There's a rat in mi kitchen...

[B00]

No really there is, and I'm totally freaked out.

We have an old fire, never used in there, and I'd noticed the dog snuffling round it extremely interested and jokingly said to Mr Boo "Bet there's a rat behind there". Well it bloody backfired on me, as apparently there is, Mr Boo saw it scuttle back in there when he did a late night forage for food (hubby I mean, not the rat, though no doubt that's what it was doing as well!) I know (well now I do) that it was eating the dog's left over food, so that will be picked up before i go to bed each night, there's nothing else (food wise) it can get to.

Would a humane trap work? About a tenner on Ebay. Reluctant to put poison down as a) im a softy, don't want to actually kill it, and b) scared the dog will eat the poison instead. What do I put in there? The trap I mean? Chocolate?

Mr Boo says that once it's gone, he'll rip the fire out and board up the hole.

Please help me, I shudder each time I think about it :-(

[B00]

sorry Trim? Eh?

Cheers Ron, yeah, bit steep 25 quid innit? But I'm paying it, lol. I know I can lay poison myself Lottie, but id rather someone else did it- hence the council...

[LoftyLottie]

Sorry BOO, I was just commenting on the fact that councils do it for free, 'cos ours doesn't. I would rather let the Council do it to, but Mr Lofty won't get anybody in to do anything if he can do it himself :o(

[Rodge2]

Oh I feel for you I really do. I'd definitely use a humane trap and then release it in the countryside though. I'd worry about my karma if i killed it!! and there's the body to dispose of too. Worse, if it expires inside your walls - imagine the stench.

Just told my b-i-l about it. He had a very bad rat experience last summer. He had an unused waterbutt in the garden with the tap missing. He found a dead rat sticking out of the hole, completely stuck! It must have got in during the night and then couldn't get out. It had bitten round and round the hole to fashion an exit big enough for it to escape, but then tried to squeeze out when it was still too small. Poor thing.

My b-i-l's problem was that you can hardly take an old waterbutt to the Household Waste Recycling Centre with a large dead rat protruding from it, can you?

[B00]

update- Mr Rat Man's been, Roland (house guest) has been chewing the insulation from the back of the fridge for its bedding, apparently it's a wonder my fridge still works, which is nice. He's laid some poison, the rat man, not Roland, behind the fridge and will be back in a month.

Managed to bluff my way round the guy being here with Mini Boo by telling her he was the gas man (again, the rat man, not Roland!).

[ummmm]

So now you have to fix your fridge before it blows up? :-)

[starone]

This is for RATTER,although a bit late so he might not see it. I think it is illegal to discharge a gun in a built-up area, and this is a very built-up area. Might be all right in the country but I think it would be frowned upon here.

[B00]

Yeah, looking that way ummmm, but i'm dealing with one problem at a time- stress levels can't take more than that, lol.

[ummmm]

I know that feeling well !!! :-) Just smile through gritted teeth....

[RATTER15]

Hi Starbuckone, I know what you are saying and generally speaking you are correct, It actually depends where you are using the gun and the type of gun, as Trim said, you can use an air gun indoors with no problems and I don't think that anybody in their right mind would use any other type of gun indoors.

[B00]

I'd have let Mr Rat Man use a machine gun if it'd have got rid of Roland!

[Barmaid]

I shot a rat in my living room once. Cat brought it in. It was still alive but a bit beaten up. She then lost interest. So I got my husband's air pistol out and shot it at very close range.

[B00]

wow barmaid- brave! Don't think I could've done done. A kind thing you did, but I'm wayyyyyy too squeamish.

[Barmaid]

lol, it wasn't kind at all.

No Trim, I didn't. ANd as you well know, the next rat I killed I was wearing significantly less. Although that is a story for later as some people will still be having breakfast........

[starone]

You have aroused my interest Barmaid. Is it permitted that you tell us your story? Or is it too gruesome?
The gun my husband used was not an air rifle or anything like that. I cannot quite remember what it was but it was either a shotgun or a rifle. He liked guns and had quite a collection but normally only shot at targets.

[RATTER15]

Starbuckone, I think you would have known if it was a shotgun lol, the whole street would have been enquiring as to why you have your wall and floor scattered across the street. :-)

If it wasnt an airgun, then it would almost certainly have been illegal and potentially fatal for anybody in the room, glad no one was injured :-)

[starone]

RATTER - I should have made it clear it was not in the house but outside in the garden eating the things I had put out for the birds.

[Meerkatdawg]

My parents have the same problem. There's a rat, but they have a dog and a cat. How do you get rid of them without poison. Tried humane traps and nothing has worked so far. They got a lovely new car after 6 years of the old one and the rat ba**** has eaten the rubber surround as apparently it's full of soya or summat. The whole thing was balanced- precariously wobbling. Try peanut butter and stinky meat. They'll eat anything out of the trap. Put it in a trap and they are suddenly connoisseurs

Totally sympathise...but can't help any better then shooting the little p*icks.