Rats in garden and noises in loft

[leedspest]

CRUEL TRAPS SHOULD BE BANNED????

ok what do you and the other rat lovers consider to be a cruel trap?

Q: What is cruel?

A: Catching Mr rat in a cage, he is scared to death frantically trying to ecape biting and scratching the cage attempting to escape.

or

B: Instant death in a properly set spring trap?

Did you know that under the 1911 protection of animals act it is an offence to do anything likley to cause unnecessary suffering to domestic or wild animals.

Also the above act states you must provide food and water in the cage.

Then what are you going to do with the rat after catching it?

[shirl]

I have food, bedding and some fruit to provide a bit of liquid at the back of the cage should the rat be in the cage for any length of time (checked 4 times a day). I have selected a suitable "safe" site, away from houses, farms and farm buildings where it will be released. Yes I suspect it won't be happy being a cage, but I wouldn't like the the thought of a trap which didn't kill it outright. So unfortunately for my rat it might be a bit stressful but it has a chance of survival.

Shirl

[shegar]

Originally Posted by shirl

I have food, bedding and some fruit to provide a bit of liquid at the back of the cage should the rat be in the cage for any length of time (checked 4 times a day). I have selected a suitable "safe" site, away from houses, farms and farm buildings where it will be released. Yes I suspect it won't be happy being a cage, but I wouldn't like the the thought of a trap which didn't kill it outright. So unfortunately for my rat it might be a bit stressful but it has a chance of survival.

Shirl

A pampered rat eh, Id give it stress if it were in my loft,!! it would definately get an air rifle up its a... quickest way to deal with rodents . Easy kill no messing.

[Hedgehoggy]

Just a thought, but I wonder if placing a CD player in the loft with a soundtrack of predators (e.g. cats miaowing, dogs barking, ferret noises, etc.,) playing on 'repeat' might scare off your unwanted lodgers?! Of course, you'd need to wear ear muffs to bed

[Concerned]

Originally Posted by Hedgehoggy

Just a thought, but I wonder if placing a CD player in the loft with a soundtrack of predators (e.g. cats miaowing, dogs barking, ferret noises, etc.,) playing on 'repeat' might scare off your unwanted lodgers?! Of course, you'd need to wear ear muffs to bed

Thats a really good thought! I`d be interested to hear if anyone tries it and weather it helps. In theory it ought to, at least until the novelty wears off.

[shirl]

If the current measures don't work then I might just try that, I have tried leaving a radio on up there and that didn't work, maybe our rat likes music. It went a bit quiet in the loft at the weekend, we still installed the remote motion sensor camera on Sunday. Nothing and hardly any noises up there until 6pm last night. Got a good video of the rat coming out of what might be it's nest, so will move the camera around and see if we can find out where it is getting in and going out. And hopefully keep it out! Watch this space.

Shirl

[Concerned]

Best of luck. We still seem to be `rat free` and I`m hoping it stays that way.

[shirl]

Originally Posted by Concerned

Best of luck. We still seem to be `rat free` and I`m hoping it stays that way.

Will keep my fingers crossed for you, good news this morning sort of - the rate got into the cage and pinched the buscuits but the bad news is the door didn't close behind it. Have adjusted the sensitivity now. More bad news though, the camera has been going off all afternoon and there is more than 1 rat. Oh well, must persevere as it's obviously a female with young up there. Damn!

Shirl

[Concerned]

Gosh, rat breeding, that must be rather worrying for you. Have you thought what will happen if you catch mum? Will the young crawl away somewhere hidden to die and leave you with a horrendous stink? Having young there is probably whats making her stick around even if you`ve managed to make the conditions unpleasent for her. I hope it all works out OK in the end.

[shirl]

Looking at the size of the youngsters I think they should be able to feed themselves, infact I reckon it's them sneaking into the cages to get the food. Saw one on the camera last night climbing up and down the sides of the cage. This is going to be much harder than I thought.

Shirl