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Original poster

We have RATS!

63 replies

kid · 17/11/2006 23:16

They keep coming into a our garden and eating the nuts we put out for the birds. DH saw one sitting at the table eating them earlier

I'm not sure what we should do about it. I wonder if the HA will sort it out for us. They did pay Rentokill to get rid of the mice we had, but they were in the house.

OP posts:
Kidstrack · 20/11/2006 19:58

kid it sounds as if they moved into your garden when work started on the railway line they can walk a fair bit to find a new home, dh parents live near a railway line and there are always rats about, as soon as work starts on the railways they end up in the back gardens and again because dh parents own their home they had to get someone in.

Original poster
kid · 20/11/2006 20:03

We don't own our home, we rent from HA. They need more than 2 complaints about the rats but we live in a semi-detatched house so there is only 1 neighbour.

OP posts:
Kidstrack · 20/11/2006 20:16

where we are even if its a HA the environmental health still remove them!

moonshine · 20/11/2006 20:23

We had a rat in our house last year which was stealing scourers, we discovered, and 'nesting' with it behind the cooker. And it 'stole' one of those soft juggling balls, dragged it through 3 rooms and then pierced it to eat the seeds inside . Even now, every day, I check for activity and have a bar of soap tied under the cooker (left by the council 'rat man') to alert me to anything (they love the stuff apparently).

Twohootsunderthemistletoe · 20/11/2006 21:11

We are always getting field mice in our house (had one last Thurs night - was quite 'funny' as I noticed it in the kitchen eating the cat's food, AND the cat about 3 inches away from it also eating his food - oblivious to it!!!!). So the moral of this off-key story is don't think automatically that a cat will help as mine bloody doesn't!!!!

Hope you get it sorted soon. Any unwanted visitors are not nice!

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 21:19

Kid, poor you. Be aware that they can come to the surface when they are dying (we had some lying in the garden still breathing but unable to move, so dh had to put them out of their misery with a spade). If they go away after a good going at with the poison it is most likely an isolated incident - if they don't we were told it is either a drains problem (this would provide a never ending supply of the buggers and so no amount of poison will keep them underground until you get the drains fixed) or someone leaving food out (i.e. no matter how much you love them, stop feeding the birds). Good luck.

worksforaliving · 20/11/2006 21:34

hi there, we have an intermittent mouse problem here - does Rentokill work?
our builders told me to put down a bowl of acid - once they touch it they won't come back. word gets around apparently... still think i'd prefer rentokill.

pointydog · 20/11/2006 21:37

Ellaroo! I'm feeling sick and faint (closest to sick and faint face)

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 21:46

sorry pointydog...may have got a bit graphic there...but am now forever traumatised by them and so can get a little over-zealous in my need to 'share'. Sorry.

pointydog · 20/11/2006 21:49

Well I'm relieved to hear you're traumatised. Had a horrible image of the spade business happening in a red-faced farmeresque sort of way.

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 21:51

Bloody hell! No! Dh actually came in and cried afterwards - it was one of the most awful things I have ever witnessed.

pointydog · 20/11/2006 21:53

Oh don't. Dh was in tears this summer when he had to twist the neck of a small bird the cat had mauled.

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 21:55

euk! Am so so pleased that I am not a man. It must be horrible knowing that all these grim tasks automatically fall to them.

Blu · 20/11/2006 22:01
pointydog · 20/11/2006 22:05

Don' tell us, blu! Don' tell us! Ah'm beggin ya.

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 22:06

Blu - are you man or woman???

Original poster
kid · 20/11/2006 22:06

When we had mice, we put traps down for them. We caught about 7. 6 of them were killed instantly, but 1 got hit in the face with a flying trap! I had the pleasure of catching it in a bucket before it came round enough to make a run for it. I then carried it as far away from my house as I could and let it go! I hate hurting them, but I don't want them living in my house.

I am going to become obsessed with checking the poison. I hope the squirrel doesn't come and eat it.

OP posts:
Blu · 20/11/2006 22:28

Ellaroo, I am a woman. But DP panics at the mere thought of anything that can't be dealt with by replacing it's batteries. i.e anything live or formerly alive.

Blu · 20/11/2006 22:29

No Pointydog - I will keep shtumm about my Adventures With Dead Rats!

expatinscotland · 20/11/2006 22:37

charliecat has rats, too.

5 males.

and she lets them run round her house urinating everywhere.

it pongs.

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 22:46

Oh Blu - I feel for you - I do have a fear that at some point dh will opt out and say he's not doing it anymore. That must be awful.

Ellaroo · 20/11/2006 22:47

and expat...that sounds like a particularly nasty thing to say about a person...most slanderous - but yuk yuk yuk if it's true!

expatinscotland · 20/11/2006 22:50

Um, it's true, Ellaroo.

There's a thread on it.

She may have some tips to get rid of rats, however, b/c she has them as pets and knows a lot about them.

Original poster
kid · 21/11/2006 18:02

Environmental Health phoned me back today, they are going to send someone after all, and send the bill to our HA

OP posts:
pointydog · 21/11/2006 18:40

Ahhh! Put away the spades, men. No tears at bedtime tonight.