Rats! Rats! Rats!

[Victory]

Ever considered of getting a cat Vic..? Apparently rodents don’t like the smell of cats and will avoid any property that has one as a pet.

The cat I have at the moment is an absolute killer. Not a day goes by without her bringing dead mice and birds back to the house. Last month it was a baby frog - still alive and seemingly unharmed (she carried it into the house in her mouth.)

She dropped it at my feet while I was eating breakfast, then gave me a look as if to say there you go son enjoy.

Thanks.

I did but am allergic to cats.

I know they can be ferocious killers of mice...but a frog is a first!

@Endlessly Amazed

Have laid bait boxes full of poison, and blocked a hole I found in my skirting board.

Will keep you updated on what happens.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

And then there's H P Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls.

Ungl'Unl'Rrlh'Chchch

 

[Iris]

Actually Victory I remember reading somewhere that rats dislike citrus and there is a spray called orange power .
Even if it doesn't help with the rats it's quite a good kitchen spray.

 

[Victory]

Actually Victory I remember reading somewhere that rats dislike citrus and there is a spray called orange power .
Even if it doesn't help with the rats it's quite a good kitchen spray.

Thank you

 

[Cochise]

Thanks.

I did but am allergic to cats.

I know they can be ferocious killers of mice...but a frog is a first!

@Endlessly Amazed

Have laid bait boxes full of poison, and blocked a hole I found in my skirting board.

Will keep you updated on what happens.

I thought I had a cat allergy but after I shacked up with the mad cat woman it went away. I think, not that I'm entitled to a medical opinion, that it is one of those things that happens due to lack of exposure to cats and given a month or two of their company it would go away.

 

[Nosmo King]

I thought I had a cat allergy but after I shacked up with the mad cat woman it went away. I think, not that I'm entitled to a medical opinion, that it is one of those things that happens due to lack of exposure to cats and given a month or two of their company it would go away.

When I was a kid of about 8 years old I developed asthma, our family GP said it was caused by our cat and to get rid, we had the cat since I was 6 months old, so my mum told him he was talking nonsense and that we weren't getting rid of the cat.

 

[maximus otter]

When I was a kid of about 8 years old I developed asthma, our family GP said it was caused by our cat and to get rid, we had the cat since I was 6 months old, so my mum told him he was talking nonsense and that we weren't getting rid of the cat.

- And the trauma caused by your subsequent adoption led you to FTMB?



maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

I reckon it was a reasonable response to an annoying boss!

A disgruntled Cork County Council worker was jailed for six months for the “uniquely wicked act” of releasing live rats into a manager’s office.

John O’Neill, 61, of Glanduff, Kilbrittain, captured two large rats, drove them to his place of work and released them in an office used as a canteen by management in Kinsale County Council at 8.20am on February 2.

Surfaces were “destroyed with excrement” when employees arrived to the premises at Rathbeg, Kinsale later that day. The defendant’s colleagues had to clean rat excrement that morning which was on “practically every surface” before Rentokill was called to exterminate the rats, Bandon District Court heard. A deep clean was then carried out of the office and damaged cables and lighting were removed.

Concerns that it may have been deliberate lead employees to report the crime to gardaí. During an “extensive investigation” by Detective Garda Michael Brosnan of Kinsale Garda Station, CCTV was found which showed the defendant arriving at the scene of the crime, removing something from his car which he covered with a jacket, and entering the building.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40726437.html

 

[Lb8535]

When I was a kid of about 8 years old I developed asthma, our family GP said it was caused by our cat and to get rid, we had the cat since I was 6 months old, so my mum told him he was talking nonsense and that we weren't getting rid of the cat.

That's standard. I was tested as an adult to find out why I had year-round allergies and the results included cat hair. The doc said "You have a cat, don't you?" I said yes. He said "And you won't get rid of it will you?" I said no. He said "They never do."

 

[Iris]

When my oldest had bronchitis as a child our doctor said to never get cats and dogs so we didn't.
Ever since she has been married the oldest has had dogs with no ill effects and the youngest has had cats with no ill effects either.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

I have been allergic to cat dander form the time I was about 12 years old. It never left me, and just got worse as I got older. Allergy shots made no difference. I think allergies differ a lot from person to person, but they are real.

 

[Nosmo King]

I have been allergic to cat dander form the time I was about 12 years old. It never left me, and just got worse as I got older. Allergy shots made no difference. I think allergies differ a lot from person to person, but they are real.

I have no doubt that pet allergies are real, it's just that it seems that it is a pet allergy the is the first diagnosis for doctors when presented with a child with any sort of respiratory condition, before any tests are actually done.

 

[Victory]

I have had cats and dogs as pets.

We had cats for four years until I moved out, used to sneeze and get congested a lot.

No ill effects with dogs.


My cat allergy is real: if in a property that has cats then after half an hour or so I sneeze, my nose dribbles, I urinate every 45 minutes and I get blotches on my skin and itch.

 

[Trevp666]

Whoever said allergies aren't real has never woken up at 4am on a summer day sneezing unstoppably for no apparent reason.

