I am completely and utterly horrified. My son has just been down to our basement to retrieve a suitcase and found a rat.
Our basement is completely free of damp, has a secure garage door and two internal doors linking it to the rest of the house. There is no food stuff stored there. We have the central heating tank, machines and oil store, washing machine, wood, and usual junk like old furniture, Xmas decorations, suitcases etc. I have a tiny one-eyed cat who I do not want to put against a rat and a dog so poison is completely out of the question.
Any suggestions as to how I can humanely get rid of the rats?
Message posted by JohnandHilary (Reborn) on 06 July 2011 at 9:49pm - IP Logged
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I have a large brown rat eating all my new grown Cucumbers and Tomatoes and I stand vigil every evening at 'going out time' with my air rifle. You can put down the blue tablet poison that dehydrates them or shoot them. Either or ...no subtle way I'm afraid.
J&H
Message posted by red zorba on 06 July 2011 at 9:59pm - IP Logged
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If you can get a cage trap and then if you catch it free it outside at a distance, they love the smell of aniseed, where I worked we used bread soaked with raw aniseed as bait they went mad for it,
Message posted by issos on 06 July 2011 at 10:59pm - IP Logged
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Lavinia on 13 August 2010 at 1:30am (Living the Dream)...
‘Surely the way to go is to learn to live with them, after all they have probably lived here on Corfu as long as we have (or in some cases a lot longer). I am not some furry, green, huggy person but I have learnt to adapt my life so that the natural habitat around me is as little disturbed as possible. Best advice, get a cat which is a hunting cat. And before you all start shrieking about the nuisance they cause, think about the nuisance we humans cause by moving into their natural environment. They haven't erected pylons which provide the wires down which they scamper. They haven't felled trees in which they live. They don't force us further and further up into the hills because of our demand to clear the land. Just learn to live with them and get a cat...’
Message posted by Denis O on 06 July 2011 at 11:38pm - IP Logged
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Horrible for you Lavinia- I had them in the house once, living in an old loo cistern...very different to the furry dormice and other rodents that live around the land.
Get a trap- or as I am rat free at the moment have mine. My son caught one last year with the sticky trap sold in supermarkets, but you then have to dispose of a creature stuck to the strip...not pleasant
Message posted by JB on 07 July 2011 at 1:52am - IP Logged
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Had one sitting by our apartment door one evening when we returned from a night out a couple of years ago! The scream I let out sent it scurrying, along with some Italian neighbours complete with mop chasing it! Apartments and resort will remain nameless!!!
Message posted by Dasia on 07 July 2011 at 6:21am - IP Logged
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Yikes, Lavinia, I am sorry to read this. How upsetting! I wish I had a workable suggestion. After being disappointed by several humane traps, I found the "Tin Cat" which caught an entire family of mice in one night. We released them in a park. But unless your rat is quite small, I don't think he'd fit into the Tin Cat. Nor do I know if the Tin Cat is available in Greece.
Could you lure him out by leaving food near a basement door or window?
Message posted by bunty1 on 07 July 2011 at 7:10am - IP Logged
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Hi Lavinia..Don't want to worry you but if theres one there bound to be others close by, these creatures have the ability to reproduce, with a pair multiplying to 200 in just one year...and if left unchecked they will multiply....your one eyed cat is more than a match for the little devil's, why don't you just put the cat in the room and lock the doors and see what happens.
Just wish I lived there with my Jack Russell Millie, who dispatched three in less than two minutes in my mates shed.
Bruce
Message posted by Bill on 07 July 2011 at 9:05am - IP Logged
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As Susie says, give them an open door and they'll bolt towards the light. That said, Miffy should despatch it happily too - her mother was a terrier type and her sister and brother are both ratters.
Message posted by Lavinia on 07 July 2011 at 10:28am - IP Logged
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You can get a device that you plug into a wall socket and it emits a noise. Humans can't here it but mice,rats etc... hate it and can't stay in the room.
My parents live in the country and leave them plugged in a few rooms. The attic, hallway and garage and haven't had any problems since they started using them.
Message posted by entrus10 on 07 July 2011 at 11:37am - IP Logged
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To get rid of rats when I was a young boy (when Victoria was on the throne!!!) we used to put a mixture of 2 parts wholemeal flour and 1 part cement into a dish, and seperately a dish of water.
This would kill them much faster and more humanely than warfarin, and the lime in the mixture would ensure that there were no smells.
This was pet safe as the dogs and cats would not touch the flour mixture.
Message posted by Bill on 07 July 2011 at 12:19pm - IP Logged
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Quote: Originally posted by entrus10 on 07 July 2011
To get rid of rats when I was a young boy (when Victoria was on the throne!!!) we used to put a mixture of 2 parts wholemeal flour and 1 part cement into a dish, and seperately a dish of water.
This would kill them much faster and more humanely than warfarin, and the lime in the mixture would ensure that there were no smells.
This was pet safe as the dogs and cats would not touch the flour mixture.
