I have rats living in a hole just outside my back door!  I've seen them feeding on the fallen seed from the bird feeders.

I know they are a health hazzard and have to go, but they have such sweet little faces with clean shiny coats, nothing like what pest ridden critters are supposed to look like.

Whats the most humane way of getting rid, I know the poison will work but it sounds such a horrid way to die. Are rat traps effective and quick or do they just pin them down and/or amputate limbs?

I'm such a wus :(

I put rat traps down when I had a problem and they caught hedgehogs instead (rats are very good at avoiding traps)! I did manage to catch one rat in a humane trap and relocated it several miles away. I've also got an electronic rat trap which electrocutes them quickly, but have to say it's never caught one (the smaller mouse one has caught many mice).

remove the food source is the key.  they won't eat poison or enter traps while there is load of spilt seed about.  try putting out far less bird food so the birds pick up what is spilt.
I think the break neck traps are the most humane method of dealing with them- I've only once had one caught by a leg rather then snaped neck out of rather more then I care to recall killed. you can get a rat trap box (The Domestic Fowl Trust or Ascott smallholder supplies sell them) that means pets, cats, dogs, wild birds, hedgehogs etc won't get caught.
and even if they look healthy they are major health hazzard to both you and your dogs so do get rid!

i so agree with the last post they are vermin so a risk to you and your dogs they leak urine allthe time if your dogs happend to swallow something touched by this they are at riskto lepto for every rat you see there are 10 more i hope the dogs are vac

I moved a bale of hay once and a rats nest was underneath. It was disgusting and the smell was indescribable. Get rid of them as soon as possible they're filthy and disease ridden.

My son lost a very good friend to Weil's disease a few years ago. They had all being playing on some wasteland and in a derelict building. The young lad collapsed and had total organ failure after a few days of having flu like symptoms. By the time he got a diagnoses it was too late.
Instead of filling the feeders up to the top why not just put an inch of seed in the bottom. That way it will minimize the seed dropping on the floor and the birds will soon get used to being fed once a day or buy feeders with seed trays to catch the seed.
I used to have rats as pets, six of them. They are very intelligent and i'm sure the same applies to the wild variety.

personally id let the birds find another feeder rather than have the rats about. we have a major rat peob on the farm here, I hate poison so instead we have about 10 cage traps and 10 dead traps at anyone time plus we have ratting sessions with the dogs every few weeks (one due today when it stops raining!). Get a professional ratter in with some terriers for the most humane method :)

I've heard of people drowning gophers out- didn't think it was humane though. They did come out of the hole and well there were dogs that got them. Also heard of vaccuming them out- gophers not rats. But would prob work the same.

This was when I was lil and lived in a town- so many gopher holes and the cows were getting hurt due to them :-(

> even if they look healthy they are major health hazzard to both you and your dogs so do get rid!

I totally agree which is why they have to go, just want to be humane about it.  Thanks again for the great advice, looks like the neck breakers are the way to go.

rats like bounty bars in traps that is how we used to catch our rats at the farm, and then we had big fat cats and then as a last resort terriers some people may disagree with the terrier bit but they where doing what they where bred for.

We had a similar problem. we used to feed the birds...
We no longer do so.

Cheeky blighters (rats) were coming right up to the patio doors too!

Got a pest control guy in with poison (was worried about this but couldn't find any local men with ratters
to work their magic) he put it under the shed we fenced off that area so the dogs couldn't get to it...
we don't have a rat problem anymore.

I had rats too because of the mess left under wild bird feeders, I couldn't believe it when I spotted two rats shinning up the tree to get to the feeders !. I tried to do things humanly too, live and let live I say, none of it worked though, I got a humane trap and only caught two rats, i tried a supposedly humane poison which makes the rats dehydrate, which didn't seem to have any effect at all, I tried filling in holes only to find them re-opened the next day. i finally threw in the towel and got the council in ( £35) to put down bait boxes and that sorted the problem, i now keep a bait box out all the time as living next to a farm, and having a stream running through the garden, i'm always going to be prone to rats.

try using peanutbutter as bait, its strong smelling and tasy, i use it to catch wild mice. There are some diffrent snapper traps, one they sell at work also has spikes on it (looks horrible) and as said above u can get humane ones but so far ive never caught a rat in one, mice yes. I would keep changing the types of traps and bait as they can figure out how they work. They had a wild rat living at work for 6 months as it had figured out how to work the traps, the one they were using was a snapper with spikes, and apperantly garentieed to kill every time but every morning the rat had taken the food right off the food spike with out getting hurt. They then tryed poisen and it ate a whole tray of poisen and lived, 2 more full trays later it finaly died but they then had to fish dead rats out of the wall as they had eaten the poisen and gone into the walls and died. So work stank of death for weeks.

Do you know anyone who has a cat or dog ratter? my nabours cat and westy keep her house mouse and rat free.

We put traps down and get pest control round to gas them, which will be a lot quicker than poison I expect. I don't like using poison due to the risk of secondary poisoning of the dogs or neighbours cats. They probably won't be able to use gas if it's by the house though.

>every morning the rat had taken the food right off the food spike with out getting hurt.

LOL Clever rat!

Why not just GLUE the food to the spike?   

Bro did this and caught ALL the rats with one piece of dog kibble :-D

>Why not just GLUE the food to the spike?

Top tip! :-)

good idea about gluing the bait, someone is smarter than the rats! im currently being out smarted by a wild mouse at work.

Works for mice too ;)

Or you could use strawberry jam - mice adore strawberries!

Living in a semi-rural property that Borders an Organic Farm....we do tend to get a fair few Rats about the place....but I would still not recommend The Lepto vaccine for any dogs....and would dispute the claim that Rat Urine gives a Dog Leptospirosis.....

Currently of My 14 Border Collies....I have 6 here ranging from 5 months to 20 months....who have never received a vaccine at all...(Except Homeopathic Nosodes)

To put My Money Where My Mouth Is....so to speak.....I had My 20 month olds....Meg, Flick, Mac and Jet....Titer tested at a year old....which showed they had developed a Natural Immunity to parvovirus...lepto and hepatitis.....Leo and Gem who are almost 6 months old...have never shown a days illness either.....

(Also here......James and Fiona have Nelson...(Leo's Brother)..... Amy has Ruby (Gem's sister)......My Daughter Cathy and Martyne have Rogue (Gem and Ruby's brother) and Peggy (Leo's sister) none of whom have been vaccinated either....(In fact...Gem and Ruby...are the first puppies in Our Pack who were born to an Unvaccinated Mother...Meg....although I would add that All Our Border Collies are RAW fed following Tom Lonsdale's Raw Meaty Bones Diet (See here for further info http://www.RawMeatyBones.com) and I feel that this contributes enormously to Their Good Health)

We have an Absolute Warrior.....in the form of Mitzy (My Daughter's Rescue Staffy x Border Collie) who breaks Rat Necks at a speed that has to be seen to be believed.... :) but who wouldn't dream of harming the kids...the cats....or the ferrets....

So.....Can recommend the Terrier Brigade whole-heartedly....for any Rat problem...! Good Luck...!

For information on Vaccine Myths....see here...... http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/ten-vaccine-myths/

And Here..... http://www.canine-health-concern.org.uk/

H x :)