Rats & Mice- Your Views

The Brown Rat and the House Mouse are now considered to be a pest.

Both are not native to our country, they origionally came from Russia and Asia. They stowed a way on ships, quickly becoming wide spread all over the world.
Because of their breeding rate, they are so large in numbers, that the saying goes ''You are never more than 10 feet away from a Rat''.
Both are known for carring diseases such as Salmonella, making them even more un popular. They thrive best near humans, where they feed on all sorts such as grain and bread, but even more unusual- soap! They are both Omnivores, meaning that they will eat just about anything. They have both been known to enter houses, where they can cause damage by chewing wires, in the need to keep their ever-growing teeth short. They will also leave their dropping just about anywhere. Rats have been known to take chicks and eggs out of bird nests as well.

The list against them is very long, but you have to admire their skills. Few animals can climb, swim and balance as well as survive all sorts of weather. This is the key to why they have become so wide spread, but we are also partly to blame. It is out mess that often attracts them, leaving rubbish lying about etc.


Questions for you to answer:

1.) Do you like Rats and Mice?

2.) Would you let them in to you garden?

3.) Would you feed them?

4.) Would you kill them in traps etc?

5.) Your over all view on them:

Copy and paste the above questions and answer them.

1.) Do you like Rats and Mice? Not much.

2.) Would you let them in to you garden? No.

3.) Would you feed them? No.

4.) Would you kill them in traps etc? Don't know.

5.) I don't like them much because they smell and are un hygenic. They poo everywhere and have greasy fur. But they are a bit cute.

1.) Do you like Rats and Mice? Not really.

2.) Would you let them in to you garden? I would not attract them.

3.) Would you feed them? No. They will be too big in numbers.

4.) Would you kill them in traps etc? If the population became out of hand.

5.) I think they are a big problem in large numbers. We one had them come right up to the house and a Rat once chewed a wire and electricuted itself and died. We had to get a different light wire for the shed then.

1.) Do you like Rats and Mice? Yes

2.) Would you let them in to you garden? Yes mice are always here

3.) Would you feed them? yes I have feeders for them to

4.) Would you kill them in traps etc? no, if in house I would use live traps

5.) I like them, they are not really dirty, they spend alot of time cleaning themselves.

1.) Do you like Rats and Mice? Yes! They are amazing creatures.

2.) Would you let them in to you garden? Yes. Mice are here anyway. Rats are sometimes here too.

3.) Would you feed them? Yes, I have a feeder for them at the bottom of the garden, away from the house. Lots of Mice love the feeder, as well as other rodents too.

4.) Would you kill them in traps etc? No, I don't have the heart.

5.) I think people should not be so quick to kill them. They are a superb creatures in every way, they have so many skills. Although they can be a problem, we have mice outside and sometimes Rats, they don't come in to the house. Wood Mice are brilliant, they should not be confused with the House Mouse, they don't smell at all and feed on insects, fruit and berries.
I could write more about them- but the message is- I think we should accept they are here to stay, and you can trap them all you like, but they will always be there.

Bethany.

1.) Do you like Rats and Mice? To a degree, like pet ones.

2.) Would you let them in to you garden? Not a lot of choice, they come in anyway!

3.) Would you feed them? No.

4.) Would you kill them in traps etc? Yes, have done.

5.) Your over all view on them: Rats are the reason we had to rehome our chickens, obviously where there is available food rats will come but it became too much. They also nearly caused the death of our fish - some are Koi. They chewed through a pipe which caused our pond to empty leaving just inches for our fish. Not a good way to wake Christmas Day! They constantly dribble urine, so everywhere they go gets contaminated, and rats carry Weils Disease, not a good thing to get. As pets I have no problem - I used to have a pet mouse, and domesticated rats are amazing, but wild ones can stay away thank you very much!!

I have to agree that Rats can sometimes cause big, big problems. I would rather have mice than Rats.

we have a mouse that lives in the garden which i have no problem with, but rats! they've managed to chew a hole in the bottom of the hog shed and have been taking their food, they've also been known to attack hedgehogs so the problem is being resolved, i would take the health of my hogs over the life of a rat, sorry

So would I Jo, any day. Hogs come first in my opinion.

Bethany.

i wonder if they've been there for a while, as one of my hogs went blind and there seems to be no explanation for it, might be a conection

Well, I think one of my Hedgehogs, a big male, killed a Rat before

I found it dead in the shed.

Or is could have been what the Rat eat. I don't know. We don't really have Rats in our garden, so it came as a surprise.

I hope it was not a Rat that made your Hog blind

Bethany.

its an odd one! when i was hand rearing them, she was always the squeaky one but was okay, i put them in the shed when they were old enough and luckily decided to keep them until spring so i could make sure they were okay in wild surroundings, otherwise she'd prob be out there now struggling! a couple of months ago there was concern over her sight, but when checked appeared fine and then just before xmas she was bought in as she had weight loss and after a few days i realised she was completely blind! might just be coincidence! but i have 5 in the shed at the mo, so will have to keep checking them just in case.

What do her eyes look like? Are they tight shut, or can you see the eyes and the pupil?

Some just go blind. It is such a shame.

It it was a Rat that did it, well, I think she would have no eye balls left, not a nice thing to picture. But I would not rule it out.

Bethany.