Is there any such thing as one rat?

[Barry]

I came back to my allotment the other day and shuddered horribly, finding a dead rat on its back where I had planted daffodils the previous day.
We do have foxes on the site and also cats, so what killed this blighter and, more crucially, if there is one rat am I going to find more?
Any advice?

[Primrose]

Barry, hate to worry you but there are probably lots more rats around. They have such a habit of fast breeding that I doubt whether one celibate rat would remain solitary very long in any surroundings. Maybe somebody nearby has been suffering from the attention of the other twenty of its mates and has been putting rat poison down.

[Chantal]

I was under the misguided impression I had only one rat living under my chicken shed (this was 10 years ago, I was younger, I soon learnt...).

I did nothing and a few weeks later I saw two rats.

The following day we moved the birds out and smoke bombed the rats.

The next day my neighbour was "chased" up her garden by a posse of, she claims, no less than eight rats who had presumably moved out until the smoke smell went.

I called environmental health. They ended up putting down enough poison, over six weeks, to kill upwards of 140 rats. As the ratman put the poison down they were coming out in packs to eat it. I've never seen anything like it and nor had he. I had several of the EH department out for a look as they'd never seen one live rat, let alone the sort of quantity that belonged in the Pied Piper stories.

And I thought I just had the one.

Be warned.

[Primrose]

Chantal is quite right. We thought we had a solitary Roland Rat living in our compost heap. But Roland Rat turned out to be Rolanda Rat, who taught her babies how to climb our fences to get at the peanut cages for the birds, and they became so bold and tame that they came right up to our patio windows and climbed up the bird table tok get at the bird food. And within weeks our garden looked like film set for the Pied Piper of Hamlin with them running all over the place.

[Chantal]

All this talk of rats is making me quite nostalgic. I used to live in Hamlin when I was little and the whole town was dominated by rat souvenirs. I still have a bread rat and a pied piper cup and saucer somewhere. Every Sunday the whole story was acted out for the tourists.

I quite like rats. I just wish they were cleaner and less prolific.

[madasafish]

I remember cycling in Scotland in winter - snow on the ground - and stopping to eat lunch in an old abandonned quarry. Lots of holes in ground, steam rising. Then we saw rats.. whole quarry infested .. must have been 1,000s.

We hastily left...

[Primrose]

Like Chantal, I also rather like rats, because we once knew somebody who bred the fancy varieties as pets and they were really intelligent and friendly creatures. But I guess holding and stroking a delightful looking champagne coloured silky creature who would sit perfectly still on your lap or your shoulder is rather different from having the wild ones running all over your garden and allotment. But when we watched the baby rats, their coats looked perfectly clean and none of them seemed to be continually scratching their coats for flea irritation in the way that our visiting squirrels seem to do all the time.

[Chantal]

It's their apparent incontinence that's more of a problem.

[madasafish]

Weil's disease..

[peter]

All this talk of rats is making me quite nostalgic. I used to live in Hamlin when I was little and .....

... that why the rats all moved into your garden and tried to chase the neighbours away.

They just love you Chanters.

[Chantal]

Yeah very funny Peter

We still have a problem as the neighbours keep dumping huge quantities of bird food all over the place. I have the rat man out at least twice a month to put down more bait. Now Tim tells me that one of the delightful rodents was climing the wall of the house this morning under cover of the solanum which reaches up to the roof. Oh happy days... Another phone call in the morning methinks...

[peter]

Chantal, after clearing my Mothers house I cae home and did our loft. Decided when I pop me clogs my kids are not going to have the same amount of tut to deal with.

Anyway, nice little pile of ratty number twos behind one box. Buggered if I can work out how the little bleeder got up there?

Only helpful thought I can come up with is a bit gruesome. Gamekeepers used to have gibbets, yes?
Institute, after raising the bird food problem with the neighbours, some form of display that they can see of the trap and poison tally.

Nail the tails on the top of the fence.

Buy an air rifle and use it, very visibly and noisily, just shoot at a lump of wood and swear loudly about missing it, because you are shuch a bad shot.

[Chantal]

I have raised the bird food problem, every ******** day for over six months.

They are old. They think the birds need a minimum of a carrier bag full of food every day or they'll die. They think the rats will "soon be gone". They're lovely and I don't want to upset them. He actually said "if I had an air rifle I'd shoot them". I pointed out that the only thing likely to get shot would be me as he has the shakes something awful.

I'll get it sorted. Somehow.

[Barry]

How about this then?
Spoke to one of the guys that has been on the site for 50 years. He told me that the rats eat carrots. What they do is burrow under the ground and eat that part of the carrot. You see the green bit above ground and think everything's OK, but once you dig up the carrot...
Does that sound credible?
PS. Anybody have any favourite rat bait they would recommend and where would you house it?

[Myrkk]

Hi Barry

When we moved into this house it had been empty for a while. I remember standing in the back room looking at the orchard area and thinking how lovely the baby mice looked running around playing in between the trees, all 8 of them! Then I realised they were baby rats. The whole place was infested. We tried rat traps, with lumps of mars bar on the bait hook. We only ever caught one medium sized rat. After that they used to take the bait without springing the trap. They are incredibly clever.
So I'm afraid I would say poision is your best bet. We put it down the minute we see a rat and not before and I hate having to do it for two reasons....
one, I used to breed fancy rats and love them
two, it kills the voles and mice around here too

but there really is no option unless you are willing to be over-run with them.

My largest fancy rat litter was 24 pups and they are ready to breed in approx. 6wks, it doesn't take much to realise how quickly you will be over-run.

Re. incontinence, they aren't incontinent but do scent mark as they are wandering around. This marking takes the form of a dribble of urine which can carry Weils disease.