NationStates Jolt Archive

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.

Does anyone here have any advise on how to outsmart this little pest?

remove all sources of food

Are you using actual rat traps? If its only a mouse, a rat trap wont kill it. If its a rat and your using mouse traps, that wont kill it.

Glue strips will catch him, but then you have to deal with executing him when he's caught.

dont use poison-its extra cruel and he'll crawl into a place you cant get to before he dies. Then you'll get to smell him for awhile.

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.

Does anyone here have any advise on how to outsmart this little pest?

Vote Democratic next time? :p

Okay, now to some constructive advice:

Look into electronic traps and humane traps. There is one that uses a 'sweeping' acton to trap the rat in a compartment until you can dispose of it.

There's an electronic one on the market that electrocutes the offending pest if you don't feel particularly humane.

I think the question you ought to ask yourself is what's less 'icky', a dead rat, or a live rat?

Move house.

get yourself some live catch traps, they are cheap and less problematic than other routes

poison is bad because they eat it and die later....you just have to follow the decomp smell. gross

kill traps are easily outsmarted and also quite messy when they aren't

I have live catch traps for the mice that we are frequented with (from the unkept field behind our house that doesn't belong to us) they have a door that opens one way only and the mouse goes in to get the peanutbutter cracker bait, and can't get out.

EDIT: I also have 2 of the electric traps, they kill the mouse quickly and I don't have to deal with him, but they are more expensive.

Is LG drunk?

:eek:

buy a cat? then again that might just leave the problem of a cat in the house

Is LG drunk?

:eek:

Unfortunately, no. :(

remove all sources of food

Are you using actual rat traps? If its only a mouse, a rat trap wont kill it. If its a rat and your using mouse traps, that wont kill it.
I don't know what it is, nobody has seen it. I just told my mother she might have the wrong trap, but she insisted that is was actually a mouse and not a rat. Then told me she was moving out if it is a rat, she seemed quite angry with me for even suggesting it could be one. She won't even consider getting rat traps instead. Did I mention she's terrified of the little pests?
Glue strips will catch him, but then you have to deal with executing him when he's caught.

dont use poison-its extra cruel and he'll crawl into a place you cant get to before he dies. Then you'll get to smell him for awhile.
She tells me she'd rather have a dead stinking mouse than a live one. I suppose I'll try those sticky things first though, hopefully they will work.

buy a cat? then again that might just leave the problem of a cat in the house

And how would that be a problem?

Once you catch him you can send him to Smunkee, and she'll take him to her neighbor's yard (that was you a little while ago, wasn't it?).

:( Unfortunately, no. :(

I saw typos?!

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.
Maybe its really your Uncle Stanley, who got kicked out of the house and lost his job, and now needs a place to stay but is too embarassed to tell anyone.

Invest in a cat, not seen any mice or rats in 17 years 'cause of mine. Nor snakes, or most irratating songbirds, though she's slacking in that regard, but hell she's old.

buy a cat? then again that might just leave the problem of a cat in the house

Our cat died about half a year ago. She would of caught it for sure, she always killed things. Our garden used to be filled with dead mice and birds. My mother doesn't want to get another cat, she hated the old one.

Unfortunetely our neighbours cats are fat and lazy, they won't be any use. :(

get a humane trap. Capture the rodent. Name him Herman. Feed him lots of food. Make him fat. Eat Herman. Nail bones to door as message to all future rodents.

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.

Does anyone here have any advise on how to outsmart this little pest?
Kill it before it has babies.

There's poision that will drive the rats out to find water. They die searching for it. Poision is the best choice. Rat traps are second. Buy a rat trap and bait it with something that can't easily be pried out of the latch. I used to shove graham crackers in the latch and I had very good success with the rats.

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.

Does anyone here have any advise on how to outsmart this little pest?
Right.

Ring up the council and say "Hi, can we have an Environmental Health Officer over here, sharpish, we have a rat problem".

They will say "Yes".

They will then sort out the problem, generally for free (although the cheeky bastards sometimes ask for, say, £15) and it'll be resolved pretty quickly.

Invest in a cat, not seen any mice or rats in 17 years 'cause of mine. Nor snakes, or most irratating songbirds, though she's slacking in that regard, but hell she's old.

When I did have a cat, it was worse. She would occasionally bring dead things into the house, and a few times they were alive.

