'There's a rat in the garden...'

Currently there is a large rat in a trap in my garden. A humane trap.

I noticed something had been trying to dig in to my quail house, near their feeding area, so had a trap delivered on Saturday and caught the thing last night. Who knew rats scream? Yep, noisy blighter kept me awake. Horrible sound.

Anyway, I've been out to see it this morning, slowly peering round the corner of the quail house, thinking it would be a hideous scream inducing sight. Actually, it looks completely harmless and has a fluffy white belly!

So what do I do with it? I didn't think of that bit. I know I need to get rid but how do I do that
A. Nicely for Campbell
B. Nicely for me and
C. How in hells name am I meant to grab the trap handle when it folds down flat when not being held and therefore,when lifting it, puts your fingers right in biting distance?!?!

Help!!?

Spade, air rifle or 9mm shotty.

i agree, unless you want to pass the issue onto someone else of course,
release elsewhere

Put poison in the trap with him so he just drifts off to sleep?

get pest control in to put poison down.

You have trapped a living wild animal.

Please act quickly.

The link says that only black rats shouldn't be released, but that releasing into new territory might not be as humane as you would like.

I would release the rat a few miles from my house in a forest somewhere (we live very rurally), and hope for the best, but not worry too much.

where did you buy the trap? can you ask them what now?

There is proper guidance (including legalities) on the Universities Federation for Wild Animals website

Put Campbell in the car, drive a few miles to a nice bit of countryside and let him/her go.

So finding a dead rat would be horrible, but listening to a live one scream - and your response is , its keeping you awake.

Bit late to say it now, but setting a live capture trap, with no plan of what to do next is inhumane and irresponsible.
I've got no problem with killing rats, but don't leave a wild animal screaming in distress, and then call that kind of trapping humane.
And don't drown them- I've heard they take awhile to die.If you're going to live trap a pest, have the common humanity to get there asap as soon as you know you've caught something, and release it, or kill it quickly with an air gun.
Giving a trapped frightened animal a cute name does not make what you did nice or acceptable.

I am entertained by the perception of quail as posh. I know the eggs are outrageously expensive in the supermarket but the little birds themselves are cheap as chips to keep and such prolific layers we end up with more eggs than we can give away. And they're very cute.

No advice on the rat issue though, our dog runs them off. (And then gets pecked on the nose by the quails for his trouble)

I didn't anticipate it screaming Dancing (infact thought it may enjoy the bowl of food I put in!) and there isn't much I could've done at 2am!!

Hopefully may have a solution now so Campbell will either be free somewhere else or have a peaceful drift off into the afterlife

You can't release him if he is a black rat, and it doesn't sound like he is, so legally you could release him. Morally it depends on where you let him go i suppose.

I'm fairly sure someone was prosecuted for drowning trapped grey squirrels. Please don't do that, it's cruel.

I used to house sit for someone with a rat problem. They used humane traps then froze the rats. I only discovered this when I raided the freezer for pizza at 2am.

Let the poor thing go! If there is one rat you can guarantee there will be many more in the direct vicinity. Make sure your quail enclosure is more secure.

If you had a clear plan as to what you were proposing to do with the animal you trapped, I don't see why you couldn't have carried out that plan at 2 am, when it was needed.

I'm sure you didn't mean to cause suffering, but you're a grown up human being, so I didn't mean to doesn't quite cut it.

The whole thing was irresponsible. If you've got a rat problem, which if you and neighbours keep poultry is more or less inevitable, for pity's sake, get over your squeamishness, buy an airgun. Its the only instant, pain and distress free way to kill vermin.

Put the whole trap including rat in a large container of water to drown it. Dispose of dead rat and humane trap. Buy a proper rat trap because this rat will have a large family. You need to exterminate them because if they like the look of you quail house, it won't be long till they start to notice your actual house...

So if you use a humane trap the rat still has to be killed? What's the point? The animal is stressed by being caught and suffers needlessly just to be killed anyway.
Not a fan of rats btw I'm really frightened of them.

Put Campbell in the car, drive a few miles to a nice bit of countryside and let him/her go

Yeah so it can die a slow death out of territory, grand plan.

Put the trap in the freezer and it'll go to sleep. Maybe find another way of treating vermin.

Could we have a photo as wild rats don't have white on them. If an escaped fancy rat (as mentioned above) you could rehome him. We were given an escaped fancy rat someone found in a field behind some houses.

Please don't use poison! It doesn't just send them off to sleep, it's very painful and a slow death

The ones that just snap their neck are best, then dispose of

Also, driving the rat somewhere and releasing it is just passing your rat problem on to someone else.

This thread is making my toes curl-I hate wild rats. I saw one in Leeds market car park once and it scared the crap out of me. Bloody horrible things.

Is there anything on your local gov website? There's a pest control section on ours and it lists what they deal with.

Donald I love your "it's the age old conundrum"....

Juvenile wild rats could still have white under bellies.

According to a pest control person who saw my mum's garden years ago ground rats are more or less squirrels and harmless.