Pet rat or real rat?

Tom Dunne

It's my first venture into this forum, so I hope someone can offer me some advice.

I was sitting in my parent's house the other day, looking into the garden when I spotted a rat on the decking. Now, I am fairly certain it was a rat, it had a large body and a long tail.

Of course my parents were freaked out at the thought of this, but I reckon it was a pet rat that has esaped for the following reasons:

It was out in daylight (around 3:00pm).
It didn't seem wild, it wasn't scurrying around at the edge of the decking, it was, well, meandering in the the middle.
It was a brown/fawn colour.

Could this be a pet rat? Or are this colour of rats wild (and therefore something to be worried about)?

bullets

Dunno the answer to your question but it just reminded me.....
I saw a rat for the first time in about 15 years last week.
Again it was about 3 O'Clock in the day this was brown and white
patches and did not look like a typical Brown rat. Was not really afraid of
me and scampered away slowly towards the back of a Hotel I was passing
while out walking.


~B

peasant

Just google images of "brown rat" or "rattus norvegicus" and you will see that what you saw probably wasn't an escaped pet.

Mr E

Is not rat. Is siberian hamster.

(sorry )

sillymoo

Any rat is bad news in my book! A big rat camped in my garden a few years ago - I was afraid to even let the dog out in case the rat bit it (I have a Shih Tzu which is quite blind). A bit of well placed poision did the trick

Interceptor

You are never very far from a rat, they are naturally wary of humans but if he didn't see you then he wouldn't need to be moving quickly. Usually they just lope along until there is a reason to run. Rats are not necessarily nocturnal, they are most likely to be out in the dark when there is no-one else about, but will come out during the day if they feel safe doing so. The increase in the popularity of compost heaps is attracting them into gardens more and more, they love yummy rotten veg.

There is nothing to be worried about but you should treat wild rats as potential disease carriers and wash your hands or wear gloves if you are working in the garden where rats may have urinated. This applies to ALL gardens BTW and not just ones where rats have been seen. Keeping a dog can sometimes keep rats away, but if they are hungry enough they will go anywhere, dog or no dog. I've had rats eat the food out of my dogs bowl, but my dog is fairly thick. Put out traps or poison if you have to, but I'd object more to a blind ShihTzu in my garden than a rat as they are as likely to pass disease on to humans...

'cptr

sillymoo

Interceptor wrote:

Put out traps or poison if you have to, but I'd object more to a blind ShihTzu in my garden than a rat as they are as likely to pass disease on to humans...

'cptr

I dont know what you are implying about my dog Interceptor but Shih Tzu's are not as likely to pass on disease. Compared to rats which spread the plague. :mad:

artieanna

Interceptor wrote:

but I'd object more to a blind ShihTzu in my garden than a rat as they are as likely to pass disease on to humans...

Thats a terrible, untrue thing to say:mad: :mad:

Tom Dunne, If i was you i'd be careful as it is more likely a common rat than a pet. Make sure that you don't leave food around outside as you don't want to encourage him or his buddies to settle in your garden.

Peyton Manning

sillymoo wrote:

I dont know what you are implying about my dog Interceptor but Shih Tzu's are not as likely to pass on disease. Compared to rats which spread the plague. :mad:

For a minute there, I thought you named your dog Interceptor.... :rolleyes:

Punctuation, please.

missdemeanor

I'm afraid it is the common rat ...It's exactly what I saw in my garden a couple of weeks ago....AAggghh:eek:
Hate them!!!!
They're in all the gardens along our row.
If you ring the council they will come out and lay down poison box for you...and will come back to check on it after a few days to see if there are any "casualties"