Is it OK till kill rats that are outside with rat traps?

[TheNinja]

So if the rats are just running on the fences, in your bushes/trees, and sometimes steal your tomatoes.....do you think it's OK to kill them in a trap?

PRO killing:
They are disgusting animals that spread diseases and poop all over.
They run like 10 feet from me on the fence and the bushes and sometimes scare me.
I think they are eating my tomatoes and cilantro.
They stare at me from the trees like they are planning something evil.

ANTI killing:
They don't really come into or bother my house.
They are outside in their own environment just trying to make their way in this crazy world.
They probably clean up food garbage around the neighborhood.
Sometimes I stare at them and actually do plan something evil.

 

[Puppies04]

Dude just get a gun.

 

[Capt Caveman]

How do you know you're only going to get rats?

 

[her209]

They're going to come inside your house when it gets colder.

 

[mmntech]

If they're in your yard, you may want to find something that will repel them. They carry all sorts of nasty diseases and can become aggressive, so you don't really want them there.

If you think they're going after your veggies, put some chicken wire around your garden. That should cut them off from their food source. Clean up garbage and make sure they can't get in the bins. They'll leave if they can't find anything to eat.

 

[spidey07]

Only a matter of time before they find a way inside, especially with winter coming up. Kill them all. Every last one of them. The women, the babies, hear their screams.

 

[abaez]

I just want to comment that this is an excellent list of pros and cons.

 

[lxskllr]

...hear their screams.

They scream LOUD. Years ago, there was a rat raiding a bird feeder at my mother's house. She lives in a townhouse, so I couldn't shoot it directly. I trapped it in a Hav-A-Hart trap, and shot it with my air rifle. I never heard such a loud sound come from such a small animal before. I put 1 pellet, and 3 BBs in it before it died, and stopped screaming.

I don't like killing animals, and not eating them, but I don't like rats either. I justify it due to them being a non-native species. A bit of a cop out, but that's all I've got.

 

[zinfamous]

get a few constrictors--corn or black racer, and release them into the crawl space under your house. Nothing that gets massive like a Boa.

that will take care of your rat problem.

 

[DrPizza]

If they're in your yard, you may want to find something that will repel them. They carry all sorts of nasty diseases and can become aggressive, so you don't really want them there.

If you think they're going after your veggies, put some chicken wire around your garden. That should cut them off from their food source. Clean up garbage and make sure they can't get in the bins. They'll leave if they can't find anything to eat.

LOL - and the rats would LOL at chicken wire too. They can go right through it. Kill them.

 

[Gibsons]

get a few constrictors--corn or black racer, and release them into the crawl space under your house. Nothing that gets massive like a Boa.

that will take care of your rat problem.

ooh, that's a good idea.

Anyway, rats carry fleas and they aren't cute.

 

[spidey07]

get a few constrictors--corn or black racer, and release them into the crawl space under your house. Nothing that gets massive like a Boa.

that will take care of your rat problem.

Why do you think they're called "rat snakes"?

 

[zinfamous]

Why do you think they're called "rat snakes"?

I was just gonna say "rat snakes," but felt that was not only too obvious, but also not descriptive enough. Pythons would be a bad idea, because they can grow to a massive size.

 

[lxskllr]

Pythons would be a bad idea, because they can grow to a massive size.

Take care of those yappy dogs, and kids too :^D

 

[TheNinja]

We have 1 neighborhood cat that wanders around, but from what I've seen from it, it's a lazy POS and the rats would probably kill and eat it before it every thought about chasing them.

 

[BoomerD]

Kill the sons of bitches...I do.

 

[TheNinja]

Last night I actually set 2 trap with peanut butter on the fence where they run. Then I tied the trap with thin black wire to a tree branch that sits on the fence so the trap wouldn't fall between my fence and the neighbors. I left a little slack in the wire.

Within 1 hour I went to "check my traps" and notice the wire was very tight, like the trap had fallen. I pull the trap up and as it comes over the wooden fence....BAM a rat in it. The metal bar landed right on his head! I emptied into a plastic bag and tossed in the trash. I reset my traps.

As I'm sitting inside like 1 hour later I here a "SNAP" and go out to check, the rats knocked 1 off the fence, no rat in it though.

This morning I check them (and unset them b/c I don't want to catch or kill squirrels) and they are both tight wires. I'm thinking, sweet, 3 rats in one night.....Nope, both were empty but sprung. Either they are running right by knocking them off the fence, or they got smart after the first one died and can steal the peanut butter.

 

[NetWareHead]

When I was a kid, my father and I found a rat's nest (home, nursery?) when we were getting the lawnmowers and yard equipment ready after the winter. The rat family made a nest under the air filter of one of the lawn mower engines. My dad removed the entire nest, made of twigs, strings, paper and various trash. The adults were long gone, they ran at the sign of us approaching. We found a litter of rat babies in there, like 10 of them. Dad, one by one, threw the babies and slammed them into the concrete floor, killing them all. They caused damage too to one of the lawnmowers and weed whackers. The rubber insulation in a throttle linkage was chewed through and used to make a nest. Nasty little animals. Rat shit and even a dead rat in one of the corner of the shed where they stayed the winter.

 

[BladeVenom]

Watch Willard.

 

[blotto]

My Black Lab kills those little bastards for fun. She catches them and stomps them and then shakes them, throws them in the air and rolls around on their corpses just so she can show them whose the boss. She also kills mice, birds, and squirrels. I suspect she'll kill a cat at some point. Maybe a raccoon too.

 

[Craig234]

This is a tough one. I lean against killing, but rats are not good to have around.

Can you catch and release them in a wilderness area?

 

[jhansman]

Yep, and if you use the Rat Zapper, it's a pretty clean kill. Handy sucker. Sorry, but rats are disease-carrying vermin; they don't get a pass just 'cause they're outside.

 

[Drako]

Can you catch and release them in a wilderness area?

LOL, catch and release a rat?

 

[Theb]

First they came for the tomatoes but I did nothing, because I was not a tomato.

 

[TheNinja]

Another interesting note. I used to have a wood pile. I moved it and while moving it 2 rats ran from it. After further digging I found 1 rat skeleton and a snake skin. I never saw the snake though. I fear I upset the snake's den who was keeping the rats a little under control. I don't know what kind of snake it was though so maybe that's OK. Now I just have more rats it seems.

I also decided against poison for 3 reasons.

1. It seems less humane. I'm all for killing rats but I don't need to make them suffer.
2. I don't want dead rats rotting all over stinking up and attracting maggots and what not.
3. I like the satisfaction of KNOWING that I got 1 or more. With poison, you just don't know if you got them. With a trap, I'm 100% certain that the little bastard with his head/neck clamped on is dead.