We have 3 chickens and a compost bin plus a pond and had trouble in the past with rats. The only traps we had any luck with were the proper metal ones baited with snickers and or peanut butter but make sure you put chicken wire over them as you might catch other things What we think was the last, biggest rat ignored both traps for over a week so we had to put poison down under the chicken coop which it had and we have been rat free for several weeks now. As others have said make sure you get onto them as soon as you notice the m otherwise you will regret it when you are catching or trying to catch at least one a day for several days.
I am pretty sure that I won't kill the wrong animal as I am going to put bait and traps in our shed which is where the rat seems to hang out and then keep the door closed. I made the mistake of keeping the bird seed in there which probably attracted it (or them) in the first place.
Cheeky! Was thinking about when I lived in Devon and we had rats in the garden and the cottage thatch! I ran into the local pub (obviously) in fright, it was the first time I'd seen a rat. One of the locals slowly raised his head from his pint and said, "ar, you're in the country now" and carried on drinking. Nobody was bothered! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Shoot, trap or dogs. Poison is a bad idea unless you have no other option. I've been in a bungalow where they had been poisoning rats for years. The insulation was littered with festering carcasses and the ceilings were soaked in putrid rat soup. I've also work in a research facility where they did the same and walking about in the roof sounded like walking on cornflakes. When we got the temporary lighting in it was like a bone yard. We used to set up a log on end at the perfect rifle range and bait it.
Are there no goths near you? Natures answer to the feral rat is a sallow looking goth in ruffled aubergine velvet...
Get a big plastic bin ,u know the type like the old dust bins ,make a ramp into it ,bait it with what ever you want ,when we had a mouse prob an old guy at work told me about how to do it ,made a ramp ,filled it with grain,barley etc and he said add water and drown them as they fall in ,but I didnt bother with the water it works either way ,they go up the ramp ,jump in and cant get out ,it cleared my mouse problems in three days ,after months of trying other things
Another solution would be to get extremely drunk , throw up , then sleep in somebody else's place away from the rats What do you reckon @Ermintrude Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You forgot the codeine cocktail. But I'm sure I haven't a scooby what you mean! *glowers at popsy* Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just to finish the story - I got traps and I got the poison recommended by @Mucka above. I baited the traps with peanut butter and placed them in both our garden sheds and put out the poison, keeping the doors locked so that only rats could be caught. They completely ignored the traps/peanut butter but regularly took poison from one of the sheds - not the other. I haven't seen any sign of a rat since doing this and the poison is no longer touched. Fingers crossed.