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Rats! Rats! Rats!

Becky Fuller says her family's lives are being made a misery by rats in their home at Warren Avenue
First published Wednesday 11 February 2015
by Maxwell Kusi-Obodum, Senior reporter

A FAMILY is pleading to be rehomed, claiming an invasion of rats is making their lives a misery.
Desperate Becky Fuller says she and her family are being kept awake at night by constant gnawing and scratching from the rodents in skirting boards and in the loft of their council home.

They say they have even found the dead carcass of rats in the roof and foul smelling droppings littered under the floorboards.
The problem is so bad that they claim flies regularly swarm the house feasting off the rodent’s litter and dead bodies.
Video footage recorded by her husband Steve shows the body of a rat nestled in insulation in the loft.

The family say they have applied for the council to move from their home in Warren Avenue, Southampton but the authority does not deem their case is serious enough for re-homing.
Environmental health officers to will be sent to investigate the problem, but a date has not been set. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile her young sons Riley, seven, and Bradley, 10, regularly sleep downstairs on the sofa because they are too scared to sleep in their rooms.

etc...

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/117...ads_to_be_rehomed_over_rat__invasion_/?ref=mr
 
ITV News

Warning as 'cat-sized' rat pictured in London garden

A abnormally large rat has been spotted in north London today, and captured on camera as it stared through the back door of a home in Belsize Park.

The super rat found today is estimated to be between 16 and 18 inches.
Click to expand...

Picture is at link.

Now paint me dubious but from what I can see in the picture is a rat the size of a normal brick...which is in the background....How big is a standard brick? About 12 inches? Nah...the 16 to 18 inches is probably including the tail....paint me dubious about this particular story.
 
Yeah that rat is nearer than the brick and nowhere near as big as a cat. They just don't grow that big. The biggest rat I had was around 900g, maybe a KG at his biggest, he was huge, that is the absolute biggest you could expect a brown rat to get. I've not seen a wild one anywhere near that big. They never get as big as cats, even a small cat will weight 2 or 3 KG. They seem to create an optical illusion that make people think they are bigger than they are. They are not dangerous you can't really catch anything from their bite, their urine is the most dangerous thing as it can be (not is) infected with Weil's disease.
 
The Rat in the picture looks fairly normal in size, I don't see what all the fuss is about.
 
It's not as impressive as that Swedish (?) one from last year, nowhere near.
 
Maybe it depends on how much food they can get? As a child, our house had a lane behind it with various shops in front of it.
I can still remember the shock of finding a dead one in the backyard which was bigger than any of the local cats.
Most people kept chickens in those days and shops were not so careful with their rubbish so there would have been a constant food source.
 
Cornwall homeowners warned over winter rise of genetically-mutated super rats immune to poison
By CGMikeS | Posted: October 31, 2015

PEST control experts have warned homeowners in Cornwall to expect an 'alarming' growth in the population of so-called super rats during the run-up to Christmas.
The British Pest Control Association is worried that numbers of the rodents, which have grown resistant to conventional poison, could soar in the next few months boosted by a combination of colder temperatures and increasingly wet weather.

The leading trade body says the spread of the rats has been accelerated by failed home treatments, which have helped them to grow bigger and stronger and build up their immunity.
Many 'over-the-counter' remedies are now ineffective, and the body insists control of the rodents has become a matter for professionals.
The population of rats resistant to poison has increased rapidly in recent years due to a naturally-occurring mutation of genes.

Estimates put the current rat population at more than 100 million. They carry bugs which can be passed to humans, including Weil's disease, which can lead to jaundice and kidney failure.
Simon Forrester, chief executive of the BPCA, said: "Reports of poison-resistant rats have been increasing in recent years and it seems likely that there'll be a further surge in numbers during the coming months.
"There's less natural food around during colder weather so the population of rodents in and around homes and business premises could swell at an alarming rate as we head into winter.

"The trouble is that people who try to treat problems themselves are likely to be making the problem worse.
"The rodents have become resistant and, in some cases, immune to off-the-shelf poisons to the point where they're actually feeding off the toxic pellets, which means their size and strength is increasing."