What a brilliant idea! Does it work with mice too? (I'm guessing it would).
Message posted by Lavinia on 07 July 2011 at 12:30pm - IP Logged
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Breezer25, did you parents buy the electronic beeper things from Corfu? If so, do you know from where please? I'll put the dog down there initially but could then plug those in to deter a return or just take the dog down there every day.... I don't think the cat would be much good as she is absolutely tiny although she did get a fat dormouse once! Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, very much appreciated.
Message posted by jrk on 07 July 2011 at 12:38pm - IP Logged
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Quote: Originally posted by issos on 06 July 2011
Lavinia on 13 August 2010 at 1:30am (Living the Dream)...
‘Surely the way to go is to learn to live with them, after all they have probably lived here on Corfu as long as we have (or in some cases a lot longer). I am not some furry, green, huggy person but I have learnt to adapt my life so that the natural habitat around me is as little disturbed as possible. Best advice, get a cat which is a hunting cat. And before you all start shrieking about the nuisance they cause, think about the nuisance we humans cause by moving into their natural environment. They haven't erected pylons which provide the wires down which they scamper. They haven't felled trees in which they live. They don't force us further and further up into the hills because of our demand to clear the land. Just learn to live with them and get a cat...’
Surely, this advice is the way to deal with the animal.
Take him into the woods and free him. A doze of cement sounds awful and cruel. Most likely a painful death will eventuate.
Message posted by cannock girl on 07 July 2011 at 12:43pm - IP Logged
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"Surely the way to go is to learn to live with them, after all they have probably lived here on Corfu as long as we have (or in some cases a lot longer)"
You are most likely correct. Rats were here around 15-20 millions years before us Homo sapiens.
Message posted by entrus10 on 07 July 2011 at 1:12pm - IP Logged
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OK folks, guess this is the time to tell my rat story LOL
There I was, home alone, hubby was out, when one of the cats, the tiny one, brought in a huge rat, and dumped it in the middle of the lounge in front of me!!!
The cat, very pleased with itself then departed
I was left, alone, in the lounge, with a large scary rat
Closed all the doors so I could see where it went, did not want it going upstairs now did I?. Tried to phone hubby, mobile switched off!! Grrrrr!!
It was now dark and about 8pm and I knew he would not be home before midnight
I wanted to make sure I knew where the horrid creature was so sat down gingerly on the sofa and watched it sniffing around the room. Then it started running and climbed up the sofa and ran over my legs and off again, my now I was terrified.
But I would not get out, I had to stay and make sure where it could be found when hubby got home
Eventually I saw it skulk under our Korg electronic piano and disappear up into the bit where the foot pedals are attached.
I spent hours staring at the piano making sure it was still secreted up there somewhere
Just after midnight husband arrived home and I told him where the horrid rat was and he laughed at me and said no way, the space if too small
I insisted it was there and made him take the piano off the stand and upturn the base to find it, sure enough, there it was, comfy and snug in its hole!!!
Rob managed to coax it out of its hole with a piece of wood and then spent the next hour chasing it round the lounge with a large wooden club. Eventually he struck lucky and low and behold, one dead rat!!!
It was next day we found out if I had opened the front door it would simply have run out!!!
Susie
Message posted by Viv D on 07 July 2011 at 4:20pm - IP Logged
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Quote: Originally posted by jrk on 07 July 2011
"Surely the way to go is to learn to live with them, after all they have probably lived here on Corfu as long as we have (or in some cases a lot longer)"
You are most likely correct. Rats were here around 15-20 millions years before us Homo sapiens.
I thought that the brown rat originated from China and was brought to Europe on trading ships back in the late 1700s
martyn
Message posted by LESK on 22 September 2011 at 12:33pm - IP Logged
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The electronic method is best.. We have a 400 year old house in Devon and it was infested with mice (and rats) indoors and tried catching them and walking them 200 yards down the road but, strangely they have a sense of direction and can home in on their home location so they just came back.
We put in the electronic gizmo's (one on each of the 3 floors) and after about a month we never saw or heard another mouse/rat in the house and that was 5 years ago. All you hear is a faint click every 5 seconds but the noise they hear is excruciating and it drives them away very quickly.
Outside we had brown rats which grow quite large and breeeed like heck. We had to catch them in steel traps and drown them it was the only way to do it. However, once we got rid of the active compost heap and began to use the council food recycling bins that problem disappeared as well.
Grey rats you should kill on sight as they are the sewer rats and carry most of the diseases.
Message posted by sooz on 22 September 2011 at 7:49pm - IP Logged
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We've got one of those electronic gizmos in our garage and it doesn't work! Perhaps it's best to learn to live with them, at least outside of our living accommodation!
Sue
Message posted by bobbo on 25 October 2012 at 7:17am - IP Logged
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There will always be rats,either live with them,shoot them ,poison them or if you are lucky enough to live in corfu and dont fancy the other remedies,get a young cat or a jack russel.
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Topic:
Does it work with mice too? (I'm guessing it would).
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