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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:
Hallgerda · 21/04/2006 07:41

handlemecarefully and SofiaAmes, water voles (Arvicola terrestris), which are the animals in lummox's garden, don't come into houses and chew electric wires. The ones that live down sewers, spread disease etc. are brown rats (Rattus norvegicus).

Hallgerda · 21/04/2006 07:42

And, handlemecarefully, I don't like brown rats much either - one setting up residence and trying to start a family in my compost bin was enough for me!

joelalie · 21/04/2006 08:29

Hids his gun!!! Waters rats are no threat to electrical wires, human health or world nutrition!!! If the farmers want to protect their crops let them do it - let's face it French farmers do tend to get quite a lot of protection as it is .... Wink

Hallgerda · 21/04/2006 08:32

joelalie, it's the neighbour's rifle that lummox's DH is planning to use, so hiding it may not be an option.

2ManyPimms · 21/04/2006 08:44

I doubt they are water voles but it would be worth checking it out. If they are, don't kill them, please!!! They look quite similar to rats.

Had a rat in my house recently and only got rid of the little bugger with an ultrasonic/2-way rodent annoyer. (Just plug in!) Worth picking one up if you don't want them to move in.

Tortington · 21/04/2006 08:49

kill em

Original poster
lummox · 21/04/2006 09:28

can't beleive I went to bed and missed the rest of this.

I don't think anyone has the right to come onto our land to shoot things, but it wouldn't surprise me if the guy next door put some poison down without telling us.

I don't know whether they are water voles or not - they are quite large (about big guinea pig size), with a very long tail. I don't think there's much chance of them getting into the house...

lol at snafu btw. maybe it was a good thing I did go to bed. Visions of Roy Hudd and Paul Daniels in my garden on top of the cheese and port we had....

dh hasn't mentioned it yet this morning, so it may be that he is thinking better of it. I think it's the fear of missing that't the main problem, though. Also it occurred to him last night that other people might come out to watch him doing it. This is a very queit village and we got an audience of three old men when we got a new stove installed, so I think an inexperienced Englishman with a rifle would probably generate a lot of interest.

OP posts:
Hallgerda · 21/04/2006 09:45

\link{http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/water_vole.shtml\Here} is the Mammal Society's fact sheet on water voles, which covers how to distinguish between water voles and brown rats. If you look up 'brown rat' and 'water vole' on Google Images you will get some helpful pictures. Warning - some of the water vole pictures are really cute!

Original poster
lummox · 21/04/2006 09:52

thanks for that Hallgerda. They definitely go into the water with an audible plop, but I will need to look more carefully to see what their ears and tails look like.

I'm really, really trying not to be affected by the cuteness.

OP posts:
Nightynight · 21/04/2006 13:32

lummox, get a cat that enjoys ratting. the thought of shooting water voles in front of an interested audience of "experts" is hilarious....

ruty · 21/04/2006 13:42

water voles as has been said are not rats. they are very rare in the UK. Wonder why? Can't you just leave them be?

Hallgerda · 21/04/2006 14:58

ruty, some of the earlier posts on this thread may answer your questions. I'm all for leaving them be, but have to acknowledge the shooting lobby has a point as they are an agricultural pest in France.

Blu · 21/04/2006 15:10

Ordinary rats are very, very at home in water and like to live in pond banks etc, and swim a lot. If they are ordinary rats I would definitely shoot / poison / otherwise exterminate them - the last thing you wnat is weills disease in your garden.

The rats in the pond were a major attraction in our local park - but they did then gnaw through my friends pvc french doors into his house which bordered the park!!!

Blu · 21/04/2006 15:10

Escaped mink ate a lot of voles, I think.

handlemecarefully · 21/04/2006 18:00

Ruty - you are rather assuming that they are voles; that hasn't been established yet!

Original poster
lummox · 21/04/2006 19:51

I coudn't get a close enough look at their tails or ears to see whether they are rats or voles.

With the aid of a French dictionary it seems that the guy next door (the one who is egging dh on to borrow his rifle) is certain that they are voles. He came round with the rifle which I made dh lock in an outhouse.

Bizarrely you don't need any sort of permit to use it. I still think dh is going to bottle it, but things seem to have got a bit out of control now that there is a gun in our outhouse. It's making me feel a bit uncomfortable even though I know that loads of people in the village have them. It always gives me a start when there is any sort of local fair or market that there are various air rifles on sale without any sort of licence being necessary.

OP posts:
SofiaAmes · 21/04/2006 22:13

ooh sorry, missed the bit about rural france. I would definitely go with what the local people want to do. Otherwise they will make your life miserable and blame all future occurances of everything on your failure to exterminate the water rats. (My italian aunt has a country house in italy and was blamed for years by the locals for all their ills because of her insistance on feeding the local wild cats.)

Also, if your dh is not experienced at using a rifle, I would highly recommend that he leave the handling of the firearms to the 3 old men...rifles are tricky things to shoot if you don't know what you are doing. Back thrust and all that...

Tortington · 22/04/2006 02:01

have you shot them yet?

SueW · 22/04/2006 03:49

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at OP's request.

Nightynight · 22/04/2006 13:43

its only an airgun!
lol at locking it in the outhouse.
I am a bit sceptical about what the locals tell you to do. Do they do the same, and when was the last time any of them shot a water vole? They may be taking the piss, or trying to urge you to do something that they wouldnt bother to do themselves.
Ive never heard of anyone shooting anything they couldnt eat in our village.

ruty · 22/04/2006 13:57

yes, sorry, you should determine what they are first - rats are not nice to have around. a bit sensitive to this because we recently went to a National Trust reserve where they have water voles in the river - very rare here - and we saw one - ds and his friend were spellbound, it was so sweet. Don't really know about the situation in France.

Original poster
lummox · 22/04/2006 18:17

Nightynight - I think you may be right that people are taking the piss. dh is currently telling anyone who will listen that he is not going on a shooting spree, so I think he may be getting a little sensitive about it.

Maybe I'm being daft about the gun, just makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. One of the few things I don't like about France is seeing policemen with guns.

I'm also with SofiaAmes that we should do whatever is necessary for a quite life here - there is an enormous amount of stuff we completely miss about village politics and dealing with the mayor and I want to keep it that way.

We've come to the UK for a week today so nothing will happen for the next week or so (unless the guy next door does something whilst we are gone). Will update when we get back from blighty.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 22/04/2006 18:21

Yikes. I grew up in Gun Central - Texas - and was taught to use firearms responsibly from the age of about 6. Don't think I'd use one to get rid of water rats, tho, no matter what the locals think. That's just a bit overkill to me.

Sofia's spot on about the rifles, too. I badgered my dad to let me fire one of his for years and he finally let me when I was about 12. I didn't find it a pleasant experience and only used one a few more times since, at firing ranges. Some of them can be pretty squirrelly.

Original poster
lummox · 22/04/2006 18:22

I can sort of guess what squirelly means, but not quite?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 22/04/2006 18:25

Well, yeah, they can be squirrelly. They have a long range but there can be some sacrifices in accuracy to go w/that, particularly w/someone who isn't as experienced w/them. They can also be messy.

Also, shooting in the dark is a whole different ballgame.

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