When I was a kid she brought in a bird. We kept it in a hamster cage for a few days until it healed and could fly. Then we let it lose in the garden, but my cat was lurking there and ran up and pounced on the thing as it was flying away. That time she killed it, I was sad. She also brought in a huge dragonfly once, and let it lose. It was flying everywhere and was really hard to catch. I didn't know dragonflys could get that big, although it was probably not actually a dragonfly and was called something else. Twice she brought live mice into the house, it was funny. Eccept for my mother, who was terrified. Maybe I shouldn't laugh at her if she's that afraid...

Sorry, I'm just remembering some things she did. I really miss my cat. :(

:(

I saw typos?!

What typos? :D

Right.

Ring up the council and say "Hi, can we have an Environmental Health Officer over here, sharpish, we have a rat problem".

They will say "Yes".

They will then sort out the problem, generally for free (although the cheeky bastards sometimes ask for, say, £15) and it'll be resolved pretty quickly.

It's free? That's great, we're really short on cash now. I'll do that if the traps don't work tonight.

remove all sources of food

Are you using actual rat traps? If its only a mouse, a rat trap wont kill it. If its a rat and your using mouse traps, that wont kill it.

Glue strips will catch him, but then you have to deal with executing him when he's caught.

dont use poison-its extra cruel and he'll crawl into a place you cant get to before he dies. Then you'll get to smell him for awhile.

Also, if your house is conjoined with another (as in an apartment), your neighbors need to get rid of all their food as well.

Vermin are attracted by the slightest amount of food left behind, dirty dishes, crumbs, open containers, etc.

Kill it before it has babies.

There's poision that will drive the rats out to find water. They die searching for it. Poision is the best choice. Rat traps are second. Buy a rat trap and bait it with something that can't easily be pried out of the latch. I used to shove graham crackers in the latch and I had very good success with the rats.

Tonight she bought a mars bar and left it above the fire to partially melt. The chocolate and caramal should stick to the traps. That should be difficult for them to sneak off with without springing the trap. I'm hoping it works.

http://downtym.livejournal.com/13304.html

Don't do this. LOL

He did leave one part out of the story, though. Before the scissor idea, he asked me, "How do you kill them at the lab?" My answer was, "Well, we have CO2 tanks at the lab." IIRC, that's when the RAID idea was born.

It's free? That's great, we're really short on cash now. I'll do that if the traps don't work tonight.
I'd do it even if they do work, just to make sure.

They're not squeamish, and they won't judge you if they don't find anything, to them it's preferable to know that a building doesn't contain any rats to having it as something of a possibility, so it's worth a try.

http://downtym.livejournal.com/13304.html

Don't do this. LOL

He did leave one part out of the story, though. Before the scissor idea, he asked me, "How do you kill them at the lab?" My answer was, "Well, we have CO2 tanks at the lab." IIRC, that's when the RAID idea was born.
:D

That's hilarious.

Tell him not to feel too bad though. I never know what to do when the cats dump mice in the house. So far I have a) caught them and let them go down the garden b) caught them and tossed them out the back door as far as I could c) dropped a brick on them.

http://www.rodenator.com/products_access.htm

Invest in a cat, not seen any mice or rats in 17 years 'cause of mine. Nor snakes, or most irratating songbirds, though she's slacking in that regard, but hell she's old.

Cats are soooo last century!


Get a kestrel.


http://www.cookster.co.uk/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/kestrel2a.jpg

I've discovered the ideal way to get rid of rat problems, in five simple steps:
1) Surround house with glue strips
2) Set house on fire
3) Watch as the rats try to flee the burning house, but get caught on the glue
4) Laugh maniacally as you descend upon the helpless vermin and chop them into small pieces with a butcher's knife
5) Call the fire department

This strategy not only gets rid of the entire rat problem (and insures that your house will be rat free for perpetuity), but it is a great way to meet cute firemen, if you're into that sort of thing.

Click (http://www.pestfree.co.uk/rats.htm)

Also, I had a problem with a mouse eating the food while not springing the trap. I tied the food onto the trap with some thin cotton string. That did it.

