Advice needed to sort a problem

[Chippendale]

A rat has appeared in our garden, can any of you vermin hunters tell me what is the most affective bait to attract a rat to a position that I can shoot it and where is the best place to set the bait, i.e by a wall, in a corner , under a board or something that will give the rat a sense of cover. need to get this rat as the missus is non too pleased.
Not shot anything that breaths for a long time, goes against my nature but needs must, wonder if Chris Packham wants it

Cheers

Mel


Chippendale (with clothes on)

[bighit]

Peanut butter on something it can't drag away.

[artschool]

last time i had to kill a rat it took the following:

night vision scope
thermal spotter
air rifle
jar of nutella.

[Chippendale]

last time i had to kill a rat it took the following:

night vision scope
thermal spotter
air rifle
jar of nutella.

Thanks,
No night scope
No thermal spotter
No Nutella

Not much chance for me then is there.

Cheers

Chippendale (with clothes on)

[Artfull-Bodger]

Hate to break the bad news but rats don't live alone.

[jonny neate]

Only about £15.00, catch it and despatch it at your lesure.
Jonny

[Shed tuner]

Only about £15.00, catch it and despatch it at your lesure.
Jonny

Whilst shooting is more fun, this approach is probably more efficient....

[artschool]

Only about £15.00, catch it and despatch it at your lesure.
Jonny

£15.

where is the satisfaction in that when you can be using thousands of pounds worth of gear to achieve the same result

[Chippendale]

Cheers lads, thanks for the advice will put it all to good use and let you know how I get on
Regards
Mel

[flyingfish]

I put some cheap solar lights on the lawn under the bird feeder. We only get an occasional rat. We have a ground feeder. If it suddenly starts emptying overnight I know we have a visitor.
4 in 2 years is all
Pete

[johnbaz]

Mel, We had a rat mopping up the seed from below the bird feeder, I bought two cheap rat traps and just baited them with seed, Got the little sod although the trap was so light it only gave the rat a glancing blow..

It was enough to knock the bugger out cold though and blood was coming down it's nose (It was in the middle of the day!) The edge of the sweeping brush finished the job whilst Ratty was out of it!!

Next time i'll stick some steel plate under the traps!!

I removed the loose seed feeders as the birds used to throw the stuff all over, No more rats!!


John

[flyingfish]

Hi Mel
I have used white bread which I stake down with a tent peg. A little nutella on it if like. The white bread gives you a silhouette at dusk.

Pete

[Chippendale]

Hi Mel
I have used white bread which I stake down with a tent peg. A little nutella on it if like. The white bread gives you a silhouette at dusk.

Pete

Cheers Pete, will give it a go tomorrow.

Mel

[Shedder]

If it is regular visitor to your garden it must be getting some food either in your garden or in a neighbours garden - for example seeds dropping off a bird table. If you can work out what it is living on, you might have more luck trying to bait it with the same food. In my limited experience, if they are used to eating bird table droppings or hen/chicken food, they are not necessarily going to be interested in something new like peanut butter or nutella.

In any case they are more likely to be interested in your bait/attractant if their normal source of food has been removed or "hidden"

They seem to like to eat near some sort of cover, rather than out in the open.
A few times we have just had solitary visitors to the garden rather than a family, and they do seem to be creatures of habit in terms of the time of day when they feed - so if you have seen the rat at one time of day, that might be a good time of day to look out for it with your gun.

[NewPaul]

Don't use 'solid' bait as it will just pick it up and leg it. Peanut butter works for me as they have to stop in their tracks to eat it or a little pile of small grain bird seed if that's what they/it are used to. Is it usually out in the daytime ? Note what time if you can, they are creatures of habit. Now, if it is a daytime rat, there are most likely more around as the dominant ones push the smaller/weaker ones out in the day to leave safer/richer pickings after dark for themselves.
Having said all that, I've caught many in a standard rat trap at home once I've Sussed there runs which is usually alongside a wall or fence.

Good luck Mel and let us know how you get on