 

[Victory]

I checked the bait boxes tonight.
Not even a nibble.

I checked the sticky pads...nothing

So that's good!

More bait boxes have been placed in the loft above my flat.

I think that because it has floorboards, and because my flat has plasterboard ceilings, the rats are in the gap between the two, and inside cavity walls, airbricks and behind skirting boards.

Will update when the bait boxes in the loft have been checked.

 

[GingerTabby]

My cat allergy is real: if in a property that has cats then after half an hour or so I sneeze, my nose dribbles, I urinate every 45 minutes and I get blotches on my skin and itch.

I used to know a fellow who experienced the same reaction. He was a teenager when he first noticed the symptoms but he didn't immediately connect them to the presence of cats in his friends' homes. He would return home sneezing and snuffling and with red eyes only to be accused by his parents of taking illicit drugs. Eventually he was tested and apparently scored quite high on the scale for this type of allergy. He too had no adverse reaction to dogs, just cats.

 

[cycleboy2]

Whoever said allergies aren't real has never woken up at 4am on a summer day sneezing unstoppably for no apparent reason.

And hasn't been taken to hospital with urticaria (nettle rash) over 100% of the body including the mouth and throat. That was a laugh, I tell you, looking like the Elephant Man and not being able to breathe. Yeah, allergies, all made up. Mine is (or was, I haven't had issues for years; it could have gone) was to aspirin. I wasn't allergic to it as a youngster and then at some point in my teenage years I became extremely allergic to it. Paracetomol gives me nettle rash over the torso only - it's unusual, apparently, to be allergic to both aspirin and paracetomol.

 

[Trevp666]

it's unusual, apparently, to be allergic to both aspirin and paracetomol.

It's quite likely that it isn't the actual 'active ingredient' that you're allergic to but more likely to be some other ingredient in the medication, such as the base which it is mixed with or the coating on the pills etc.

On a separate note - I discovered I was allergic to chestnuts, one christmas a couple of years back, when I had bought a pack to use in a stuffing mix I was making. It tasted lovely but I knew there was something wrong when my lips and tongue starting tingling, and swelling up.
I quickly reached for the anti-histamines fearing that if this was a severe reaction it could dead me!

 

[Nosmo King]

And hasn't been taken to hospital with urticaria (nettle rash) over 100% of the body including the mouth and throat. That was a laugh, I tell you, looking like the Elephant Man and not being able to breathe. Yeah, allergies, all made up. Mine is (or was, I haven't had issues for years; it could have gone) was to aspirin. I wasn't allergic to it as a youngster and then at some point in my teenage years I became extremely allergic to it. Paracetomol gives me nettle rash over the torso only - it's unusual, apparently, to be allergic to both aspirin and paracetomol.

I get that from polenta flour, like the gritty stuff you get on Dominos pizza, ate them for years without an issue then one evening after eating one I got those symptoms

 

[GNC]

Just occurred to me today... how did rats get on board ships? You know the old phrase, "Like rats deserting a sinking ship"? Rats aren't aquatic, so how did they get in and why? Do you still get rats on ships in this day and age?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Just occurred to me today... how did rats get on board ships? You know the old phrase, "Like rats deserting a sinking ship"? Rats aren't aquatic, so how did they get in and why? Do you still get rats on ships in this day and age?

They crawled up on ropes while the ship was in the dock.

 

[Lb8535]

Just occurred to me today... how did rats get on board ships? You know the old phrase, "Like rats deserting a sinking ship"? Rats aren't aquatic, so how did they get in and why? Do you still get rats on ships in this day and age?

They can and do swim, although I doubt that would get them onto a modern freighter unless someone left a rope hanging over into the sea.

 

[GNC]

They crawled up on ropes while the ship was in the dock.

How is that one going to get past the big disc?

 

[Cochise]

How is that one going to get past the big disc?

Given that in my house they've crawled up vertical central heating pipes and gnawed their way through the ceilings at the top , also dug (or gnawed) tunnels through concrete I'd say there is little that will stop a rat that really wants to get to the other side.

The media are forecasting a plague of rats. Well, if you keep reducing rubbish collection so everyone has to keep a lot of garbage outside and then completely disrupt collection for two years you are absolutely begging for rats to take over.

Last time I went to Liverpool there were rats (4 legged rats , before anyone starts anti-Scouse jokes) everywhere - never saw any two years ago. Of course there would have been some, there always are, but it's overpopulation that drives them out boldly out on the streets, otherwise they'd stay happily where their regular food source is.

 

[Mythopoeika]

How is that one going to get past the big disc?

They put them on to stop the rats getting on.

 

[GNC]

Given that in my house they've crawled up vertical central heating pipes and gnawed their way through the ceilings at the top , also dug (or gnawed) tunnels through concrete I'd say there is little that will stop a rat that really wants to get to the other side.

The media are forecasting a plague of rats. Well, if you keep reducing rubbish collection so everyone has to keep a lot of garbage outside and then completely disrupt collection for two years you are absolutely begging for rats to take over.

