Are you afraid of rats?

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117959790#Comment_117959790

Weil's disease more than likely. Although it's very uncommon over here. You can catch it from cattle too though.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117961056#Comment_117961056

It was Weil's disease. Isn't that the same as leptospirosis?

Wompa1

I got bit on the arm by one when I was younger. I would say I'm afraid of them. I would rather they stay the feck away from me though.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117961235#Comment_117961235

Yes.

screamer

I don’t like the dirty feckers but it’s more the diseases they carry that scares me. Neighbour died from weils disease courtesy of rats in the horse feed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117939862#Comment_117939862

My friend's farmer pal says exactly that. Doesn't even bother him if they brush against him. Shudder.

And he says they make a kind of screaming sound when they see the cat, which is a very disturbing thought to me.

My mother heard screaming noises outside one night - absolutely bone chilling but she peered out the window. The cat was wrestling a rat. 🤢

Dramatik

They freak me out, as one tried to attack me before. I was walking home early one morning when up ahead on the footpath I noticed a dark shadow, looked like a cat. As I got closer I realised it was actually a cat however on the far side of the cat was a nice plump rat, probably about 3/4 the size of the cat.

Upon seeing me the cat decided to leg it and leave me with this ultra pissed off giant rat, who had probably just been fighting for it's life a couple of seconds ago. Having never been in a situation like this before I decided that the best thing to do was to stomp my feet on the ground and clap my hands in an effort to scare it off.

However this didn't seem to phase the rat whatsoever, the rat had decided that my actions were unacceptable and that it was going to attack me for bothering it. The rat started jumping whilst simultaneously screeching and moving in my direction. I didn't know what to do and I was frozen in place.

I have know idea why I did this but I stood in one place and started swinging my leg like I was taking a penalty kick over and over again, whilst simultaneously balancing on the opposite leg. I just caught the air a couple of times but on about the fourth swing the rat had just jumped into range. I felt what seemed like a bean bag wrapping itself around my toes and watched as the rat flew, then skidded across the ground and ended up in the bottom of someone's hedge.

I took off like a shot and ran the whole way home which took about 15 minutes, every couple of minutes checking behind me to make sure it wasn't following me.

Luckily enough it didn't get me but if my timing had been off I'm 100 percent sure I would have been bitten. Terrifying experience.

Sweet Jesus. ☹

corner of hells

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117964341#Comment_117964341

Very apt username.

neenam

Rats (well all rodents) are not inherently dirty animals like the way people make them out to be. It is the environment in which they live that contaminates them.

IMO, us humans are the #1 pest in the animal kingdom, kinda makes you think about the similarities between humans and rodents. Rodents have made massive contributions to scientific and medical advances, not to mention humanitarian work - trained rats are used to detect TNT for clearing landmines abroad, as well as TB in hospital patients.

Recently it's suggested by some studies that the black rat (or rather the fleas on rats) wasn't responsible for the Black Death in C14th-17th Europe, but fleas on humans. The pattern and rate of the spread of the plague suggests that it was too fast for it to have been spread by fleas on rats, when you consider rat-human vs. human-human transmission. It's also been said that more rats should have been found dead if they were such important disease-carriers, as well as claims that the weather wasn't optimal for rats to thrive and spread the disease widely. And an ecological review in 1986 cited lack of evidence for rats as the carriers of the disease. The Black Death was only really tackled when sanitation was improved and people started cleaning themselves more regularly, so....

