Electric Rat Killers - Anyone Used One, Do They Work?

[ipek]

Opened the garden shed after winter to find evidence of rat activity.
Need to get rid of the critters and looking at the options. Poison, not keen as probably won't be able to find bodies - if they are then eaten by other animals, this could harm those. Conventional snap trap, possibly messy and could get hedgehogs. I'm interested in battery-operated electric traps that supposedly kill instantly - I could put these off the floor, where the varmints have been climbing.
Anyone any experience of these (i.e. do they work)?

[JimF]

Is getting a cat an option for you? I really am not joking!

[woofgang]

I keep saying this.....however you kill them, unless you make the shed inhospitable then successsors will be back. Clear out remove as many shelters and hidey holes as you can, remove all food sources and any nearby compost heaps and go in their regularly and move things, make noise and so on.

[ipek]

JimF
Thank you - we had cats for years and no problems. Lost our last one several years ago, but this is the first time rats have been in the shed. Can't get another cat as we are looking to emigrate ASAP (Covid willing)

[ipek]

woofgang
Thank you - I understand that, but I need to get rid of some of the current occupants before I can clear out the shed!! I value my fingers...

[woofgang]

heavy gloves and use long handled garden tools

[Khandro]

I've never heard of electric rats :0)

[ToraToraTora]

where are these electric rats?

[douglas9401]

Shocking.

[douglas9401]

Most active around battery hens.

[Peter Pedant]

rat infestation is more serious than you think
I wd ring the council and ask if the rat man can come out

based on phoshamide or warfarin - and it has to be delayed so those clever rats nibble a bit go away and wait and then come back

the bodies should rot in the rat holes so that advertised to other rats it is not a good place

you are think of killing a rat sort of cat sized with a shock from a torch battery? good luck

warfarin resistance - the rat has "learnt" to metabolise it - that is an enzyme that can break it down, evolution has changed so it can break down warfarin efficiently - sortta kinda happeneing wiv covid

hey how do I know so much about rats?
amazing what a uni course - wind in the willows, the biochemisty!
can teach a fella

[Peter Pedant]

cats dont kill rats - simples ( too big one or the other, dont mind which you pick)

dogs do - they have to be trained as rat killas

dog wee is meant to repel rats - one looked frooda window at me ( a rat that is!) and said " well THAT is clearly not working"

[Peter Pedant]

blimey and I havent ecen started on the black rat ( rattus rattus ) and the usual one rattus norvegicus

and before you start - r norveg eats more and more widely so can survive - the black rat flea - xenopsylla cheopsis needs a blood meal from a black rat to complete its life cycle ( hey Darwen again)
and r noveg wont do ( neeva a human)
hence no plague

yes rat fleas really are specific to species of rat

[Peter Pedant]

oh you mean you see them in police accessory shops under
tazer ?

[woofgang]

PP "dogs do - they have to be trained as rat killas"

I have never trained my dogs to kill anything. My current old boy used to be an excellent ratter when he was younger but he used to leave them around the garden for me to find....at least he didn't bring them indoors. He still loves a good old snuffle and scrabble around but either he can't catch them now or there are less around me, I suspect the latter as my neighbours have changed and the new ones seem to be more fastidious about rubbish storage and have cleared a lot of the undergrowth in their gardens. I keep wild corners in mine but also keep a close eye on who uses them.

[ToraToraTora]

I have 2 jack Russells and no rats.

[Gill1941]

My tom cat certainly kills rats.
He brought in 3 last week. Dead fortunately.

[Peter Pedant]

no yeah thx
a dog has to nip them in the neck and shake them to break the necks

but the clever rat plays dead - - and so the dog shows the rat to the owner who transfixes wivva tine of a garden fork
( yeah foo an dat fawks it)
and after that the rat is pretty dead. They learn from other dogs

[woofgang]

My boy didn't have a chance to learn it from other dogs....and one good hard crunching bite does the job as well as (or better than) the grab and shake job.

[Peter Pedant]

he learnt it as homework when you were out