There is never just one rat, the farmer where I keep my goats laughed like a drain when I told him we had 'a rat' and still teases me about the hermit rat!!! They spread disease and breed like crazy, they really need to be destroyed.
This is my first winter as a chicken owner, will my hens be ok in this freezing weather? I've put newspaper then woodshavings in their house with straw on top in their nestboxes. They have woodchip in their run but seem reluctant to come out. What else should I be doing?
The only good rat is a dead one! Have you ever noticed old photos of Theshermen with a length of twine wrapped around their ankles? it was to stop rats running up their trouser legs. A lady was telling me that her father used to have an allotment and they suspected there was a rat living under their shed. Her father and a friend of theirs moved the shed and the rat ran out and straight up her father's friend's leg, continued on and literally went for the jugular! By the time the ambulance came the poor guy was dead.
Wonder how many times that story has been enhanced over the years to end up there? Next time it's told perhaps the rat will have managed to kill both men. Wouldn't want to share the house with them but all things have their place and who are we to decide what species should live or die. I have them in the compost heap and they do a wonderful job of turning it for me - I put the waste in the top and it gets taken down the holes to the bottom. Never seen them out during the day and the hedgehog food is still there in the morning if the foxes don't get it (know it's the foxes 'cos they leave a little thank you gift!). Poison is indiscriminate and will kill hedgehogs which are protected.
I had rats feeding on the bird table a couple of winters ago - I tried to keep the bird food to a minimum, but didn't want to deprive the birds. I had to draw the line when I found two of the blighters sitting, calm as you like, in the rabbit hutch, eating their food! Poor, frightened rabbits sitting upstairs, trying not to notice! At that point I called in the professional, who insisted that I stop feeding the birds, which I did for a couple of weeks but then had to start again. We also have a lot of decking in the garden and two compost bins, which I turn regularly. Having an open bin with some rainwater in it just under the bird table seems to work as I have caught several rats as well as mice, who just fall in and drown. Not a nice way to go, but I just couldn't bash any living thing over the head with a spade, no matter how evil! As we live on the edge of a village, with a farmed field behind us, there is no way we can eradicate all vermin. Have also had the bluebottle scenario with something dead between the floorboards - luckily all gone now! PS rabbits survived the ordeal and are doing well!
No, rats are are no-no for me aswell. Dirty, destructive and potentially dangerous. I can appreciate that some folk feel the need to be humane in their dealings with these critters but not only do I think this is perhaps misguided I have a feeling that there is some form of legislation explicitly prohibiting the release back into the wild creatures that are officially classed as pests...
As a former Amateur Gardener AND Chicken Keeper I regularly found that Autumn and Winter brought our 'Rattus Rattus' friends as food became Scarce, Except of course spare 'Chicken Feed'.
The BEST by far are the live Traps made of wire with a counter balance traps. [Cost About £12-00 @ Wholesalers]
On a NUMBER Of occasions we caught a mother & Her half grown brood, who were all promply 'Dunked' in my 'Water Butt' for a 'Fatal Hour'.
Having been invited to comment by blog-owner Kate, I'll make a couple of observations of my own.
Rats are part of the natural world, the world in which we live too. But, as ever, we make judgements about how other life forms impinge on our personal environment; if they reach pest proportions they are a pest. This might be different for different people. A farmer, who rightly recognizes the damage they do and the danger of disease they present, might regard one rat as a pest. Others, who see rats as little more than big mice, might tolerate them more.
I use to have rats, I experimented on them at university. There were six of them housed in a small outbuilding run by the animal behaviour group. They all had names, were all tame and friendly, and all squeaked loudly in recognition when I went to visit them. I made them hungry for 24 hours and watched the ratio of seconds spent feeding or drinking when they were then offered full food and water again. A few days later I made them thirsty for 24 hours. I can't quite remember what the experiment showed, but it was all good fun. The other student who did the same project went on to keep her rats as pets. I did not have room in my small flat.
I think rats are fascinating creatures, but would have the same compunction to bashing a rat's brains out with a shovel, as I would to swatting a housefly.
I have rats breeding in my compost bins at the moment. So I have stopped adding anything. Instead, all garden and kitchen waste goes off to the local recycling centre for them to compost in industrial units. I will start again in spring. I know why I have rats in my garden, and I'm doing something about it. What I find hart to take is the surprise that some people have when they realize there are rats about, but continue to scatter food for birds and foxes. We must all take responsibility for what we do in the environment, and adjust our behaviour if the results offend us.
just like to say how much me and my family will miss toby buckland and alice, we are not all fans of monty don. toby has been brilliant and the garden they created is far supoerior to the one monty don did.
Posts
Have you ever noticed old photos of Theshermen with a length of twine wrapped around their ankles? it was to stop rats running up their trouser legs.
A lady was telling me that her father used to have an allotment and they suspected there was a rat living under their shed. Her father and a friend of theirs moved the shed and the rat ran out and straight up her father's friend's leg, continued on and literally went for the jugular! By the time the ambulance came the poor guy was dead.
Wouldn't want to share the house with them but all things have their place and who are we to decide what species should live or die.
I have them in the compost heap and they do a wonderful job of turning it for me - I put the waste in the top and it gets taken down the holes to the bottom. Never seen them out during the day and the hedgehog food is still there in the morning if the foxes don't get it (know it's the foxes 'cos they leave a little thank you gift!). Poison is indiscriminate and will kill hedgehogs which are protected.
PS rabbits survived the ordeal and are doing well!
The BEST by far are the live Traps made of wire with a counter balance traps. [Cost About £12-00 @ Wholesalers]
On a NUMBER Of occasions we caught a mother & Her half grown brood, who were all promply 'Dunked' in my 'Water Butt' for a 'Fatal Hour'.
Rats are part of the natural world, the world in which we live too. But, as ever, we make judgements about how other life forms impinge on our personal environment; if they reach pest proportions they are a pest. This might be different for different people. A farmer, who rightly recognizes the damage they do and the danger of disease they present, might regard one rat as a pest. Others, who see rats as little more than big mice, might tolerate them more.
I use to have rats, I experimented on them at university. There were six of them housed in a small outbuilding run by the animal behaviour group. They all had names, were all tame and friendly, and all squeaked loudly in recognition when I went to visit them. I made them hungry for 24 hours and watched the ratio of seconds spent feeding or drinking when they were then offered full food and water again. A few days later I made them thirsty for 24 hours. I can't quite remember what the experiment showed, but it was all good fun. The other student who did the same project went on to keep her rats as pets. I did not have room in my small flat.
I think rats are fascinating creatures, but would have the same compunction to bashing a rat's brains out with a shovel, as I would to swatting a housefly.
I have rats breeding in my compost bins at the moment. So I have stopped adding anything. Instead, all garden and kitchen waste goes off to the local recycling centre for them to compost in industrial units. I will start again in spring. I know why I have rats in my garden, and I'm doing something about it. What I find hart to take is the surprise that some people have when they realize there are rats about, but continue to scatter food for birds and foxes. We must all take responsibility for what we do in the environment, and adjust our behaviour if the results offend us.