It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got a Spring
My advice would be;
Do nothing !
Let your Council People /Pest Control handle matters.
They're the experts and are both licenced and insured to deal with the problem.
Worst case scenario, Don't attempt to shoot it !
You may damage something, worst of all, yourself !
“An airgun or two”………
Banned
OK I've been watching this thread with interest, I wasn't going to get involved as I am a full time pestie of nearly twenty years, because of this I can get myself in big trouble if I give advice and something goes wrong.
So, I'm going to say by law your neighbour should have been left with a report sheet of what he has had done in the loft by the council bod.
Professional pest controllers do not just shove sticky boards in there! Messers do that! We use them as an absolute last resort. They must be checked a couple if times in every 24 hours.
Rats are neophobic so live catch is problematic, killing traps such as a fenn mk 4/6 can be disguised and work quite well if set properly, but can foul catch if not done correctly.
Rats need a water source and obviously a food source, hopefully neither are in the loft so it's coming and going from the property or down into the drains.
Correct baiting in the loft with suitable bait should pose no specific danger to bops or pets, but good practice would be to check around the outside of the property in the morning to make sure it has not died outside.
Lastly as there is an authorised person dealing with it I would say it might be worth saying to your neighbour that said pestie can have access to your loft also.
Get that Ivy down and block the whole.
Ask neighbours to stop over feeding wild birds or domestic fowl 99% of my domestic rodent work is because of this.
Last edited by Mole trapper; 21-01-2018 at 10:05 PM.
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Thanks again for the replies.
My next door neighbour does throw lots of bread on their shed roof which is at the bottom of their garden. Due to their house being South West, and the wind often coming from that direction, the bread gets blown onto my garden. Maybe that has attracted ratty.
The only food in my garden is inside the ferret shed. Just a small bowl of ferret dried food. There's really no way the rat can get into the ferret shed to get at that food. I'm not sure a rat would anyway as the hobs in there are huge. I went to a zoo once. They had ferrets running around in the aviary. I asked why that was and was told that they often let ferrets wee and poo in the aviaries, as that deters rats from entering the aviaries, as the rats don't fancy being confronted by a ferret.
The Ivy is coming down. The hole will be blocked. I'll ring the council tomorrow and see what they have to say.
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Just a quick update ...Originally Posted by Mole trapper
The Council guy has left a report.
He's not put traps down. He's put down poison in next doors loft. Difenacoum and Brodifacoum.
I spoke to a local pro controller who said that he knew the council would have done that. He said that he wouldn't have put poison down as he would want a corpse to remove. So he would have used traps. He actually asked if there's a tree in the garden as well as the Ivy. I said that there is a large Ash tree. He said it wouldn't surprise him if it was a squirrel rather than a rat. I said the Council guy said he's see rat droppings. He said on many occasions he's followed the Council and found squirrels and not rats when they've said it is rats.
The local pro guy said it's best if I do nowt for now and see if the Council sort it. He did say that if the poison kills it and it dies inside the property then there will be a smell for about 5 weeks. He also warned to check the gardens every morning before letting the dogs out. The Council left a report and on that report there is an Emergency Action card to give to hospitals or vets. Basically says to treat with Vitamin K1, as that's the antidote.
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Well ... the rat is dead.
At least ... a rat is dead.
The noises in the loft stopped. A dead rat was found in the neighbours back garden. No noises in the loft now for a couple of weeks since the corpse was found. The council guy came and took the dead rat away.
So it looks like the poison did the trick and the corpse thankfully wasn't hidden in the loft somewhere.
Registered User
Good result especially that a corpse was found. There's a lot of other animals apart from your dogs that could have eaten it that wouldn't have a vet. Hate poisoning, I prefer live traps, though the crafty buggers are ignoring mine now.
Registered User
Just last week I had what sounded like a heard of Elephants crashing about in the loft, when I went up I found a mouse with its leg caught in one of those "big cheese" plastic snap traps.
Would never have thought something that small could make so much noise dragging the trap about.
Registered User
Its amaizing how much noise comes from a mouse in the middle of the night, it always sounds like they've got glogs on.
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