There are humane traps around, but why should someone else have to have your neighbours rats foisted on them?

I believe that the trap I have is supposed to be humane. I have it set in my garden. If I "lend one" to her,what can I advise my neighbour to do with a rat if she catches one? Does anyone know how much of a homing instinct they have - how far removed do they need to be?
I will deal with any in my garden!

hi kere if you ring rentokil and tell them your problem they might send someone round with a humane trap to try to catch it.you dont really want rats around the house if you can help it (weils)they should send them a bill.or ask the council they would do something for the problem always rember you are always about seven foot away from the horrible things.good luck youll need it.

I would inform your local council and they will come and find where they nesting etc. the only way to get rid of them is by poison I'm afraid. Rats are vermin and a pair of rats makes two thousand in one year!! An awful statistic and one that needs action.

I have met people before who do not see animals like rats being a threat to the health of sensible people. I don't think that any conversation with them will achive a reasonable outcome. I think that your best bet would be to set a trap in your own garden and dispose of the creature as you see fit without any involvement with your neighbour.

I believe it is against the law to capture and then release vermin on other peoples property......you could look it up

I wonder if your Vegan neighbour grows veggies - I hope she does, because then you can tell her that rats pee as they walk, they're incontinent, and that will be contaminating her veggies. In reality she's unlikely to get Weils or salmonella from eating her produce if she washes it thoroughly/cooks it, but rats do carry both salmonella and leptospirosis.
If I were you, I'd have bait boxes round my garden to poison the blasted things - I don't dislike rats or mice, and they can make good pets, but where there's one rodent, there'll soon be thousands...
You could contact your council, but in London boroughs, they do nothing on pest control these days, you have to get it sorted yourself.
I'm just picturing the guys at Rentokil being asked to supply humane catch and release traps for rats... Smaller ones for mice, yes, but rats?

I had them last year and the council set traps and after 2 months they had got rid of them thank goodness.
your neighbour is rather naive re this !!

Been doing a bit of research - seems catch and release traps are not meant to be used for vermin - they're designed for catching maybe your pet rat and releasing it unharmed, or for other creatures which should not be killed.
Rats are considered by the Health Authorities and DEFRA to be serious disease vectors, and should be destroyed.

Vegan or not your neighbour needs to face the fact that rats are not a good thing to have in your garden. Does she have young children as a rat is perfectly capable of biting! Bait boxes and lots of them is, as Bamboo says, the answer.

Cant see that being vegan is an excuse for not getting rid of vermin.No one expects her to eat the thing. She is i assume not a Buddist

Rats are a public health issue- spreading disease and damaging property. Doesn't matter if your neighbour doesn't want to kill them or have them killed, we each have a duty of care to our neighbour to help provide a safe environment for humans. I'd contact you local council first if I was you- in some parts of the country Rat Control is still free from the Council.

I agree that contacting your local authority/Rentokil (or other reputable pest controllers :-)) is the only way to go. If rats are allowed to thrive the result is disastrous - not only to property but to human health. An elderly lady in one neighbourhood awoke to find she was being gnawed on by a rat - she then died. Take rats very seriously indeed. Your vegan neighbour may have misgivings but in the long run you will only regret not taking swift and resolute action. I speak from experience and know that tackling rats is not easy. Good luck!

In the mid 1970s we had a croft in Aberdeenshire. We were infested with rats and had to kill well in excess of 50 of the blighters... exterminate with extreme prejudice is my view!

Thanks for all your comments. I will seek out advice on poisons from my local farmers supply shop - my local council charges £56.40, it`s probably cheaper to do myself. Bait stations should be easy enough to hide out of sight from prying eyes!

Make sure that children and pets can't get at them.

£56.40 is a good price for that they will be taking responsibility for not only clearing them but any claims for pets, children or anything else that may come across the bait/ poison. I'd pay the money and let them have the problem. Also they will be putting an experienced person in charge of getting rid of them.

We live in the country and my farmer neighbour uses lengths of plastic drainpipe laid on a rat run then using a stick pushes bait trays inside the pipe so that only the vermin can get at it,
even bird tables will attract them, they have no difficulty running up wooden posts, we have one of those feeding stations on a thin metal pole and have fixed trays under the food.....especially the seed...bluetits for one if you watch closely toss out the seed they don,t like often the corn, with the tray under the collared doves come and eat it

our council were free but £56.40 is still a good price .They were very thorough and they kept coming back until there were no more signs of the horrible things.
buying all the things you would need will cost as much if not more !

Also the council will probably have access to stronger poisons than you will.

£56 I would say is a good price to get the job done properly by experts too. Our council here in Greenwich offer a free service.

Blimey, lucky you Grandmage - ring our Council about rats, wasps, whatever, they're not interested, no service available.

Crazy Bam. not for rats? Wasps we do pay for, but Rats!! Surely its in their best interest etc! We all pay enough rates after all.

I have set one bait trap with some poison recommended as not to kill local cats (not totally convinced)<£10, and have actually got one rat in my humane/cage trap. It was unfortunately dead when I found it, not sure how that happened, maybe the drought killed it - it did look a bit wet.....

Good luck Kere, if you find any lying around that have died from the poison dispose of them as soon as you can because the poison in the body can still harm the animals and birds if they try to eat it.....one other reason why professionals are a good idea

if you care for your health id kill it pure and simple . they can carry some nasty things on them and they just dribble urine and poo constantly wear ever they are . in a pond your talking wells desease excuse my spelling . its a dog eat dog world and killing a few isnt going to hurt the general populess but keeping them could cause your friend a lot of problems . they also cause a lot of damage wear they go . if there in food there also weeing on it . the thing is you just have to get a good rat trap that kills them outright . poison is not a nice way to go and comes with its own problems . if you can see a rat theres normaly quit a few you cant .i know it sounds brutal but you realy must get your priorities right . i hate crualty honestly . rats have always got babies and can have 6 litters of up to 12 a time that thereselves can breed at 3-4 months old . they will breed expensoualy realy . if you cant do it get a man who can honest . a good old fashioned rat trap of high quality is what you need like a mouse trap but bigger . bye the time the rat touches the food he wont even know as it breaks there neck or skull or both bye nature . use peanut butter in your trap not cheese . thats an old wives tail .