Question is are people prepared to exonerate rodents if this is true? At the very least the stigma against them should be quashed.

dudley72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967667#Comment_117967667

to be honest at this stage most people don't even remember the black death and it was supposed to be rats that spread it. They are evil looking little feckers of things and they get bad rap for that.....with the diseases they carry the bad rap is warranted

neenam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967688#Comment_117967688

The research contradicts what you've said though. Human fleas caused the spread of the plague, not rats. While it's true that they're capable of transmitting disease, it's only possible if you're bitten by one, or get into contact with their excrement or urine - it's human . They're very shy animals, so you have a higher chance of disease from domesticated animals than wild rodents. Not to mention that they're known for their cleanliness routine, similar to cats. There's no basis for the unsubstantiated claims made here, they're just prejudiced views on rodents.

dudley72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117971743#Comment_117971743

I never said humans or rat spread the Black Plague, I said it was so long ago most people don’t connect them any longer

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117971743#Comment_117971743

Do you keep a few as pet's yourself?

chicorytip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117941580#Comment_117941580

They will bite anything, in all circumstances, even when there is no threat to them. A sleeping human being, for example. David Attenborough was asked were there any creatures of nature he despised. He answered, only one, rats. They really are hateful and pointless and serve no purpose.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117972500#Comment_117972500

The great man was spot on about that

Irishcrx

I absolutely hate them - I'm fine with most thing's animal wise but Rats is one I that really gets me.

I remember them when I was young , I was down the back of the garden playing with a friend when I was about 10 as my mother was putting clothes on the line and heard her screaming and running back into the house - I looked up and seen this massive Rat in the middle of the garden walking towards us put he kept sqeeling and rolling over, found out later it's because the neighbours had poisoned them and it had come over the back wall - we ended up running around it and had to talk my Mam into actually opening the door for us...It went into the shed until my Dad came home , he went in with a baseball bat and there was about 5 minutes of shouting , stuff getting knocked over until he appeared with it by the tail and threw it over the wall...we had a few of them over the years where I live.

I myself as a fully grown adult had an infestation of them about two years ago - was horrible , had relly bad anxiety with them , couldn't sleep - the noises they make at night scuttering around the floors and walls , chewing through pipes , cables - I had traps everywhere and was catching a couple a night but they had properly bred in so it seemed to never end...I ended up having to take a lot of the floorboards up and a left field suggestion from my Dad to employ a guy with trained ferrets and out them under the floor to chase them out , I thought that idea was completely mental but ended up so desperate I took his advice and it was actually the only thing that worked ,I've been trouble free since.

dudley72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973318#Comment_117973318

Ferrets are great and your Dad was right....they will follow them around and get them out. If more out in open then terriers are the best. We had one years ago that was digging for a day and ended up coming up with 1-2 nests of them. Might dog she was.

The main thing if you had an infestation like that you need to find the access point. If you didn't they will come back again.

Irishcrx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973407#Comment_117973407

Your right , we found the access point it was actually under the ground at the rear of the house had to dig it up , that's where we put the ferrets in and once done we sealed it.

neenam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117971899#Comment_117971899

You said "...it was supposed to be rats that spread it" and it was implied with general negative wording used (evil looking little feckers)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117972372#Comment_117972372

No I don't, never had any. If I was given any or had to rehome any I'd take them in if I could manage caring for them. Ofc I would need be shown the ropes on how to care for them, handling, etc.

dudley72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973967#Comment_117973967

This is exactly what I said, no idea what the confusion is about the comment

to be honest at this stage most people don't even remember the black death and it was supposed to be rats that spread it. They are evil looking little feckers of things and they get bad rap for that.....with the diseases they carry the bad rap is warranted

TomSweeney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117939947#Comment_117939947

Was such a great story ! The tabloids loved it.

There was a thread on here about it and the tabloids had a headline like "Ghost Ship full of rabid cannibal rats heading for Ireland"

And someone replied "I didn't know Fianna Fail were on a cruise?"

most thanked post of the thread ! :D

neenam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117973978#Comment_117973978

You're misconstruing what I'm saying. I didn't say that you said it, I said that you made an implicit assertion when you said "...it was supposed to be rats that spread it" along with everything else in post #62, which suggests that you generally agree with the idea of them responsible for spreading the plague. No confusion, you could've just addressed the points I made if you disagree with them, instead of turning it into a red herring.

What to do if a rat ever got up from the sewers into one's bathroom?

When in close combat with a rat, best thing to do is give 'em a tickle. They love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78PfGQbL-g0