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Scooby

what to bait a humane rat trap with

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Yes, I agree about peanut butter.

Remember that rats are extremely neosensitive. They will be suspicious of anything new, so leave your trap in situ for a couple of weeks before wondering if it'll ever work!

 

However, have you really planned what to do with a humane trap?

 

If you have a rat there will be many not just one. Rats start running the same routes once they've found a food source and they'll be breeding too.

 

If you release it less than about 3 miles away it'll be back (& is it kind to release it far away?) and can you actually cope with what to do with an angry, trapped rat?

 

Mice? I caught a squirrel in one, not fun handling that (but at least I knew who our culprit was).

 

I doubt you will solve a rat problem with a humane trap alone.

 

Just a thought.

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I have thought about these things and as I'm a bit of a soft touch, it is still preferable to killing them.

 

There are some woodland areas around here, we were hoping to do the release there (armed with a pair of nice thick gardening gloves just in case).

 

Thanks everyone for your advice.

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Hi Scooby

 

Boy rats really are in the forum at the moment! Like you, I really don't like the thought of killing anything - rats/foxes etc are simply following their natural instincts to live/feed etc - HOWEVER the one thing about rats that makes me think of them as an exception is because of the diseases they carry and can pass on (think of the Plague!)

 

At the moment we have rats under our cube - I wrote a thread about it last week and as well as following Egluntines advise of putting the hose down the little critters run holes before covering them up, I also called in the rat man to lay bait.

 

It is just because of the diseases they cause that I can't justify in my own mind letting them stay or putting them somewhere else - just my view - however I preferred calling somebody in rather than do it myself.

 

On a couple of threads some people have challenged others because their recommendations aren't legal and I certainly feel strongly about the use of unnecessary violence - is seems like rats/foxes brings out a different side to people sometimes!

 

Best wishes with whatever you do!

 

Cathy

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You have to kill rats. It isn't fair to present them to someone else. And as other people have said, they are likely to run straight back to you anyway.

 

They are nasty dangerous creatures. Remember that they are capable of eating dosy chickens alive in the night, and get rid of them. Think about Weil's disease (and the sewers they have come up from if you are in the city).

 

One of the reasons that we have such a plague of rats at the moment is that people are nurturing them by default instead of dealing with them. I believe that anyone who keeps chickens has a duty to get rid of them completely, because chickens attract rats like a magnet.

 

I would go even further and say that anyone who hasn't got the stomach to kill sewer rats shouldn't be keeping chickens.

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We had a rat(s) digging under the eglu and into the run to get to the food, when horses moved into the field next door. I am unable to bring the food in every night as I work away from home a few nights per week.

 

The solution was to lay the eglu and run onto slabs. This stopped the burrowing and haven't seen evidence of a rat since.

 

We all have opinions on this and that is good. Thats what makes it a forum.

 

:D

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It is illegal to catch them and then release them under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Section 14.

 

:shock: I'm really surprised at this. Is this true? By all means, if it is illegal to catch then release them then I would certainly not break the law. Why would you be able to purchase a humane trap then? :shock:

 

*goes off to search t'internet*.....

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I can't find the thread myself now, but the Super Rat does exist. They breed so fast that the ones resistant to poison are already evolving.

 

There was an article about it here in the Oxford Mail, but I expect there is more in other local newspapers in the south, which is plagued by the Super Rat.

 

I swear by traps, and think they are also more humane. But you do have to mind your fingers: they are scarily strong. Inside a compost heap covered by a proper lid is the best place.

 

We had four whole weeks without rats, but they are back again now. They just love the Eglu. (I am getting very close to ordering a second Cube instead....)

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Many of you have probably seen this already, but in this months "Practical Poultry" which I think was out in the middle of the month has an article about rodents/rats etc and exactly what is and isn't legal and what they recommend to stop further problems.

 

Re-read it yesterday and it does back up a lot of what other forum readers are saying... it is illegal to drown them, but it IS legal to shoot them BUT ONLY IF IT IS A CLEAN SHOT TO THE HEAD. I don't agree with the shooting thing at all.. but that is just me.

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Hi all,

 

We live in equilibrium with rats at best - thats all. They do not go away just because you kill/trap/poison etc. Your only chance is to try to keep numbers down and where possible make it risky for them to get at food. ANything you do otherwise tips the scales in their favour. They are fecund and will overrun if 'helped'! I have no information about homing instincts but agree whole heartedly with the notion that releasing them into the wild (notwithstanding the illegality) is simply giveg the problem to someone else.

 

They learn VERY quickly. They balance the acquisition of energy against the effort it takes to secure it. If you make it easy for them - they stay. If they can go somewhere else and get easier food they will. Simple stuff.

 

I know there are lots of folk who abhore even the thought of killing anything and I respect that. I also know that rats will never be on the endangered list and whilst Bhuddism has many attractions, cuddling flea ridden, disease spreading vermin puts me off the rather fetching orange toga's and chanting. Gouranga indeed!

 

In my humble opinion you have to 'get rid' to be sure.

 

If you can't kill them you'll need to find ways of reducing their impact as 'humane' traps just move the problem around.

 

Sorry.

 

Loz

 

PS if you get a small terrier and let him/her out on his/her own you may not need to be involved!!

 

Edit and you'll find that 'hunting' with dogs in this instance is perfectly legal!!

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