# This is the complete package! Get rid of gophers, prairie dogs and other burrowing pests with our exclusive, organically-certified Rodenator Pro™ system. Efficient, simple and quick, no poisons are ever used. Package includes the full accessory kit so you can get started right away: Rodenator Pro wand
# Gopher shovel
# Hoses
# Regulators
# Safety helmet
# Safety glasses
Instruction manual (specify English or Spanish)
Instruction video includes both Spanish and
English translations (specify DVD or VHS)
Full two-year warranty

http://www.rodenator.com/images/products/rodenator_proplus.jpg

Got rats in your home? Shoot to kill. Especially if they're near a gas line or some other easily ignited fuel.

get yourself some live catch traps, they are cheap and less problematic than other routes.

My patio used to have a resident rat because the next-door neighbor would leave dog food out in the open on his own patio. Solved the problem as follows:


Get landlord/manager/etc. to harass neighbor until dog food is properly stored and secured
Continue pestering landlord/manager/etc. because he/she is just as incompetent/stupid as neighbor ( :mad: :headbang: )
Finally give up and resort to direct action: Acquire and use a live catch trap baited with rat's favorite dog food to capture fugitive rodent
Drive prisoner out to nearby wildlife reserve and allow it to once again know the sweet smell of liberty
Move to new building away from previous neighbor (:mad: :headbang: )


Being an advocate of the rat fancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_rat), (there are 10 currently occupying my home :D ), poison and lethal traps are out of the question.

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.

Does anyone here have any advise on how to outsmart this little pest?

Get a cat. ;)

Unfortunately, no. :(

*pumps LG full of liquor*

Problem solved! :D

There's poision that will drive the rats out to find water. They die searching for it. Poision is the best choice. Rat traps are second. Buy a rat trap and bait it with something that can't easily be pried out of the latch. I used to shove graham crackers in the latch and I had very good success with the rats.
No poison might cause the rat to crawl into a tiny place where it will die, and then you can't get to it and will have to endure the putrid stench of its decomposing corpse.

Felis silvestris catus.

firefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefire firefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefirefire

100% sure to kill it. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Tomahawk_Block_IV_cruise_missile.jpg)

Mustard Gas would work as well!

whats wrong with having a rat around?

your nothing but a specieist (im too lazy to look up to see if there is an actual term but basicly racist for species)

your nothing but a specieist (im too lazy to look up to see if there is an actual term but basicly racist for species)

You stole that off the Doc. Doolittle movie.

You stole that off the Doc. Doolittle movie.

never seen it

does it really have that on there? :D

(im assuming the new one)

*pumps LG full of liquor*

Problem solved! :D

*hiccup*

What the hell are all these clothes doing on me?

whats wrong with having a rat around?



Rabies
Typhus
Bubonic Plague
Leptospirosis
Tetanus (in feces)
Structural damage to one's home

Chewed or broken electrical wiring, which is especially dangerous

Contamination and destruction of human food supplies
etc....


Fancy rats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_rat), which are socialized and can be kept contained and clean, are excellent and fun pets. Wild rats, however, are not.

And with a steady and bountiful supply of food, provided by their human hosts, they can quickly overpopulate a given area, magnifying the danger. One may see only a rat, but it's almost guaranteed there will be more; I removed at least three in my own case (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11682897&postcount=32).

They don't have to be killed, no, but having them around is still probably best avoided.

... my cameras havn't caught anything... er... I mean... I'm truely sorry.

Get a terrier. Terriers are bred to hunt animals like rats and do it instinctively. Rats are nasty when cornered and and terriers won't back down from them.

Kestrels are pretty, but rats are bigger than they are and might injure them.

She tells me she'd rather have a dead stinking mouse than a live one.

A number of years ago at one of the schools I worked at, we had a mouse that died in the wall. Trust me, a dead rotting one in the walls is much worse.

My cat brings home dead rodents all the time, although more often than not he brings home life ones. He usually sticks them in the bath tub, where they run around until we do something. One time he caught a wild rabbit and brought it into the bathtub, we let it free when we found it the next morning. Although his specialty is squirrels, he brings way too many of those home. One time one of them decided that the toilet was a good place to find shelter from the cat, sad to say it didn't fare well for the squirrel as he drowned, and I found him the next morning when I needed to relieve myself.

As for your rat problem, I had something funny and witty to say, which noone probably would have even paid attention to, but It's slipped my mind as my attention has been averted elsewhere.

Free shepmagans has a cat which you could have at no cost. It is cute and fluffy and possibly some witch's familiar.

It's been in my mothers room for a while now (and she's terrified of them). We've never seen it, but we've heard it and found droppings. The last three days we've left out traps, but this rat is a genious. It eats all the food and leaves the traps unsprung.

