Ratty old shite (literally)

[Guest Breadvan72]

I have a rat or maybe a mouse living in my daily shed, which is a 2001 Alfa 156. This first came to light when my daughter left a creme egg in the car. This was found unwrapped and chewed the next day. I then deliberately left a bit of railway baguette in a wrapper on the floor, and this too has been nommed. The boot has lots of shredded paper in it.

 

I wouldn't mind so much, as live and let live, but the critter may piss up me carpets or chew me wires. The local rats are immune to the generally available poisons, so no point bunging some bait packs in. I am surprised the thing has not died of thirst, but maybe it licks the windows at night. I suppose that I should look in the spare wheel well to see if it kips there, but maybe it has found some groovy rat pad under the back seat or summat. Anyway, arse.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Rats are well clever innit. Do you think I can get the beast to drive me home from the station when I have had twelve Martinis and a Shandy chaser?

[beko1987]

Full strip of the interior should flush it out. You can borrow my crap vax or crap Aquamaster to vac it all out if you want?

 

We got flushed out of our flat in stokenchurch cos of rats, the bastard seemed to like the various shit put down by the council...

 

Know someone with a terrier and shotgun if that helps?

[drum]

Most likely mice finding there way in via an alfa panel gap.

[fairkens]

you need a cat or a jack russel

[Guest Breadvan72]

I think it got in via a bag of household rubbish that I absent mindedly left in the boot for a week. We had rats in the house but the council dude killed them with strong poison. The smell of dead rats under floor boards is quite something. Moving house on Saturday (for reasons unrelated to rodents) so whatevs. New pad has a barn but it is rented out to some dude for his posh classics, so my shite ones must stay outdoors.

[twosmoke300]

Dont rats carry food away to eat and mice eat it where it is?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Living in the Archers/Vicar of Dibley land,there must be a wizened,smelly individual sitting in the corner of the local, you know,the one that looks like a serial killer and lives with his mother,that noones seen since 1994.

Anyway in his Discovery,there will be at least 2 Jack Russel Terriers,you should borrow these and leave them in the Alfa for 10 minutes.

I got rid of the rats in my shed using this foolproof* method, admittedly they destroyed the shed doing far more damage than the rats ever did but I'm sure a 156 is better built than my old Victorian privvy / coal house.

Added advantage is that PshycoYokel will nod to you whenever you go in the pub, giving you a certain prestige amongst the weekending yuppies.

[Louise2cv]

Big trap with some bacon on. You can get rat traps in b&q and I would imagine it wouldn't be too healthy for a mouse to eat from its trigger either.

 

Reliable, fairly quick and easy to monitor the success rate.

[fairkens]

you would have to deal with the erm... mess afterward then though

 

being a cat owner I have seen enough dismembered mice and rats to last me a lifetime

[Louise2cv]

The traps I have used have been fairly unmessy, and its better than having to go searching for a poisioned body, which could be anywhere, or decomposing surely?

[MarvinsMom]

using spring traps like a little nipper is i think a better death for the rodent too, been damn quick and instant.

 

been poisened is a horrible slow way to die, plus as louise says, finding the remains afterwards is so much easier.

[twosmoke300]

An italian tune up is all thats needed

[vulgalour]

[PiperCub]

using spring traps like a little nipper is i think a better death for the rodent too, been damn quick and instant.

 

been poisened is a horrible slow way to die, plus as louise says, finding the remains afterwards is so much easier.

 

That's the best way, I've used these so-called old fashioned traps in my old place that had mice a couple of times, death is instantaneous (if you doubt the force of these - put your finger in and find out............. no don't, take my word for it).

Plus if you poison them, they apparently tend to find secluded (read - inaccessable) places to die, where they then decompose and stink.

 

Also, as a chap my dad used to work with who used to be a pest controller told him -  under NO circumstances use any cheese as a bait, it's the worst thing in the world and only works in cartoons (God knows where they got the idea from). The reason is the smell is so strong to the sensitive nose of a rodent, they will just avoid the trap! You've already shown the best bait - chocolate, anything sweet & sweet-smelling they love, a small piece of normal milk chocolate is ideal, I used this to bait a trap in my kitchen at the time, took literally a few minutes before 'SNAP' - exit Mickey stage left.

[barefoot]

If you can get hold of a couple of dozen butterflies you could fill the car with them.

[overrun]

There's always the humane see-saw type traps, too.

They are very sensitive and highly effective.

 

When you find Roland, he will have fogged up the place, with his panic breathing and be pacing around in his own shit.

 

WHO'S IN CHARGE FUCKER NEXT TIME YOU WON'T BE SO FORTUNATE

[Louise2cv]

We had the humane ones at the botanic gardens. It had trip one morning so I gingerly peered inside to find it empty with a whacking great hole chewed through the metal.

 

Would not recommend.

