Rats.

[asterix]

That sounds like an excellent cat!

 

[dellzeqq]

(and proust would not be invited, even if he was alive.. )

don't be such a snob. Everybody has their little quirks.. (Actually he had quite a few, but I'll hold those over for another thread....)

 

[fossyant]

I won't lend you our three cats - useless. Butterflies and the odd field mouse. They don't bother with squirrels, and hadn't a clue what to do when the neighbour's rabbit escaped... rabbit sat in middle of road with three cats 'looking' at it..

 

[Cubist]

I'll loan you the stray cat that's been stalking me.
Last summer, it would kill and leave a dead rat outside the back door almost every day. Though I've only had a few mouse pressies and the occasional pigeon this year.

One of our cats (a semi-feral) left a young dead rat in Dad's slipper one morning. He thought it was an old dishcloth at first, and got quite a shock when he removed it!

 

[Cubist]

Cubester's gone ratting this morning, but it's a bit of a long way down to your spot Kitty!

 

[Sambu]

girlfriends cat brought a small hare into her kitchen once and regularly totes dead/half dead rabbits about! what you need is an owl!

 

[Speicher]

Yes, it must be nearly lunchtime!

 

[Muddyfox]

.22 for rats. (.177 is a smaller pellet and more likely to over penetrate. ) Nite-vision best as they are too quick under a lamp.

A mate of mine uses a .25 pcp with night vision for ratting with very good success .. another trick is to lay some food as a trap cat food on a plate is always a good one as its quite smelly and attracts the rats but make sure you water it down so that its a bit sloppy otherwise the rats will just grab a bit and go if its sloppy they have to linger for a while

Kitty if you want to go down the shooting them with airguns route then try a post here Airgun BBS Forum ... its the top Airgun forum in the country with responsible and serious airgun enthusiast's, most wll have BASA insurance as well

I'm a member of the forum and a few others if you would like any help in arranging someone to help you out then please feel free to PM me

Simon

 

[Lisa21]

When I saw the "b***ard rat bike" thread i thought youd posted again Kitty.....cant get the image outta my head now of the little blighters peddaling like mad around your yard


got any hairspray yet???..............................................

 

[badkitty]

don't be such a snob. Everybody has their little quirks..

No sorry. I'm abiding by the first rule of kink on this one: what I do is normal, what everyone else does is perverted.

what you need is an owl!

You're right. Am researching the best way to get them into the yard, or at least the woods around them.



Have decided that I need more help on this and am currently tracking down some local terrier men. Mainly because it might be more exciting than the rat man.
And I would rather the dogs dealt with the corpses than me. I've already despatched 12 of them so far by fork and drowning and really can't face any more.

Especially as the last one I threw a fork at just wouldn't die, and I screamed like a girl and got one of the lads to come and finish it off. And it put me off my lunch.

So thanks everyone for all the astounding and varied ideas and advice..it's helped a lot.* I have a plan now. Will get this lot sorted and then get a gun to play with later on once they are under control again.

*(apart from Crackle - I will never ever abandon my fiddle for a mere pipe! Wash your mouth out man! )

Still, would've been a great party...

 

[biggs682]

we have one just arrived or seen in last couple of days

 

[SteelUn]

If you hadn't been a badkitty...

 

[Smokin Joe]

also if going for the air rifle route, go for a 1.77 instead of a .22 as it's a larger pellet, don't use points as they'll just come out the other side leaving an injury, use domes of flats or specific vermin pellets as the impact is larger, bigger wound, more likely to kill in one shot.

I use .22 pointed pellets and have killed dozens with one shot. Last year I tried Bisley Pest Control pellets (concave head to expand on impact). The first rat I shot went squealing over the back with a pellet up it's arse (didn't kill it but it's next fart can't have been much fun) and the second one took three pellets to finish it off. I was on the point of beating it to death with a shovel before it finally turned turtle and signed off.

Back to points and back to clean kills.

BTW, if you scrape the head off a red match and into a pellet then seal it in with a little bit of wax the pellets explode on impact (or so I've been told).

 

[Maz]

I was listening to a R4 programme just the other day. Rat poison has limited effectiveness - this is because rats are unable to vomit, so they have developed an instinct to only nibble cautiously at any 'food' they are not familiar with. If it makes them unwell, they learn not to touch it again.

Maybe rat traps or getting in pest controllers would work.

 

[Riding in Circles]

Definitely terriers, they put the fear into the rats and as a result the survivors move on after a few events.