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Original poster

We have a family of water rats in our garden and dh wants to shoot them

53 replies

lummox · 20/04/2006 20:29

am not a particularly sentimental type, but they are the same animals as Ratty from the Wind in teh Willows and I'm a bit upset about it. not sure if I'm being daft.

we live in rural france and the folk in the village are very anti water rats and think we should have poisoned them long ago. I think dh is being influenced by the fact that people will think he is being woosy.

OP posts:
fireflyfairy2 · 20/04/2006 20:31

What type of gun is he using? Wink

Carmenere · 20/04/2006 20:31

They are RATS FFS The wind in the Willows is a story. I'm sorry but you are being a bit daft imo.

beansprout · 20/04/2006 20:32

I love the way men go for the most testosterone fuelled Arnie type option!!

Original poster
lummox · 20/04/2006 20:34

ff2 - that would be funny except apparently he is going to use our neighbour's rifle! testerone definitely - this has all started since he spoke to the guy next door.

OP posts:
Hallgerda · 20/04/2006 20:37

Water voles (aka water rats) (Arvicola terrestris) are protected in the UK but not on the Continent. Here they keep close to waterways, are fairly rare and aren't a problem, but they are a serious agricultural pest in the rest of Europe. I don't know whether that helps. I think I'd be on your side. The locals can always poison any animals that come on to their land, surely?

Hallgerda · 20/04/2006 20:39

lummox, how good a shot is your DH? Might this end in more embarrassment than bloodshed?

morningpaper · 20/04/2006 20:43

hehehe such a funny idea

perhaps he should use some kind of napoleonic cannon?

Original poster
lummox · 20/04/2006 20:44

Hallgerda - I thought of that - I would have thought it was pretty difficult to shoot something that small. He says he is a good shot, but as far as I know he hasn't shot anything in the 12 years I have known him.

Thanks for the info. I agree that others can deal with them if they go onto their land. I think dh doesn't want to be the daft Englishman who can't shoot things.

OP posts:
Original poster
lummox · 20/04/2006 20:51

pmsl at napoleonic cannon. I think dh imagines himself popping out and shooting them, then giving a gallic shrug and coming in for a pastis.

as opposed to spending ages out in the garden, damaging some shrubs and me not talking to him.

OP posts:
laughorcry · 20/04/2006 21:02

can't believe you would let him do it

morningpaper · 20/04/2006 21:10

lol lummox!

expatinscotland · 20/04/2006 21:14

why? move 'em off somewhere else.

DumbledoresGirl · 20/04/2006 21:15

Gosh I thought Lavenderr had returned. Wink

Nightynight · 20/04/2006 21:17

ignore the village. We had small animals (not rats) in our barn, our neighbour poisoned them while we were away. He also killed around 6 cats, and was M Unpopular when people realised what had happened to their cats.

Everyone's v free with their advice to poison/shoot when it's not their problem, ime.

why dont you set up a target and teach the children how to shoot with an airgun, and tell the neighbours that you got all the water rats?Grin

Gingerbear · 20/04/2006 21:28

Not rats, they are water voles. Please tell him to leave them be.
they will be too quick and small for your DH to shoot anyway.
They are protected in UK.

Why kill them? They aren't harming anything are they? Sad

Hallgerda · 20/04/2006 21:31

Gingerbear, see my earlier post. It's not quite that straightforward - but I don't see why lummox's DH has to do the deed!

Gingerbear · 20/04/2006 21:32

Oh, a pest? How come? I wonder why they are so rare in UK?

chocolatequeen · 20/04/2006 21:35

If you're in France, do the neighbours not have the right to shoot on your land anyway? IE, if you don't do it, won't they come and do it for you?

If Hallgerda is right, and they are a threat to local farmers' crops, then I think you've got to do something about it. If you live in the countryside, then you must also protect it by helping to protect the farmers crops?

Know how you feel though - I'd be just the same. Perhaps you could form a Water Rat Resistance Movement.....

snafu · 20/04/2006 21:40

Am I the only one getting visions of Roy Hudd and Paul Daniels crouched at the bottom of lummox's garden? Don't shoot, they're only light entertainers...

Hallgerda · 20/04/2006 21:40

Habitat change and destruction along with predation by introduced American mink are responsible for the decline in British water vole populations. As to why their habits are different on the Continent, I don't know - sorry! I'm not sure whether anyone else does.

Nightynight · 20/04/2006 21:43

no neighbours have the right to shoot in my garden, and * the crops.

chocolatequeen · 20/04/2006 21:49

Not sure what you'll be eating then Nightynight when plagues/infestations mean there aren't enough crops....

handlemecarefully · 20/04/2006 21:59

You wouldn't be sentimental about rats if they had chewed their way through an air vent into your house and set up home in your eaves, so that you could hear them scratching and chewing at 03.00 in the morning, ever paranoid that they might breach the cavity walls and end up crawling around your kitchen and infecting your children with weils disease.

Lol, I don't like rats much - can you tell?

SofiaAmes · 21/04/2006 06:17

Our house was invaded by a family (60 of them) rats that came up through the sewer (presumably water rats). It was awful. They chewed through the walls and floors and climbed up the pipes in the walls to the 2nd floor. We finally manged to trap a bunch and dh killed them with his nail gun (only type of gun he had).

Rats are awful animals full of disease. Never mind the danger of having them chew through your electrical wires.
Let dh shoot them now!!!

Nightynight · 21/04/2006 06:31

Im not in the least sentimental about rats or voles. (though I doubt they are a big cause of world starvation.) I am, however, considerably sentimental about neighbours regarding my garden as their own.