Rats

[kernelbogey]

A fascinating and witty article by Richard Godwin in today's Observer on the growing ubiquity of the urban rat population as a consequence of Lockdown.

Pest.co.uk warns the British rat population boomed by 25% in 2020, bringing the total to 150m. And owing to the speed with which rats breed, a minor incursion that is not dealt with fast can soon become a major infestation. If you return to the office after lockdown and discover Rattus norvegicus has learned how to use Excel, taken over the executive suite and restructured your company…

[oddoneout]

A fascinating and witty article by Richard Godwin in today's Observer on the growing ubiquity of the urban rat population as a consequence of Lockdown.

Pest.co.uk warns the British rat population boomed by 25% in 2020, bringing the total to 150m. And owing to the speed with which rats breed, a minor incursion that is not dealt with fast can soon become a major infestation. If you return to the office after lockdown and discover Rattus norvegicus has learned how to use Excel, taken over the executive suite and restructured your company…

I read that one. Lots of work for electricians and such like, but something that wasn't mentioned I think is the fire risk when wires are chomped.

[kernelbogey]

I read that one. Lots of work for electricians and such like, but something that wasn't mentioned I think is the fire risk when wires are chomped.

I assume that would also lead to many hidden, smelly rat cadavers! (Unless cooked! )

[Frances_iom]

I assume that would also lead to many hidden, smelly rat cadavers! (Unless cooked! )

if you are indeed unfortunate enough to have a longtail as house guest then the amount of damage they can do is considerable - if they get into a kitchen in search of food then any plastic or cork lid is easy game - they sample food so will attack everything as they wait to see if the 'food' is poisoned - get a professional in to lay traps or poison but unlike mice a dead longtail will stink.

[richardfinegold]

My niece is a Collage Student at DePaul on Chicago’s North Side Lincoln Park area. Pre lockdown this was a highly desirable part of town, and she and her roommates have a flat in a Brownstone that the owner rents to students. There is a wonderful Italian restaurant a stone’s throw away. After lockdown the rats began invading her apartment. They eat her rug, curtains, and food, indiscriminately. Apparently this is a citywide problem, just another reason why urban living has become undesirable

[ardcarp]

What a co-incidence. I'm just about to stick a few dishes of rat-poison in our loft, having heard a few nocturnal scufflings in the night. It goes against the grain (ho-ho) somewhat, as Mrs A and I are generally great supporters of wild-life...witness our environmentally-friendly garden (aka untidy). No other animals have access to our loft, except, I suppose, the occasional mouse.

[jayne lee wilson]

"..... that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linen-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city."

Camus, conclusion of La Peste

[vinteuil]

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... one of the most unexpected and scariest moments in my childhood reading -

https://images.app.goo.gl/rU4ENFq9ASWJxHYQ7

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[Pulcinella]

A fascinating and witty article by Richard Godwin in today's Observer on the growing ubiquity of the urban rat population as a consequence of Lockdown.

Pest.co.uk warns the British rat population boomed by 25% in 2020, bringing the total to 150m. And owing to the speed with which rats breed, a minor incursion that is not dealt with fast can soon become a major infestation. If you return to the office after lockdown and discover Rattus norvegicus has learned how to use Excel, taken over the executive suite and restructured your company…

But will the British rat population heed the warning?
(I know: it's one for Pedants' Paradise or Phrases that grate....)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And there I was, thinking this thread was going to be about “Rats!” the musical, by Nigel Hess. A version of the Pied Piper story for schools.

[jayne lee wilson]

If you have Rats
Then get a few Cats
But make sure they're
Muscular
Nocturnal
As much as
Crepuscular

[HighlandDougie]

I'm just about to stick a few dishes of rat-poison in our loft, having heard a few nocturnal scufflings in the night.

I despatched a family of them (dad, mum and the three kids) to rat heaven a couple of months ago with this stuff:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rentokil-PSMR42-Mouse-Weatherproof-Blocks/dp/B07BFPBL8V/ref=asc_df_B07BFPBL8V/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=230204386967&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4362112789508014972&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046984&hvtargid=pla-432569859500&psc=1

They were attracted, perhaps predictably, by the detritus from the bird feeders. I had a large male one as a house guest in France last September which had been running rampant, including in a couple of bedrooms. It was eventually injured by a 'Lucifer' rat trap. Finding a large and bleeding rat in one's kitchen is not an experience I would care to repeat, hence the liquidation of the family in Scotland as I really didn't want them to discover the delights of being inside the house. The stoats which visit the garden might have done for them in due course but bait traps plus the yummy blocks of 'food' seemed more reliable.

[vinteuil]

If you have Rats
Then get a few Cats

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cats-are-surprisingly-ineffective-keeping-urban-rat-populations-check-180970428/

.

[oddoneout]

"..... that the plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good; that it can lie dormant for years and years in furniture and linen-chests; that it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves; and that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city."

Camus, conclusion of La Peste

The part that rats play in spreading plague has come in for some re-evaluation in recent years. There was a TV documentary last year that covered the topic as part of looking at the plague/Black Death in a time of pandemic.
https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bugb...20as%20vectors.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/01/rats-plague-black-death-humans-lice-health-science/

[jayne lee wilson]

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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cats-are-surprisingly-ineffective-keeping-urban-rat-populations-check-180970428/

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Well, that's not my experience with Mizzy (a fearless, weirdly small Norwegian).... some gruesome sights here on occasion.... you probably need a Maine Coon (one that still has its barn-ratter pedigree in the blood) or something like, but remember the presence of Cats and their frequent tendency to scent-mark everywhere can be at the very least a partial deterrent.

If a Rat
Smells a Cat
Rattie knows
That's not
Where I should be at

Being semi-rural probably helps, with more prey and food (including ground feeding birdfood) among the flooded muddy overgrowth outside. Still, a rare sight in the open of course.
The few Rats I've seen inside here have either been dead or injured; Mizzy tried to bring one in through the flap, still alive, very proud of her squealing prey; but in the confusion of my refusal, she dropped it and the poor thing limped off at high speed with a pathetic, lopsided run. I didn't see it again, but they are very resourceful and resilient and it may have survived.

One sunny summer afternoon six months later, I saw an identical animal, wrapped around a bird feeder, several feet above the ground...
I approached but it fled when I got close. Was that you again, I wondered, admiringly...