Borrocks
BenB - 28/12/08 at 04:32 PM
Blimey- there goes my (admittidly rather premature) new years resolution!
I decided to try and start post Christmas like I meant to go on and spend some serious time in the garage today tidying... I have to work in my garage
during daylight hours because the rats appear to sleep during the day but come out in quite large numbers during the darkness!!! Lying under a car
with a rat watching you whilst having a dump next to your head isn't my idea of fun.
Just as I was getting ready suddenly all the lights go out and I see the MCB has fused.. I then had to spend the next 2 hours taking apart the washing
machine to find what had happened, another 30 minutes finding the right bits on the internet etc etc...
Now it's dark, it's cold and my garage is full of rats 
And I've got to go to the laundrette.....
Arse.
omega0684 - 28/12/08 at 04:38 PM
Rat poison perhaps? rats only appear when there is food, scavengers they are, so is there any thing around the gargae that they are feasting on? where
are they coming into the garage, find the whole and then block it up!
Richard Quinn - 28/12/08 at 04:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
with a rat watching you whilst having a dump
Although out of context, that bit made me chuckle. Perhaps you need to bolt the bathroom door!
coozer - 28/12/08 at 04:41 PM
I reckon its time for some sport. Get an air gun with a scope and snipe the little buggers out!
Our council used to give cash for dead rats, not sure if its still the same after all that was about 35 years ago
martin1973 - 28/12/08 at 04:49 PM
you need to get yourself a anti rat device
i suggest a jack russel
BenB - 28/12/08 at 04:50 PM
The rat poisoners have been round but they say it takes a while for the rats to "get used" to the poison traps and start eating from them...
though there's one hell of a pong coming from my garage and I suspect one has crawled underneath something in there to die.... 
I suspect the
rest of the time the rats where just coming to have a shoofty and squeeze some cheese, they weren't hanging around for very long....
Oh the joy!!!
I did wonder about getting some chairs, some beers and my air rifle but it's a bit blooming cold at the moment.....
omega0684 - 28/12/08 at 05:13 PM
what about some smoke bombs!
johnston - 28/12/08 at 05:25 PM
Probably not a very PC way of dealing with things but one thats supposed to work very well.
catch 1 ALIVE put it in an oil drum or similar and light it the screams will make the rest bugger off in fear of the same happening.
omega0684 - 28/12/08 at 05:44 PM
or they might be as brave as us brits and and form up with arms and come out with a rebelious attack!
[Edited on 28/12/08 by omega0684]
joneh - 28/12/08 at 05:49 PM
I like rats. Hence the avatar. I have a few pet rats. please use humane traps and drop them off in your local woods etc. No poison / setting fire
etc please.
Jon
BenB - 28/12/08 at 06:38 PM
I don't mind one rat or two rats but seeing 15-16 whilst walking less than 30 feet down an alleyway to get to my garage gives me the heebyjeebies
hellbent345 - 28/12/08 at 06:43 PM
haha one of my mates has a rat infestation in his loft and stuck some poison up there - they died but then started to rot, stinking the entire house
out... so he got some builders expandable foam and blocked up all holes into the house... that sorted out the smelling bit, but good lord what will it
be like when he finally ventures up into the loft!! there is a horrid mushy dark spot on one of the ceilings of his upper rooms!!
chrsgrain - 28/12/08 at 07:03 PM
Ben - surely a bit of warfarin would do it?
Chris
Simon - 28/12/08 at 07:21 PM
Our previous landlord knew the rat run, so put a clear plastic tube out of the exit, then wait till they were someway along it, before shooting the
blighters
At least it was quick!
ATB
Simon
BenB - 28/12/08 at 07:35 PM
quote:
Originally posted by chrsgrain
Ben - surely a bit of warfarin would do it?
Chris
Yeh, sure would but catching hold of them to test their INR is a bit of a pain 
Danozeman - 28/12/08 at 07:48 PM
quote:
find the whole and then block it up!
FInd there hole in the ground and pour petrol down it with a lit match.
Rats are hard little sods. We had them at my mums house after the rabbit food etc. I sat in the garden with my air gun. shot one right in the
middle of the head and it still ran away with a trail of blood!! Should have used a 2.2 not a 1.77. Sorry to joneh for this one.
mark chandler - 28/12/08 at 08:57 PM
I,m with Joneh on this, I quite like them.
We see them climbing the tree outside my front room eating berries on the trees, occasionally one gets in the bin, make you jump when dropping
something in there and seeing a pair of eyes looking back at you.
Just block up all the holes or trap an release a few miles away. You would never kill them all anyway.
David Jenkins - 28/12/08 at 09:11 PM
quote:
Originally posted by martin1973
you need to get yourself a anti rat device
i suggest a jack russel
Not far from the truth - but maybe for a different reason.
I live on the edge of a village, with a field next door. Occasionally rats come in from the field, but when we had a mongrel terrier you'd never
see a sign of them. I think that they could smell that he was around (he was in and out of the garden every 10 minutes) and kept away.
Now the old mutt has popped his clogs we're starting to see the occasional critter.
A local council rat catcher told a neighbour that you'll see them in a garden for a number of reasons: the first is the most obvious - food.
Make sure that there's none around to attract them. Saying that, I've seen one shinning up a 10mm diameter shiny aluminium bar to get at
some bird food!
The second thing is water - if you have a pond or water feature then they may come in for a drink, if there is nothing more private available.
The final thing is warmth and/or shelter, so a nice cosy garage or shed is an obvious attraction. You can only block up their runs and trap/kill any
that are on the wrong side of the blockages. I'm not fond of poison, partly due to the risk of bad smells from rotting rats, and partly because
I have owned pets. If they have to be killed, then I'd prefer to use those over-sized mouse-traps - the scaled up to rat sized ones. Howver,
you then have to deal with the bodies...
Canada EH! - 28/12/08 at 09:15 PM
Have go with this, 5 gallon plastic pail, tin pop can, coat hanger wire, some peanut butter. Drill a hole in the top and bottom of the pop tin, put
the wire through it, then attach the wire on both sides at the top of the pail, pop can should rotate freely, fill the pail half full of old anti-
freeze, and butter up the can with peanut butter, place a board beside the pail. Rats run up the board, jump onto the pop tin which rotates and
eventually they fall into the antifreeze and drown, no smell, no problem. Used in cottages closed for the winter here.
David Jenkins - 28/12/08 at 09:17 PM
I wouldn't want to empty that pail... bleugh!
ashg - 28/12/08 at 09:46 PM
i have a nice little jack russell and she has disposed of several rats, next doors ferrit (got into our garden) and varuous other critters. plus she
keeps me company out in the cold :-)
at the moment she is stalkin a mouse that keeps running out from under my build table but the bugger has evaded her twice now
[Edited on 28/12/08 by ashg]
BenB - 28/12/08 at 10:22 PM
Well I suppose adopting a dog is an option!!! A bit radical but at least it'll get me in the garage....
David Jenkins - 28/12/08 at 10:36 PM
Jack Russells are fierce ratters - trouble is, they're convinced that they're rotweilers, and nothing will persuade them otherwise! They
can also be total a PITA unless they're kept occupied - they're very intelligent, fearless, and serious trouble when bored...