[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by geebabe

Absolutely! Kill them! Along with diseases and parasites they are very destructive. I have no sympathy for them at all. (Fortunately I have no experiences with rats, just mice.) They don't get in our house but recently they got into one of our cars. It took my husband a bit of investigating to figure out how they got in the car (newer model car) and fix the problem. However, it took some doing to get rid of the pee smell. GROSS, GROSS, GROSS! (The car has since been traded.)

I feel the same way. I feel no sympathy for rats and mice. I'm scared of them and their diseases.

[counterclockwise]

A harmless rat snake on the premises will get rid of rats.

[DoctorRock25]

When I was working at the cancer research center, I saw Techs kill rats all the time for our learning. It was very upsetting, glad I never had to do it.

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Anyone else ever go through this trauma, just merely killing a rat?

Tonite, I haven't heard a sound coming from underneath those cupboards, and I pray and pray and pray that poor rat didn't die in an agonizing way! And if so, will you please forgive my cruelty?

Hell no. I had a rat under my house 2 years ago, that had chewed through a screen crawlspace door to get to birdseed in my garage. I put rat poison down and was so thankful to find the vermin dead within a week. Rats and mice carry diseases. Do you not know this??

[Rubi3]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Oh Lord! Help! What to do now!! I didn't hear any scratching under the cupboards all day long, thinking this rat was dead, and now I'm hearing scratching again, and my roommate has sealed up that crack with a piece of wood and nails!

I think I'm going to crazy before this is all over!!! That poor rat!!

This rat has been around for a few months now, can't leave any food out in sight, or he'll nimble at, even the food for my ferret! I've never had a problem with rats in the 17 years I've lived in this townhouse, and this a first for me and I'm not dealing with this very well at all!!!

Karma is going to get me for this one!

Rats carry diseases harmful to humans. Roaches are nasty to have in a house. They lay eggs in the food we eat. Any of the varmints or bugs we kill to get rid of are harmful to humans. If a spider is not poisoness, I often don't kill it.

[tijlover]

The rat is still here! He didn't die, as I had hoped! I came home today and there was a small pile of my ferret's food in a little pile on my dining room floor.

I looked at products, online, from Sears/Wall Mart, and the D-con pellets seem to be the top choice of mouse/rat catchers. There's those expensive metal rat catcher devices which electronically zaps the rat, but we're looking at $50 to $125 for them. So I'll try the pellets first, and if should be, I'll get one of those more expensive rat catchers.

So, Plan A, is to block off the upstairs, at the bottom of the stairwell, so my ferret can't go upstairs, and set some pellets up there for a few days, see what happens, as well as putting them in the garage, where he also goes, and put them in higher places where my ferret can't reach them.

And if that doesn't work, I'll close the doggie door, and let my ferret live out in the courtyard and garage, for awhile, and put the pellets downstairs, like under that bathroom sink area.

I talked to a neighbor today, and he thinks, due to the rain we had last month, and being very close to one of our Washes (no rivers in Las Vegas, only temporary wash-type rivers) he thinks the rat came from the Wash, and there's only one rat I'm dealing with, which I believe is true. He's been here over 20 years and hasn't seen a rat around our complex yet. He thinks the rat got washed out of a golf course, got swept into one of our fast-rushing washes somewhere, and got separated from his "family".

I'll keep you updated!

Also just did some research, and for bait, there were 2 recommendations: One, a mixture of borac acid and chicken broth granules, two, a mixture of baking soda/cornmeal and powdered chocolate. My big concern is this rat eating the bait, then dying inside the walls somewhere, or somewhere else that's inaccessible. Oh horrors! How long would it take for the smell to go away!!!

[weltschmerz]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope you all have so very much to be thankful for!

[brokencrayola]

Either set a trap or a live trap so you get the animal itself. If you poison it and it dies within your walls, which is probably will do, you will have that horrible stench in your home. If the rat somehow gets outside and a dog or cat etc. eats or nibbles on it, they will in turn die of poisoning as well. When I lived in the woods we had a mouse problem and only used traps because we had dogs and worried too much about them get poisoned. The longer this takes the more chance you have of others getting in or one of these rats having babies. You will not go to he** because you kill a rat. No, it isn't pleasant but what can happen if you do not get it soon can be far more unpleasant. P.S. Most of the time mice and rats come out at night. That is the best time to catch them. It is common to not hear them during the day, but hear or see them at night. If you block off the bottom of your stairway so your ferret cannot go upstairs doesn't mean the rat cannot come downstairs. They can climb all over the place and up and down things you'd never imagine.

[Hopes]

You have to be careful you don't poison or trap your ferret! A ferret can go wherever a rat can go!

You need to cage your ferret when you're not home if you're going to put out poison or traps. I'm serious!

[LoveMyCritters]

Yes, they are what they are but they still deserve to live. Get a Have-A-Heart trap, catch the furry bandit, and take him for a nice long ride out to a wooded area somewhere and let him free. Good luck.