Does anyone here have any advise on how to outsmart this little pest?
It's called a Cat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat).

Free shepmagans has a cat which you could have at no cost. It is cute and fluffy and possibly some witch's familiar.

It's... cute at least, and somewhat small.

You should have voted MOBRA!:D
Terrorise my pretties, Terrorise!
Mwhahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha



We have a large Compost bin and live near a bush so yeah we get the odd Mouse about the House, we do however have a Cat and he keeps them busy.

Get a really god mousing cat with super preditory instincts :p

Well before you read this I'm a professional pest controller by trade.

remove all sources of food

Are you using actual rat traps? If its only a mouse, a rat trap wont kill it. If its a rat and your using mouse traps, that wont kill it.

Yup, mice aren't heavy enough to set off rat traps and rats will be mildy annoyed at mice traps

Glue strips will catch him, but then you have to deal with executing him when he's caught.

dont use poison-its extra cruel and he'll crawl into a place you cant get to before he dies. Then you'll get to smell him for awhile.

Poison isn't cruel, it's slow-acting but dopes them up alcohol stylee so they're really not supposed to feel it. Getting stuck on glue on the other hand is no fun and sometimes they'll chew off bits to get out. It does work assuming you're able to deal with the live caught mouse. Make sure you put some food in the middle otherwise they have no incentive to visit said glue trap.

Look into electronic traps and humane traps. There is one that uses a 'sweeping' acton to trap the rat in a compartment until you can dispose of it.

There's an electronic one on the market that electrocutes the offending pest if you don't feel particularly humane.

I think the question you ought to ask yourself is what's less 'icky', a dead rat, or a live rat?

Don't bother with any ultrasonic devices, it disturbs them at first but after a while becomes just like background noise. End result will be a rodent that won't care and you short of about £40.

Move house.

hehehe I've actually given that advice to people in the past! Not seriously though.

I don't know what it is, nobody has seen it. I just told my mother she might have the wrong trap, but she insisted that is was actually a mouse and not a rat. Then told me she was moving out if it is a rat, she seemed quite angry with me for even suggesting it could be one. She won't even consider getting rat traps instead. Did I mention she's terrified of the little pests?

She tells me she'd rather have a dead stinking mouse than a live one. I suppose I'll try those sticky things first though, hopefully they will work.

Little Nipper mouse traps are the best, you just gotta make sure they're set mega sensitively so you'll have to bend all the metal bits about a bit. Try putting a raisen on the little spike cos then they'll have to really tug at it to get them off. If they're taking food off and no mouse caught, then you haven't set them properly.

Mice don't like cheese! Smite anyone that tells you to use it!!!! Sweet sticky stuff ftw! Turkish delight works v.well, peanut butter, chocolate (they don't seem to like kit-kat) and raisens seem to work well.

If you have any air bricks around the outside of the house or any hole you can fit a biro through then cover them/it with 1/4" steel mesh. That'll stop 'em!

I had some mice in my house a few weeks after I moved into it. Personally, I'm not scared of mice, and I wouldn't mind a mouse in the house...

BUT! My parents find them freaky. So they used a standard mousetrap, and a glue strip, both of them seem to work swell... Poor mouseys... :(

I had some mice in my house a few weeks after I moved into it. Personally, I'm not scared of mice, and I wouldn't mind a mouse in the house...

BUT! My parents find them freaky. So they used a standard mousetrap, and a glue strip, both of them seem to work swell... Poor mouseys... :(

Well they carry a variety of diseases and are incontinent, so if you like the taste of mouse urine, having everything chewed and having the joys of salmonella and e-coli etc. then yeah, they make a great house pet!:rolleyes:

My sister used to have the same problem. Glue traps will work if its smaller than the trap but it is usually still alive. She used to call and plead with me to remove them for her. She later got a cat which also worked. I'm not sure why having a mangled mouse dropped at her feet by a cat was better than tossing out live ones stuck in glue but she's happy. So if your mom won't let a cat then try the glue traps but be prepared to toss living but stuck mice out.

I hope this helped.

My sister used to have the same problem. Glue traps will work if its smaller than the trap but it is usually still alive. She used to call and plead with me to remove them for her. She later got a cat which also worked. I'm not sure why having a mangled mouse dropped at her feet by a cat was better than tossing out live ones stuck in glue but she's happy. So if your mom won't let a cat then try the glue traps but be prepared to toss living but stuck mice out.

