Omg what to do - massive RAT!

[Amimissingsomethinghere]

Sorry didn't know where to post. I kept hearing squealing noises all evening (thought it was a trapped kitten - live in central London ground floor flat). Look outside, RIGHT outside my back door I look down to the drain and there's a mothetfucking huge ass rat there obviously stuck.
I've tried calling pest control no luck. Husband is away and I'm alone with a baby and freaked out.
Please help!

Well I won't sleep tonight...

You're a braver woman than me OP. I would've checked into a hotel.

I'm so terrified of them and with good reason. My brother cornered a rat in our garden when he was a toddler (he thought it was a kitten), and it launched itself at him. My
Dad was like Crocodile Dundee that day, he tore the rat off my screaming brother and beat it to death with a Hurley (Irish sports equipment).

The noise was just horrendous, luckily my brother can't remember it.

Encyclo that's awful!!!! Thank goodness your brother can't remember it

Animating it was horrifying. My Dad is a total badass but that has stayed with him and he's pretty scared of wild rats ever since.

He was a farmers son, so rats didn't phase him much up to that point, he was happy to just shush them away if he saw them around the barn.

It's not easy to coexist with rats. They bring so much disease and danger with them.

Whoops Aimissing

fucking ridiculous the amount of fears people have of our limited and steadily declining wildlife. Its just a bloody rat. Outdoors in its natural environment. Not in your house, not even in your garden.
Pisses me off. I have limited sympathy when peoples fears and phobias are used as an excuse to kill stuff or get people out to kill it.

You're a braver woman than me OP. I would've checked into a hotel.

Rats are all over the country, how do you cope when you go outside? Or is it out of sight out of mind?

fucking ridiculous the amount of fears people have of our limited and steadily declining wildlife. Its just a bloody rat.

Yep. It is ridiculous. Hate my fear of mice and rats. Cheers.

Oh and are rats in decline?

Rats are all over the country, how do you cope when you go outside? Or is it out of sight out of mind?*

Well I'd be hoping the hotel wouldn't have a rat screaming outside my door

I know rats are outside, I live in the Irish countryside, surrounded by farms. This time of year they're looking to come in out of the cold. I see plenty of them.

My great aunt was some sort of rat catching champion, she lived on my grandads farm and many's the time I saw her crossing the haggart with a cage in each hand containing two or three squealing rats. She'd often stop to chat with one of the workers while the rats kicked up bloody murder in the cages, totally oblivious to the horror on their faces. I'm still traumatised remembering it 35 years later

I’m never going to sleep again thanks to this thread. Fucking disgusting creatures. Reading about their grim deaths is even worse than healthy live ones!

I’d rescue my exMIL if she were trapped in a grid.

What if she were stuck to glue paper screaming and chewing her own leg off?

And at all the rat hate: yes, you wouldn't want to corner them but fair enough really. They're wild animals. I really really like them - they are clever, I think they look cute though I wouldn't want to get too close to a wild one, and fancy rats make brilliant pets - they're very loving indeed, as well as being funny and clever and entertaining.

So I’m zone 1 london too.
I saw a rat in our garden. Our council took it very seriously. They sent a pest person immediately. I thought they’d tell me to get over it but he said that despite everyone thinking rats are common they generally live in particular places/ sewers etc and they shouldn’t be in our garden. They did lots of searching and laid traps etc.
It’s worth calling your council

I would have found a way to kill the disgusting creature. It's going to climb through poo and find it's way into your house

Well done OP. I'd have been terrified too. Hope pest control give you the all clear tomorrow xx

Rats are an ongoing problem in NYC too. Lots of them live in the tube tunnels, drawn by the trash people throw on the tracks and in the stations. It's rare but I have seen a few above ground.

@Encyclo what exactly is a haggert? I have heard the one used a lot in Ireland but am not sure what it is. Is it the same as a boreen?

word not one

Raindrops on my Grandads farm it was what we called the garden directly behind the farmhouse.

Cheers! That makes sense. And a boreen is a path?

I didn'tt know about the sticky stuff that traps them. us humans are vile sometimes! Poor things.

Thanks @femfemlicious I will sleep well tonight!

My DH looked at the pipes and it came up through the sewer into the rain water drain. It's not connected to the waste pipe so won't be linked to the house... I think?? I HOPE! oh god
I'm extremely house proud and there's not a scrap of crumbs or dirt on my floor etc so this really has freaked me out. I think it was just unlucky as it was in its natural environment (drain 🙄) but got stuck and then brought its attention to me by squealing. Ughhhh shudder

@Biggie123 that's good to know , thanks. I will call them too. The thing is the rat was actually trapped in the drain so it was I guess not technically out in the open, which makes me feel a bit better...

I mean drains and pipes are crawling with them right??