Topic: rat problems

[Mushy Pea]

It's a shame really. I didn't think this site attracted bigots. I really thought we were all above this.  :'( All this nonsense spoils it.

This thread is about rat problems not race.

[Carol]

Re:  Rats.  Can you not get the Council out to put their sealed boxes of poison out.  They find out where the 'runs' are and place the boxes there.

Weils Disease:   I had an Uncle die from this many years ago.  He was a Gamekeeper and had removed a Rat from a trap.  He foolishly did not wash his hands before lighting his pipe.  The disease got into his system and 5 days later he was dead.

[Borlotti]

I found a dead rat on my allotment and after a lot of screaming, a nice man came and buried it for me.  Yesterday the allotment next to mine had a dead fox on it, I was too scared to look at it.  Don't mind them alive.  We think someone must be poisoning them and are now worried about the allotment cat as didn't see it yesterday.  Must finish on the computer in a minute and go up to the allotment and hope I don't find any dead animals.  A lot of people have put slug pellets down, do you think that could have poisoned the rats/foxes.  I also have plenty of red ants, and was chased by wasps.  We burnt that nest out and it was really scary and I couldn't dig one end of the allotment.

[calendula]

I doubt there will ever be an extinction of rats in this country and the measures to try and cope with them just bring more poisons into the environment which too has its hazards

there cannot be a wild animal or insect that doesn't carry, bacteria, ticks, fleas, parasites, stings, poisons etc than can harm humans, so what do we do, kill them all?

domestic cats are a threat to young children, shall we kill them all, deer carry ticks that cause Lyme disease, shall we kill them all, honey bee sting can kill someone who is susceptible, shall we wipe them out

the food chain is massive and yet humans always want to gouge out a great chunk of it - at our peril, in time

brown rats, like a lot of others, have a 90% mortality rate which takes care of a lot of them

PS if you knew what was in a tetanus jab you might think twice as well

rant over, thank you and good night  ;D

[Theplotthickens]

Re:  Rats.  Can you not get the Council out to put their sealed boxes of poison out.  They find out where the 'runs' are and place the boxes there.

Unfortunately after the rat has taken it`s belly full of poison away, it may die somewhere in the open and present a danger to cats/foxes/dogs/birds of prey etc.
Trapping/baiting runs is a better and safer option.

[Mr Smith]

How very sad for all those fluffy fury rats but did we not have a problem in this country back in the 1600's called the Bubonic plague or was it just me reading mi 'Dandy' in class when I should of been paying attention to the history lesson about the history of this great country of ours  ;)

[valmarg]

Not to mention the 'Black Death' in 1348, also caused by rats.

valmarg

[calendula]

these are the same plagues just different names and it was bacterium that was responsible not rats - this bacterium exists with or without rats, please do get facts right  :)

[asbean]

The rats were only carrying the disease - it wasn't their fault.  If the plague had been spread by horses, perhaps we'd have different attitudes towards horses and rats.

Rats are actually highly intelligent animals, and make fantastic (and clean) pets.  The ones who live in the wild didn't choose to be put on this earth, they manage to feed themselves and survive (very well) with our help.  If we didn't inappropriately throw away as much food as we do there wouldn't be enough for them to survive and their numbers would decrease.  But all the junk food and kebabs and burgers that's chucked (and puked) onto the streets will only serve to ensure they stay.  Chucking poison at them won't solve the problem, reducing their food supply will.

[Mr Smith]

I actually give on people  making excuses on behalf of the rat population, I doubt very much that they have ever seen one or knowingly ever been close to one or gone out trapped them and disposed of them for local farmers, go and see the damage that they can do to grain silos and stocks of animal feed, the next time you drive through the countryside look between the hedgerow and the crop, you will see a big divide that is caused by the rat population.

[Borlotti]

I am very sad about the dead foxes and will be even more sad if I don't see the allotment cat tomorrow.  I wasn't aware of rats on the allotment until we kept finding them dead.  Did anyone see Gardners World with Joe Swift and my good friends on the allotment.  Hope Joe hasn't got rats.  I was the one smiling two weeks ago with the hat when I didn't win for my beans, courgettes and potatoes.  Manuel's allotment is beautiful, and his pumpkin is really good.  Sorry if that sounds rude, but I mean his pumpkin.

[valmarg]

these are the same plagues just different names and it was bacterium that was responsible not rats - this bacterium exists with or without rats, please do get facts right  :)

I thought rats were the vectors in both cases, ie spreaders.

valmarg

[asbean]

I doubt very much that they have ever seen one or knowingly ever been close to one

Mr Smith, please do not presume to know what other people's experience of rats and other vermin are. You certainly know nothing about me. I have been up close and personal with more "nasties" and creepy crawlies than most people have had hot dinners. Rats, scorpions, cockroaches, snakes, centipedes, land crabs, chiggers, fleas and ticks are just a small selection. Even now I automatically look for weevils when I sift the flour.  I picked weevils out of my children's Farleys rusks when they were babies - they are now in their late 30s and seem to have survived. My brother-in-law is a farmer and I have spent many summers working on the farm (wow, I even saw some rats!).

[Theplotthickens]

Quick check and these are the diseases which can be spread from rats to humans(pecentage is how many found with disease in UK 1995)......

WORMS
the liver worm Capillaria in 23%
the cestode Hymenolepsis diminuta in 22%
the cestode Hymenolepsis nana in 11%

BACTERIA
Leptospira spp. bacteria causing Weil's disease in 14%
Listeria spp. bacteria causing listeriosis in 11%
Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria causing yersiniosis in 11%
Pasturella spp. bacteria causing Pasturellosis in 6%
Pseudomonas spp. bacteria causing Meilioidosis in 4%

PROTAZOA
Cryptosporidium parvum causing cryptosporidiosis in 63%
Toxoplasma gondii causing toxoplasmosis in 35%

RICKETTSIA
Coxiella burnetti evidence of infection by Q fever in 34%

VIRUSES
Hantavirus causing Hantaan-fever or hemorrhagic fever in 5%   :o :o :o

ECTOPARASITES - (note: these ectoparasites are vectors for diseases which are transmissible to humans, such as typhus)

    *  Fleas found on 100% of the rats
    * Mites found on 67%
    * Lice found on 38%

 :o :o :o :o :o

[asbean]

OMG  :o :o :o :o :o :o :o  That is SOOO shocking.  I think you'll find that 100% of hedgehogs have fleas too (at least 100% of the ones I've seen have)

And what about all the viruses and bacteria and STDs that humans pass around ... ... ...

[Theplotthickens]

And what about all the viruses and bacteria and STDs that humans pass around ... ... ...

Don`t have a trap big enough for them  ;D