A typical home may have more than a dozen potential entry points for the rodents. They get through gaps as small as 15mm, often using plumbing pipes and unscreened vents or gaps in the eaves and roof edges.
Mr Forrester added: "The first evidence of rats in a home is often noises under the floor, in the walls or loft as that's where most will head to once they're inside.
"Quite apart from the health risks, they'll foul water tanks and chew on wood or electrical wires which can cause a lot of damage and poses a fire hazard.

"They'll also do their best to find sources of food, which means they can soon move to other areas of the house occupied by humans.
"Rats also breed rapidly and will create nests in attics or walls, so it's vital to act as soon as any evidence is found."

For tips on precautions which can be taken to reduce the risk of an infestation or to find a pest controller in your area, visit www.bpca.org.uk

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Cornwall-homeowners-warned-winter-rise/story-28089963-detail/story.html
 
The Mirror has gone a bit over the top on this:

Mutant SUPER RATS that grow as big as cats and thrive on poison set to invade British homes.
Experts are warning that Britain will succumb to an invasion of super rats which thrive on over-the-counter poisons that are making them bigger and stronger.

They say many of the rodents are not only immune to the toxic pellets used by many home owners but they are actually increasing rat-size and strength.
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I refuse to believe that rats will ever grow as big as cats. Even those giant rats they have in Africa that sniff out landmines aren't as big as cats. Kittens, maybe.
 
graylien said:
The Mirror has gone a bit over the top on this:

Mutant SUPER RATS that grow as big as cats and thrive on poison set to invade British homes.

I refuse to believe that rats will ever grow as big as cats. Even those giant rats they have in Africa that sniff out landmines aren't as big as cats. Kittens, maybe.
Click to expand...
This might just be a small cat and it seems to be standing slightly further away from the cat:

edit: nope ... it's a bloody huge nutria rat, native to South America ..

http://en.people.cn/200607/07/eng20060707_280977.html
 
Swifty said:
This might just be a small cat and it seems to be standing slightly further away from the cat:

edit: nope ... it's a bloody huge nutria rat, native to South America ..

http://en.people.cn/200607/07/eng20060707_280977.html
Click to expand...
A nutria isn't a rat, it's a coypu - myocastor coypus. A rodent, yes, but not a rat. The Russians tried breeding them for food, not fur unlike some other places - apparently the meat is very low in cholesterol.
 
graylien said:
I refuse to believe that rats will ever grow as big as cats. Even those giant rats they have in Africa that sniff out landmines aren't as big as cats. Kittens, maybe.
Click to expand...

How soon we forget the giant Swedish rat photo.
 
Touch wood we haven't had any this year since the ministry people with their room of pet ones and the Muslims with their chickens and ducks have moved.
 
Krepostnoi said:
A nutria isn't a rat, it's a coypu - myocastor coypus. A rodent, yes, but not a rat. The Russians tried breeding them for food, not fur unlike some other places - apparently the meat is very low in cholesterol.
Click to expand...
I live and learn .. :)
 
Kondoru said:
Terriers cant count that high.
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I have a jack russell cross who is the world's worst ratter. Recently, my nuts neighbours decided to make a beautiful garden feature from a pile of old takeaway boxes and dirty nappies, artfully covered with a pile of dead branches - and we had to call in the council Rat Man because they were coming under the fence. The poison takes a few days to work and towards the end the rats get bold - my husband saw two near the house. Probably walked right past the dog and she had zero interest. I kept finding my neighbours' cats ratting in the garden but the dog had no idea what a rat even is. Was walking my old staffy a few years back and suddenly, out of nowhere, he killed a rat. It took a split second - rat was dead before I'd even spotted it and I knew he'd never seen a rat in his life! I don't know who was ore shocked - me, or him.

