[Salmo]

Conversley for every female rat you poison there are potentially 100s less rats.

The very thought of rats in my living room makes me cringe

My sister in law announced that she had got some pet rats. Being an open minded sort of chap I was quite prepared to see them and even accepted her assurance that they were cuddly and playfull. That was until instead of the white rats I had expected they were grey. It was some time before we spoke again after the remarks I made about her horrible rats.

[Puenktchen]

Councils will usually poison rats for free, especially if they are near houses. Ask them.

If it is not free then your allotment site should consider paying for it.

Rats are vile, dirty, disease ridden creatures. Do you want to eat or even handle vegetables they have peed on?

I cannot let this stand here without a comment as rats are definitely not dirty or vile. As any wild animal they clean them self frequently and healthy rats have clean and shiny fur as it is important to keep it as clean as possible to prevent getting ill.

Rats are opportunistic wild animals which try to live their live as best as possible and take advantage of our wastefulness with resources (food is even lying around on the streets). But it is a problem we have created entirely our self as we give them the chance  to proliferate abundantly and live in large numbers so close to us.
I think a start would be to not give them access to food to keep their numbers down as (as others have written before me) poisoning just makes space for new rats to move in. And I also think we have to live with rats as there will always enough survive to start a new population.
And I have to admit that I find the much loved hedgehogs more dirty than rats, I just remember the last one I have seen with lots of ticks and fleas crawling all over the skin.

[Carollan]

yes Puenktchen,I was startled to see a rat one day,when I was walking the dogs in the meadow,walking head first down the wide trunk of an upright tree,no problem........no ,it wasn`t a squirrel !

[sarajane]

If you use poison, and have dogs, please try and keep the dogs away until you are sure there are no more and remove those you find dead immediately.

I've got a brilliant little terrier cross and have lost count of the rats he has caught.  He was however violently sick after catching a rat that was walking very slowly (obviously dying from poison).  He fully recovered but had possibly ingested part of the rat when he caught it.

[Carollan]

2 dogs lost here from rat poisons, one was warfarin the other strychnine.....that was 25 years ago,not sure if farmers use the same poisons now.Both are pretty awful deaths ,the one slow and lingering the other so fast there was no time for the vets attention.
So yes,be very very careful with your poisons.

[MichelleC]

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to contact York Council today and I'll let you know their reply. Re Poison and looking on the internet. I have found Rat Bait Stations which are basically boxes in which you place the poison. The rat goes inside, feeds and leaves.  You can buy ones that have clear lids so you can see when the poison needs to be replaced. Also the lids are locked so dogs, children etc cannot be harmed.  My partner works away alot so he can't help me find the rat runs so I've got to deal with this myself. Also the plot where I saw the rat return to, the owner just died so I can't really ask his wife (just yet) for permission to go routing around the back of his sheds. Another allotmenteer (right next to me) keeps his compost bins covered so it nice and warm. When he lifted the covers there was tons of rat poo and urine. He said he will stop placing lots of apples in there as it's got worse. As said above really. x

[Paul Plots]

MichelleC - I wish you lots of luck and hope the allotment site are being supportive.

Enlisting local council help sounds a very sensible option. Ours charge!!

Mine (the allotment committee) basically walked off and left me to deal with the "visitors" in and under my old shed on my own. I fed them (the rats) a small fortune in rat bait and was greeted by empty bait trays every time I visited. I think they must have invited friends for tea!

What helped (?) cure the problem was:

• I demolished the shed completely (and put a new one on another part of the plot)
• We had a huge increase in the local fox population (do they hunt / eat rats?)
• The local nearby oriental take-away changed hands (better bins?)
  

I really didn't miss being greeted by large rats standing on their hind legs every time I opened the shed door and disturbed them.