I like and admire Rats too.
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What's the problem with rats? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Rose
- Start date
Though still uncommon., it's usually anglers, canoeists & the like that get weils. (a famous...or perhaps imfamous pike angler by the name of Gord Burton contracted Weils and it damn near killed him!)
Contrary to popular belief you don't need to have an open wound to get weils - if infected water comes into direct contact with the eyes or the lining of the nose the bacteria can penatrate you body through the cell walls.
Brown rats are vermin plain and simple - fine in the feilds and woods but not a good idea close to humans.
I'd happily shoot every one of them at my local park - fat orrible things!
Contrary to popular belief you don't need to have an open wound to get weils - if infected water comes into direct contact with the eyes or the lining of the nose the bacteria can penatrate you body through the cell walls.
Brown rats are vermin plain and simple - fine in the feilds and woods but not a good idea close to humans.
I'd happily shoot every one of them at my local park - fat orrible things!
Saphire
Christine
We have black rats where I live, we are only about 200 yards from a SSSI site which dates back to glacial times, I see them occasionally but not often. I did worry about the dogs when I first moved here in case they picked up something but they never did.
I would love to go into the area to have a look round but I have been told it could be to dangerous except at certain times of the year when its dry. Even then I am told you still have to be careful, as its a floating bog. The old chap who lived in the cottage next door owned the land and was going to take me around but it was never dry enough.
I would love to go into the area to have a look round but I have been told it could be to dangerous except at certain times of the year when its dry. Even then I am told you still have to be careful, as its a floating bog. The old chap who lived in the cottage next door owned the land and was going to take me around but it was never dry enough.
DavidP
Well-known member
dbradnum said:
Its the squirrels you've got to worry about.
Bubonic plague is endemic in the western US with about 13 human cases per year. Its mainly a problem of ground squirrels it seems around here and you occasionally find a campground, which are usually infested with ground squirrels, closed because some of the squirrels have come down with plague, they routinely test them around here. So squirrels can be more of a problem than rats. I believe the last rat born bubonic plague outbreak was in Los Angeles in 1925.
However on the good side the masses of ground squirrels (rats with fluffy tails?) means that the raptor population seems pretty high here compared to my visits to UK
BASC10 said:
And, fortunately, unless you happen to be contracted to do such, would be happily prosecuted for shooting in the local park. Of course, 'fat orrible things' is very subjective, but most of the rats I see seem to be quite sleek and don't look at all orrible to me.
Gus Horsley
Well-known member
I once had a nightmarish day whilst working on a farm. We were clearing out the front of a silage clamp when hundreds of rats came literally flying out of the rotten stuff we were moving. I got bit on the eyebrow and had teeth marks on my glasses (so they do go for your eyes after all) and ended up with a balloon-like growth on my head (which has since gone down!) and a trip to the hospital to get numerous jabs in my arse. Despite this I always feel a pang of regret when I see a dead rat on the road. It's us humans that are largely responsible for their bad press. Maybe when we learn to clear our s*** up, so will they, since they're clearly more adaptable than us.
Gus
Gus
Gill Osborne
Well-known member
Thank you everybody :clap: Looks like I'm not a lonely voice in the wilderness after all. :t:
Black Rats are, if I'm remembering something I read/saw on tv a few years ago correctly, one of our rarest mammals now so to see one IS an honour! I think they are only found in a very few ports - Liverpool, Newcastle, London? Sure there's one of the offshore islands has them too - Skomer?
Gill
Black Rats are, if I'm remembering something I read/saw on tv a few years ago correctly, one of our rarest mammals now so to see one IS an honour! I think they are only found in a very few ports - Liverpool, Newcastle, London? Sure there's one of the offshore islands has them too - Skomer?
Gill
Saphire
Christine
The last black rat I saw was only a youngster, unfortunately it had drowned in the water butt. How it got in there I don't know as its very tall with smooth sides, a tight lid on the top to stop the birds from drinking from it and falling in. They seem to be a lot more slender and smaller than the brown rats which I used to see regular when living in Manchester.
chrisgarner
L'Etranger
I love Rats.....the bones get stuck in me teeth tho and I cough up some right fur balls!
As a sad man with no life I'v just watched that Jilly Goolden refuse to eat a rats tail on I'm a Celebrity....
Chris
As a sad man with no life I'v just watched that Jilly Goolden refuse to eat a rats tail on I'm a Celebrity....
Chris
Gus Horsley
Well-known member
So there we go, we can start a new organisation, the BRAS (Black Rat Appreciation Society). Don't think it's been done before.
Gus
Gus
Gill Osborne said:
Don't think it is Skomer, though they've got their Skomer Vole to compensate
saluki
Well-known member
Jos Stratford said:Don't think it is Skomer, though they've got their Skomer Vole to compensate
Hi Jos and Gill,
I think it was Lundy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2817233.stm
saluki
Gus Horsley
Well-known member
It was Lundy. Now they're envisaging a problem with rabbits...
Gus
Gus
Gill Osborne
Well-known member
Gus Horsley said:
Thanks for solving that for me....I knew I'd seen it 'somewhere' - possibly on one of Bill Oddie's programmes a few years ago.
Gill
deborah4
Well-known member
:clap: So glad I've found a Rat Friendly thread! Had a wild one meself (rat not party unfortunately) at my last house, starved it out eventually, tempting it with a nice steak into a humane trap (cage) took it 'for a walk' to some isolated woods but it 'escaped' unfortunately - I was tempted to keep it!
Plenty of Black Rats in India, large as pussy cats I believe - bubonic plague still endemic (right word?) in Asia - unfortunately associated with poverty and poor social health as TB is in the UK.
Plenty of Black Rats in India, large as pussy cats I believe - bubonic plague still endemic (right word?) in Asia - unfortunately associated with poverty and poor social health as TB is in the UK.
Keithec
'Green Scum'
Rose said:
Rats are fascinating to watch, because they are an intelligent animal. However as a conoeist and some one who takes groups of children from the school I work in on canoe trips I have to say that Weils disease is no myth. Cases are fortunately rare but it can be fatal. I believe there was a case of a canoeist dying from it last year.
Link;http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/living/pollution/weils.htm
Keith
Last edited:
yeah I have had trouble with rats digging and chewing their ways into my out door bird coops. I dont mind them in general but i am way to paranoid and scared of getting sick myself as they break into the coops to eat the birds food so i just killed them all. I did some research and realized they are not even a native species here! THey are introduced just like feral cats and pigeons so now i dont feel so bad! And I am sure they raid the many birds nests who live in the area! But i really do like domestic rats and they make very very good pets as they are clean and extremly friendly very low maitence and inexpensive! Perfect pet
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