Apparently the council couldn't write to the neighbours because it might hurt their feelings so the rats were killed from our side of the fence. Apparently it's a bad year for rats and they go in 5 year cycles... Graveyard near here was once literally swarming with them. We saw what looked like hundreds, sweeping majestically across it. But I'd never even seen one there, before.
 
ramonmercado said:
A truly terrifying image.
Click to expand...
I grew up in a house next to that particular graveyard and can honestly say I never saw a rat there before. Cutbacks, etc probably - they hadn't paid out for a Rat Killer Man... Also I remembered afterwards that the old church hall opposite had a colony of feral cats under it when I was a kid - so they probably kept any vermin in check. Once the old church hall was kncked down to make room for a yuppy super-residence... Rats. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating but we honestly saw hundreds of them, almost like a carpet. My mum and grandparents are buried there so it wasn't a nice feeling.
 
Archaeologists with The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered fossils of seven giant rat species on East Timor, with the largest up to 10 times the size of modern rats.

Dr Julien Louys of the ANU School of Culture, History and Language, who is helping lead the project said these are the largest known rats to have ever existed.

"They are what you would call mega-fauna. The biggest one is about five kilos, the size of a small dog," Dr Louys said.

"Just to put that in perspective, a large modern rat would be about half a kilo."

The work is part of the From Sunda to Sahul project which is looking at the earliest human movement through Southeast Asia. Researchers are now trying to work out exactly what caused the rats to die out.

http://phys.org/news/2015-11-largest-existedgiant-rat-fossils.html
 
I found a nice big one on my carpet this afternoon,
4a856d79-ba32-4902-b759-a57e71542bfa_zpsmjudz1zr.jpg


I have 7 cats so I'm not sure who the assassin is.
 
They're proudly showing that they are doing their job.
Interesting sculpture.
 
Seen several monster rats this autumn, found one dead in the garden, the body was 12" long. brrr.
 
Rat-bite fever: Teenager catches rare disease from pet rodents living in her bedroom
The teenager had been living with three rats in her room
Kashmira Gander

A teenager was hospitalised and left unable to move after she developed the rare rat-bite fever disease from her pet rodents which lived in her bedroom.
The teenager, who has not been named, was taken to hospital after she complained of a pain in her right hip and lower back which later made her immobile, according to the online medical journal BMJ Case Reports.

She suffered for two weeks with an intermittent fever, nausea and vomiting and had a pink rash on her hands and feet.
The teenager, who had numerous pets including a dog, cat, horse and three pet rats, has since made a full recovery after undergoing a course of antibiotics.
Blood tests showed that she was infected with for streptobacillus moniliformis – the most common cause of rat-bite fever. One of her three pet rats lay dead in her room for three weeks before her symptoms showed.

First noted in writing as far back as 2,300 years ago as a disease for the poor, only 200 cases of rat-bite fever have been recorded in the US since 1839. Rat-bite fever is commonly spread through a nip or a scratch from a rodent, however some cases have involved an infection without direct bacterial inoculation.

The condition is believed to be underreported, with most cases occurring in lab workers or children with pet rodents.
The symptoms of rat-bit fever include: a fever, vomiting, headache, a rash, and muscle and joint pain, according the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If left untreated the disease can have a mortality rate of 13 per cent.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...t-rodents-living-in-her-bedroom-a6784201.html
 
Air India flight turns back after rat spotted on board
6 hours ago

A plane travelling from Mumbai to London was forced to turn back mid-flight after a rat was spotted on board, local media report.
Flight AI 131 travelling to London on Wednesday was flying over Iran when someone on board said they spotted the rodent, reports said.
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35203731
 
graylien said:
New York rat dies in freak accident just as her Broadway career was flourishing.

TLDR Rescue rat lands part in Curious incident of Dog, is fatally injured while jumping around on shelves when a door falls on her. Remembered as fearless and precocious. Poor ratty.

rat.jpg
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No sympathy from me. Horrible creatures. A colleague was telling me her kids rat had cancer in its bowels and it proceeded to eat its way through it's stomach to get at the cancer. It's quite common she tells me. I've heard cats do it but I've met anyone who's witnessed it.
 
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