[Guest Breadvan72]

My experience is that rat traps only work once for each population of rats, as rats learn fast. Endless numbers of mice will throw themselves at the same trap, but once one rat in a group dies on a trap the others say "that's a trap, that is", and go around it.

[Guest Breadvan72]

I add that recently I have shot two and trapped one, but most of the house rats became stinky corpses under floors after council bloke used the strong stuff. I like the nodding boss eyed yokel idea, but already know him, and he's the dude who brings the firewood and hasn't got any fags.

[Guest Breadvan72]

Dags, not fags.

[Louise2cv]

I have heard that some farmers put "Irish spring deoderant soap" or something in their harvesting machinery for the off-season to ward off wire nibblers. It was on Jeremy Vine once so it must be true!

 

Think people sell it on amazon now as a pest control rather than as toiletries.

[HillmanImp]

I had a mouse living in the seat of the GT6 for a bit. I noticed as the foam inside was all over the floor underneath when it had burrowed into it. Snappy trap with a wine gum on finished it off.  

 

I was quite surprised it had survived the gassing before I even knew it was there.

[cort16]

Just clear the code for rodent on your ODBII reader.

 

One of my friends parked his nearly new 911 in a garage in Edinburgh while he was a way for a couple of months and he came back to it totally destroyed. Most of the stuff out the seats, the leather on the dash chewed off and all the wiring chewed. It was in the paper at the time but I can't find the article anywhere.

[martc]

For some reason I find it humorous that the rat trap is called the "nipper" and the mouse trap is the "little nipper". It is both amusing and a bit sinister. Someone at Proctor Brothers has a sick sense of humour...

 

I agree that chocolate is a far more efficient bait.

 

The problem is should you hear a snapping sound during driving you won't know if it's your little friend meeting it's maker or the mouse getting it in the neck.

[Hertz]

I had a mouse in our garage last year, droppings everywhere. Lived in the back of my Stella beer fridge.

 

Just got a tub of bait poison and placed them all over the place, soon finished him off. Worth a try maybe?

 

I think our furry friend came in with the straw bedding we use for Captain the Rabbit.

[beko1987]

Living in the Archers/Vicar of Dibley land,there must be a wizened,smelly individual sitting in the corner of the local, you know,the one that looks like a serial killer and lives with his mother,that noones seen since 1994.

Anyway in his Discovery,there will be at least 2 Jack Russel Terriers,you should borrow these and leave them in the Alfa for 10 minutes.

I got rid of the rats in my shed using this foolproof* method, admittedly they destroyed the shed doing far more damage than the rats ever did but I'm sure a 156 is better built than my old Victorian privvy / coal house.

Added advantage is that PshycoYokel will nod to you whenever you go in the pub, giving you a certain prestige amongst the weekending yuppies.

 

I could probably name one or two! If you go into the Lambert Arms, SWMBO's brother in Law will be propping up the bar pretty pissed (swmbo's sister and their dogs may be there too). He'll know someone sober enough to shoot a rat, or he may offer to have a go as is (he only lives up the road, has ammo and guns iirc - fuly legal too)

 

Failing that Vic may know, he will be even more drunk than Karl... Going by the state of his Dyson that I refurbished last year he's killed a few rats before...

 

/inbred mode off

[skattrd]

I think my Spyder has mice, something has chewed the seat a bit so I threw a bait box in there the other week. I'm hoping that kills the offender and I'm just praying the wiring is untouched.

[rainagain]

There's always the humane see-saw type traps, too.

They are very sensitive and highly effective.

 

When you find Roland, he will have fogged up the place, with his panic breathing and be pacing around in his own shit.

 

WHO'S IN CHARGE FUCKER NEXT TIME YOU WON'T BE SO FORTUNATE

 

I used the see-saw traps in my last house when we lived in the country. Never had any problems with them, good excuse to have a nice walk to drop the mouse off in the woods as well. I'm assuming it's more likely you have a mouse than a rat living in the car??? I don't know if they would work with rats. Or you could use the old trap my grandad used to use, smear some chocolate on the inside of a bowl and put it upside down with one edge balanced on a coin, mouse goes under bowl, mouse licks bowl, bowl falls, mouse trapped.  

[Peter Patina]

Last winter, I removed 12 rats from a house using a see-saw trap placed alongside a skirting board. Cheese worked well as bait: 100% success. The trick is not to touch any part of the trap with your bare hands, as rats recognise our scent and scarper.

 

The ickle babby rats were cyoooot and squeaky. Their parents were the size of small dogs and vicious as hell. I rehomed them all some miles distant in a woodland area [they can navigate their way home from up to 3 miles away]. As brown rats are regarded as an indigenous species, this is legal. Check the traps regularly, as they do get very distressed whilst incarcerated.

 

The first rat I saw was at my eye-level, in a hanging fruit bowl, nomming on the apple it was sat on. It held my gaze for a few seconds then carried on with its apple.