I hope this helped.

You are meant to kill them when caught, otherwise you are in breach of UK animal cruelty laws punishable by a fine of £1000 per mouse caught and potential inprisonment!!!! I'm not kidding. Laws regarding them are a bit vague, but basically you're meant to check the glue pads at least 3 times a day and "humanely" kill (not possible to humanely kill something!) said mouse. Personally I find a little tap with a screwdriver handle on the head works v.well, doesn't take much.

It is much more likely to be mice then rats. Just leave poison.

You are meant to kill them when caught, otherwise you are in breach of UK animal cruelty laws punishable by a fine of £1000 per mouse caught and potential inprisonment!!!! I'm not kidding. Laws regarding them are a bit vague, but basically you're meant to check the glue pads at least 3 times a day and "humanely" kill (not possible to humanely kill something!) said mouse. Personally I find a little tap with a screwdriver handle on the head works v.well, doesn't take much.

I'm not in the UK but yes I did kill them once I was persuaded to come get them. I had to do it outside as she is pretty squeamish and refused to let me do it inside. She also ewws when the cat brings her a "present" but considers that "natural" so she doesn't complain. So far everything the cat has brought her has been dead a doornail, which I guess is better than it bringing live things in and letting them go.

Create a mousetrap. You are going to need a cage, a bowling ball, a bathtub, a diver, a stop sign, a shoe...

You are meant to kill them when caught, otherwise you are in breach of UK animal cruelty laws punishable by a fine of £1000 per mouse caught and potential inprisonment!!!! I'm not kidding. Laws regarding them are a bit vague, but basically you're meant to check the glue pads at least 3 times a day and "humanely" kill (not possible to humanely kill something!) said mouse. Personally I find a little tap with a screwdriver handle on the head works v.well, doesn't take much.
You have a lovely job. :(

There were mice when we first moved in. We have caged birds, so the little creeps were eating the stuff that would fall outside the cages. Anyway, for a while we had a plain black Rubbermaid wastepaper basket sitting next to a bookshelf in the living room. I had been throwing the leftover seed husks from one of the bird cages into the wastepaper basket (this was before green bins), and one morning I caught a glimpse of something moving at the bottom of the wastepaper basket.

It was one of the mice - it had somehow managed to get into the basket, but it couldn't get out again. It even tried hopping out while I was standing there. So, I put him in a little cage 'til dusk came, and then I took him out to a park a few blocks away and released him. Friends and neighbours said it'd just head right back to our place, and we did continue to have problems for a short while longer - one or maybe two days later, I found another mouse in the same wastepaper basket, and - did the same thing as before.

We've yet to have another problem with mice since then.

I'm not in the UK but yes I did kill them once I was persuaded to come get them. I had to do it outside as she is pretty squeamish and refused to let me do it inside. She also ewws when the cat brings her a "present" but considers that "natural" so she doesn't complain. So far everything the cat has brought her has been dead a doornail, which I guess is better than it bringing live things in and letting them go.

That's good I'm glad you said that, nothing annoys me more (in the pest control world) than people who just chuck the pads with live mice still attatched. I personally refuse to use them unless it's a last resort.

Create a mousetrap. You are going to need a cage, a bowling ball, a bathtub, a diver, a stop sign, a shoe...

Ok You win!:D :p

You have a lovely job. :(


It rocks! Every day is different, I'm out an' about, meeting lots of people. It's just the commercial side I deal with so mainly offices and restaraunts. Weekends off. It's one of the esiest jobs I've had and also the most interesting......and I've had a few easy jobs!!!

Hehehe I also get to cane quite a few people about hygiene which is always funny to see an MD of a restaraunt chain squirm!

It is much more likely to be mice then rats. Just leave poison.

Yup, the problem I have in London is that over the years mice have been fed on a diet of fast food and over the years have genetically altered so they supposedly can't digest cereal based foods anymore. Most poisons in shops are cereal based and they won't touch it. Birmingham has the same problem so I'm assuming Manchester will be no different though I may be wrong.

For what I do I have to make the poison myself. Vacuu could however try mixing the poison with a bit of peanut butter to entice them to eat it if they won't touch it.

It's all trial and error.;)

get yourself some live catch traps, they are cheap and less problematic than other routes

.


Less problematic for the rat maybe.:eek: