Rats!!!!!!!!-WTF?

The_Minister

I went my whole life without seeing any rats. Not one. I'd hear the odd rustle, see the odd flash, but that was all.
In the last month, I have seen six. Blatently sitting out in the open, fleeing when I approached, but not till I got within a three metres or so. They're also bigger then any of the dead ones I've seen
Is this their breeding season?
Was it the warm weather?
Have other people noticed this?

I'm not squemish, but this is getting unnerving. Am I just being unlucky?

JIZZLORD

perhaps you now have the plague

Dudess

I feel the same way about rats as Winston Smith does (I'm going through a bit of a 1984 obsession at the moment).

Rats like this? http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070628/ratbop_l.jpg

l3LoWnA

...........the other day! Wheel of my car squished the dirty bugger! hate them! I often see them running across the road when i'm driving but have never come face to face with one yet thank god!

l3LoWnA

l3LoWnA wrote: »

...........the other day! Wheel of my car squished the dirty bugger! hate them! I often see them running across the road when i'm driving but have never come face to face with one yet thank god!

Usually, I try to avoid squashing animals on the road, except rats!

humbert

Have you recently taken up residence in a sewer perhaps?

l3LoWnA

Deleted User wrote: »

Usually, I try to avoid squashing animals on the road, except rats!

Oh, I've made a habit of it, although not intentionally of course! I hit a bird a few years back (thought it would fly away as I approached, it was miding it's own business hopping about in the middle of the road - but it waited until my car was just over it and then tried, unsucessfully, to fly - heard the thud under the car, looked in rear-view mirror and saw a massive puff of feathers :eek: )

More recently I hit what I still believe to this day (although everyone argues they don't exist in Ireland?!) was a baby otter, saw a little family of black things trying to jump into a hedge (from a distance I thought they were crows picking at some debris on the road, so I kept driving) As I was passing them a small one jumped at the hedge and fell backwards and under the wheel of my car. I didn't stop and get out as didn't really want to deal with the grieving parents

As for the rat - no sympathy whatsoever! Horrible creatures!

Jesus Wept

Found a dead one in my garden a week ago, maybe they are about to take over,

thefinalstage

Rats are relatively harmless. They also provide a needed service.

thelastangryman

thelastangryman wrote: »

Rats are relatively harmless. They also provide a needed service.

Like spreading weil's disease, amongst others.

Pherekydes

Rats are like icebergs.

You only see a tiny proportion of the whole. If you start seeing more, then there's a LOT more unseen.

I saw one out riding my bike the other day. I thought he was going to run under my wheel, but he turned back at the last second.

Yep, they're taking over.

P.S. I was riding my bike, not the rat. LOL

P.P.S. Still wrong. LOL, makes it look like I'm saying I was riding my bike, not riding the rat. But I wasn't riding the rat, anyway. OK, I was on the bike, the rat was on the road. Off to take my Parkinson's meds.

The Hill Billy

There apppears to be a huge number of them this year for some reason. I live out in the sticks & I've never seen so many as there are this year.

I have the health board's Rat Man out twice in the last few weeks laying poison. The feckers appeared to have gone, but when I popped out the back for a smoke last night I could hear them rustling around the bushes all over place.

Time to get the Rat Man back methinks.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you're all genocidal bastards

tallus

My cat is always killing them and leaving them as a present on the doorstep. I'd rather see a dead one than a live one tho.
Apparently you're never more than ten feet away from one.

leninbenjamin

The Rats are back. we had a few of the buggers feeding off the bird feeder recently enough... humongous he was. like a big... rat...

eh...

magick

yup have to agree, if u see one their a lot more ur not seeing ! Always handy to have a few stray cats round the neighbourhood or magpies (yes i said magpies) cos they love them rats too!

Archeron

I seem to be encountering a lot of hedgehogs this year.

tallus

magick wrote: »

yup have to agree, if u see one their a lot more ur not seeing ! Always handy to have a few stray cats round the neighbourhood or magpies (yes i said magpies) cos they love them rats too!

Soo true! a few weeks ago there were Magpies chasing a rat close to where I work and apparently you could hear the fcuker squealing from a long way off.
Gross .

smashey

l3LoWnA wrote: »

More recently I hit what I still believe to this day (although everyone argues they don't exist in Ireland?!) was a baby otter,

Plenty of otters around.

thelastangryman wrote: »

Rats are relatively harmless. They also provide a needed service.

Weils disease?

Pherekydes

Archeron wrote: »

I seem to be encountering a lot of hedgehogs this year.

I have a hedgehog in my back garden! Don't know where he came from, or even if it's a he. Not checking either; I don't to prick my finger.

I think these [happenings] are all signs of the impending apocalypse. When you see a python in your back garden you'll know it's time to run... :eek:


...and pray.

Terry

Deleted User wrote: »

Like spreading weil's disease, amongst others.

That's really only water rats and they tend to live, well, near water.
Used to see a lot of them during the Summer months, before the river Rye became too polluted to swim in.

I've seen a few big bastards too near the local slaughter house.
The type described by the OP.
They don't move. They just look at you.
They run when you get close enough to kick them though.

SpitfireIV

Theres a thread on the same topic over in 'Nature and Bird Watching' I think.

But yeah, seen a few myself this year, seen them swimming along the river. Lot of noise and hustling in my shed too at times, a bit unnerving, hope to god it isnt rats, I HATE them!! My neighbour maintains that you cant get black mice.....I seen a small black thing in the shed, baby rat perhaps?

Seen one dead on the road lastweek, I poked it with a stick , there was that fear though that it would suddenly come alive and attach itself to my face!!

Didnt I hear a story a couple of years back about someone in Ireland who woke up to find a rat on his/her face? Nice.

briantwin

Lots of Rats knocking around this Autumn/Winter....didn't see that many during the summer. There used to be millions of the lovely little bast*rds out in Maynooth when there was a Mill but due to all the redevelopment they had to move on. Sadly there is too little space for them to go....so i believe a lot of them have applied to the government for refugee status.
Subsidisedd housing and all the other perks. I'm sure they've never been happier Alos i agree about the hedgehog thing aswell. Although when ever i see them lately they are in the middle of estates and have obviously been tortured or brutalised by little hoody wearing f**kers. I chased away a kids i found who had covered a little defenseless (i know they have spines) in lighter fluid and setting it on fire. Bloody scum!!

Wacker

Nasty story here: I saw a rat running across a road near Killiney DART station once. If you're familiar with the spot, you'll know that there is a hill there with really long grass - I'd imagine there are about a thousand rats in there. Anyway, this fella was crossing the road, and a car was approaching him. If the rat continued going the same way, he'd have been okay. Instead, he changed directions and tried to outrun the car.
He failed.
Badly.

The car only got his head. His body was kicking and struggling for a few seconds.

T'was one of the nastier things I've seen in my young life.

dodgyme

Dudess wrote: »

I feel the same way about rats as Winston Smith does (I'm going through a bit of a 1984 obsession at the moment).

dont mention the 1984 stuff, like the horrors after lotsa drink. I opened a thread on rats in the nature section of boards. Hate them

*Page*

Any chance there have been road works or digging of any sort?

the only time we got rats was when they started building more houses and disrupted a warren, also when they dug up the river to make the walls higher...

Zzippy

l3LoWnA wrote: »

More recently I hit what I still believe to this day (although everyone argues they don't exist in Ireland?!) was a baby otter, saw a little family of black things trying to jump into a hedge (from a distance I thought they were crows picking at some debris on the road, so I kept driving) As I was passing them a small one jumped at the hedge and fell backwards and under the wheel of my car. I didn't stop and get out as didn't really want to deal with the grieving parents

Who on earth argues they don't exist in Ireland? There are probably more of them here than in most of the rest of Europe. I see them all the time. Actually hit one last year with the car, it was nighttime so didn't see it til it was too late.
As for your accident, if they were small it could also have been stoats, pine martens (now they're rare, but I've seen them too) or mink (slightly smaller than otters)

As for the OP, apparently if you live in Dublin you're never more than 25 feet from a rat. Enjoy!

Trojan911

Both nasty diseases. A tip I was given when living in the UK, always wipe your can of drink clean before opening as a rat may have run over the stock on the store room & peed as he ran.

Apparently rats do not have bladders & therefore pee as they walk/run thus spreading the above diseases.

TJ911...

dream brother

A guy i work with told us a story of a pub in cavan that was infested with rats! One day a local walks in with a bag, take out a live rat, places it one a poke and puts it into the open fire! he said the squeals of the rat could be heard everywhere! Apparently all the other rats then get scared and run away!

Terry

Trojan911 wrote: »

Both nasty diseases. A tip I was given when living in the UK, always wipe your can of drink clean before opening as a rat may have run over the stock on the store room & peed as he ran.

Apparently rats do not have bladders & therefore pee as they walk/run thus spreading the above diseases.

TJ911...

While in crates, cans are covered in plastic.
Wiping a can won't get rid of germs or bacteria unless you use some sort of disifectant.

People get worked up about the smallest things.