Last time I went to Liverpool there were rats (4 legged rats , before anyone starts anti-Scouse jokes) everywhere - never saw any two years ago. Of course there would have been some, there always are, but it's overpopulation that drives them out boldly out on the streets, otherwise they'd stay happily where their regular food source is.

Glasgow currently has a big rat problem too, and a rubbish problem, the two are linked, of course.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

I live in Arizona, which has a vibrant, diverse community of...RATS! Below are some common rat species found in Arizona.

• Roof rat (Rattus rattus, from the family Muridae), also known as ship rat, black rat, or house rat
• Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus, from the family Muridae), also known as common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, Parisian rat, or wharf rat
• Bushy-tailed wood rat (Neotoma cinerea, from the family Cricetidae), also known as packrat
• White-throated wood rat (Neotoma albigula, from the family Cricetidae)
• Desert wood rat (Neotoma lepida, from the family Cricetidae), a species of pack rat
• Mexican wood rat (Neotoma mexicana, from the family Cricetidae)
• Stephen’s wood rat (Neotoma Stephensi, from the family Cricetidae)

Before I Dr. Strangeloved* the rats two years ago, I had Norway rats, Stephan's (kangaroo) wood rat, and bushy-tailed wood rats living in the same underground warrens in the back yard. I would not have believed it possible if I had not witnessed it. We have no garbage problem in my neighborhood, but lots of fruit trees and other tasty landscaping. In my yard, at different times of the year, I see javalina, coyotes, hares, rabbits, and various birds - including 2 species of quail. They all eat things on the ground. I have gotten down on my hands and knees to examine what they could be eating. It seems to be very tiny seeds blown in by the wind, and pollen. This is on gravel which covers the yard.

* The usual penalty will apply to an American caught using a noun as a verb. Add it to my tab.

 

[Iris]

My youngest noticed a hole under her back fence( which is metal colourbond) and a track across the garden.
Several times she filled in the hole, then kept careful watch and took a picture one day of a little creature which wasn't really afraid of her.
It was some kind of rat, but not like the usual black or Norwegian ones so she looked it up online as she didn't want to kill it if it was a native.
She found that it was either a bush rat or a swamp rat( their yard is very moist) so she's leaving it alone as she doesn't mind if it eats a few of
her vegetables and stays outside.

 

[Iris]

 

[Yithian]

Apparently the Covid lockdowns have proved a boon for Brummie Rats.​

Birmingham's worst rat hotspots revealed as city faces explosion in vermin complaints​

By Josh Sandiford / Patch reporter / 05:30, 1 OCT 2022

We asked Birmingham City Council for the number of pest control callouts it had recoded by postcode. We received the number of requests it had received from residents suffering from scurrying intruders.

We can also reveal the total budget for the local authority's pest control team as £320,000. There are seven officers on the team and three vacancies.

Birmingham City Council's pest control department deals with residents' grim problems relating to rats, mice, bedbugs, cockroaches, fleas, ants and even wasps during the summer months. Once somebody reports a pest problem the council gets in touch to arrange an appointment.

Council officers offer a free service for treating rat problems but other pest issues carry a charge. Treatment for mice - unlike rats - is not a cost-free job.

This is not the first time we have delved into the numbers. And in the most recent council-provided data - which covers the entirety of 2021 and up to August 25 2022 - the same postcodes have ranked top yet again.

B8 is the undisputed rat hotspot of Birmingham with 1331 requests from fed-up residents. The postcode - which contains the Washwood Heath, Ward End, Saltley and Alum Rock areas - also topped the list for the highest number of callouts in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
B31, which contains Northfield, has also been a particular hotspot. It topped the list in 2016 when the postcode saw 622 requests. In 2021 and 2022 so far, B31 has seen 1097 requests, meaning it ranks in fourth place.

B11 - which contains Sparkhill - came in second with 1163 requests. B29 - which houses Selly Oak - came third with 1105.
The grand total of requests for 2021 and 2022 so far was 24,686. This brings the total of rodent-related callouts since 2016 to more than 90,000.

'Massive explosion' of rats in Birmingham ​

In September 2021, a pest controller told us Birmingham postcodes had seen a "massive" explosion in rats since Covid. Expert Gary Jakeman, who runs the Pied Piper pest and wildlife management company based in Solihull, said rodents had looked to capitalise as more of us remain in our homes.
"The rat situation over the last 18 months has increased immensely," he said. "And we have found that a lot of the rats that were in the city centres have moved out and come into the suburbs, simply because there's no food available around city centres."
Gary said there had been a "massive explosion" in rat cases since the start of the pandemic as people had been encouraged to be more "self-sufficient".

"The rats have now moved out into the suburbs looking for food and we provide them with a lot of the food that they need," he added.
"Rats need three things to survive - food, water and harbourage. We provide them with all of that. There's a lot of people keeping chickens and when we've been locked down people love to watch the birds.

Source:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birminghams-worst-rat-hotspots-revealed-25118644