Rat catching in a house.

[brightspark]

A lad i knew had a serious problem with mice. Plastered the place with poison and he and the family went on 2 weeks hol's. He came back and the house was stinking to high heaven. He asked me what could be done. Short of taking up the floorboards, absolutely nothing. Gross it was.

At least you lads in the UK can buy an air rifle without much fuss, cannot do that here. Ideal tool for the job.

cant you just buy one if your over 17?

 

[Bryan Williams]

A simple DIY device - piece of decking or floorboard about 6" long, saw a slit across the middle, wedge a razorblade sticking upwards in slit..
Mouse /rat comes along climbs onto wood, puts head on razorblade, thinks 'Where's the cheese' looks left and right, job done.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Most traps have indifferent triggers & a bit of work with a file or slip stone is worthwhile so they can be set nice & light.

Problem is getting the balance right so its sensitive enough to activate and get the mouse/rat without breaking your fingers as you try and place it down on the floor without it getting you.

 

[brightspark]

Problem is getting the balance right so its sensitive enough to activate and get the mouse/rat without breaking your fingers as you try and place it down on the floor without it getting you.

thats why you use a fen trap open it up. it has a safety latch on it clip it on then set the plate and catch then lift the safety catch off job doneRat versus Fenn trap. Explosive action - YouTube

 

[ronan]

cant you just buy one if your over 17?

Nope, you have to have a licence for everything.

 

[Matchless]

A lad i knew had a serious problem with mice. Plastered the place with poison and he and the family went on 2 weeks hol's. He came back and the house was stinking to high heaven. He asked me what could be done. Short of taking up the floorboards, absolutely nothing. Gross it was.

At least you lads in the UK can buy an air rifle without much fuss, cannot do that here. Ideal tool for the job.

That was a very rare dot matrix printer, I could not shoot that!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Nope, you have to have a licence for everything.

Same up here too.

 

[brightspark]

Same up here too.

even air rifles ??not here you dont but there is nowhere legal to shoot them in public it has to be private land and there lies the problem for most

 

[ronan]

even air rifles ??not here you dont but there is nowhere legal to shoot them in public it has to be private land and there lies the problem for most

The only way really is to join a club or ask a farmer.

 

[brightspark]

im ok had shotguns and rifles and tickets were from farmers that had licences for shooting for that type of fire arm on there land most cant

 

[slim_boy_fat]

even air rifles ??not here you dont but there is nowhere legal to shoot them in public it has to be private land and there lies the problem for most

'Fraid so. OK, the iicence isn't a fortune ( £86-odd for 3 years iirc) but it's all the having written permission to shoot on land etc I couldn't be a*sed with, so surrendered my Webly pistol.

 

[Jlg]

Either a air rifle like I used to do until I got told of for shooting them in the house or a glue bord with a malt easer in the middle

 

[plantlife]

I just remembered my parents neighbor was "killing" the rats under her shed with chocolate. Apparently chocolate kills them!
My parents were using poison to kill the same rats, however they'd often get a 'drunk' rat coming into the garden. The effects of the poison need to be considered, rats dying/off their faces on poison.
I seen one, at my parents two years ago. It walked through a garden of five adults...unaware. Unless it was the chocolate or it hadn't ate enough poison

 

[DAPPH]

Problem is getting the balance right so its sensitive enough to activate and get the mouse/rat without breaking your fingers as you try and place it down on the floor without it getting you.

An easy effective way round that is to make a wooden paddle a bit like a dust pan with a raised handle and use silicone to glue the fixed part of the trap down to the wood . Set the mouse / rat break back trap whilst it's at table top height pick up the paddle and gently put it on the floor .. your fingers are well away from the killing bit should it in the unlikely situation go off as you are presenting it .


For my paddles I've used scrap 200 mm wide , UPVC windowcill plastic turned it so the lip is now an upstand and silicone'd galv steel traps on it . Each base is about twice as wide as the trap so the rat/mouse tends be reaching up & forward to be ready to pull at the bait rather than chew a bit off it . I think this is the reason they are very very effective & ................. I've never nipped my pinkies or anything else in them

 

[Robbie260]

The most permanent solution to your problem or a good ratting dog. But even just the smell of a cat is enough to make them scarper.

 

[DAPPH]

View attachment 270376

The most permanent solution to your problem or a good ratting dog. But even just the smell of a cat is enough to make them scarper.

One property we purchased to renovate as we lived in it had been used as dog breeding units in the out buildings . Each dog cubicle had a six inch raised platform filled with de dusted shavings & a black heat bulb over it in the whelping units . Got the fright of my life when i started to dismantle them when a full grown feeding mother rat flew out in my direction. Our Goldie took care of it . I pushed an exhaust extension tube coming of the tiller under each platform and fumed them before I lifted them out .. .. four more rats came out. They had been there many months judging by the size of the nests , living with the enemy so to speak .

Same with cats , . out in the sticks of Lincolnshire we were invaded by field rats once we'd had the first frost. The four smallholding cats would sit hunched up on various high points in the covered in yard and the rats would be hopping in & out their beds water bowls & any boots or wellies left there . A cat can only kill or eat so many rats & mice before it gives up and becomes a spectator .

 

[brightspark]

had fun yesterday the dog was hanging around a plastic chest we have outdoors on the pebbles . i saw a hole underneath and got the dog and pulled the chest round sure enough there was a big rat it flew off before i could stamp on it or the dog get it 2 day dog hanging round the greenhouse went and looked and its taken residence under a paving slab under greenhousecant find the fentrap so ordered a new one . get it on tues ive set a live catch but its doubtfull cos theres plenty of birdseed to eat .will report back when ive caught it. was gonna use propane and oxy but might set the shed on fire

 

[MattF]

thats why you use a fen trap open it up. it has a safety latch on it clip it on then set the plate and catch then lift the safety catch off job doneRat versus Fenn trap. Explosive action - YouTube

Easiest way is a funnel trap. They can squeeze through a gradually narrowing tube, but they can't get back through once in the cage.

 

[brightspark]

Easiest way is a funnel trap. They can squeeze through a gradually narrowing tube, but they can't get back through once in the cage.

thats my live catch theres spikes in tunnel so once half in the spikes dig in and they cant reverse and drop through the gate

 

[Barking Mat]

thats my live catch theres spikes in tunnel so once half in the spikes dig in and they cant reverse and drop through the gate

Thats a good idea, bloody back here again. Very discrete. Buggers.