Tabloid Headline: Huge Rats found in England

The Sun just could not resist taking a close up photo of the rat.....with a guy 10 ft in the background to make the rat look larger.

I bet you guys / or girls wouldnt be saying they shouldnt of killed it if you seen that Two Foot "rodent" running across your kitchen floor,just looking for food

reply to post by paradiselost333


The last time I saw rodents in someone's kitchen I witnessed three grown women shrieking their lungs out and running for cover.

The two mice were so frightened by the racket that they fled for cover

Just before I moved some months ago, I had a few rats coming in the house from the garden. As I started to pack up I found that every rarely-visited nook or cranny downstairs had been crammed with dry food they had stolen from my dog.

Little gits - and I never begrudged them a mouthful

ok- i'm hooked on this rat story this morning..or better framed -rodents-
and some breeds get big- so they arent "giant rats!" but species that
make regular rats seem small -right? i hope i'm right.. now you need bigger cats.
get some bobcats from canada..they have huge pythons spreading in florida,
but i suppose its too chilly for them in england.. terriers are rat catchers eh?
EASY RAT POISON- ANTIFREEZE..cats dogs and kids too, so watch it.
but soon enough you may need them as a source of food. maybe the rat hat would catch on with the kids..convince the asians it will make them more potent- instant market..get your thinking cap on. couldnt be worse than some of the stuff the english eat.

Originally posted by SerialLurker
I've heard a lot of good reports about rats as pets, apparently they have the grooming habits of a cat and the loyalty of a dog... Perfect mix!

Yhea I've had loads of rats as a kid, I let them breed a few times. They really are great pets, but getting them from pet shops can be a bit hit or miss in my experience, quite often they have been treated quite badly and not handled enough so they don't get along with humans very well - try to get them from a breeder, it's well worth it, or maybe a kid who breeds them like I did. I had a few seriously loyal little friends, one of the little girls would not leave me alone! Great little personality, a proper sense of humour.

Thing is I could never get the to control their pee! - Some people claim they can teach them, I couldn't, poop was easy, pee different story, there is always a constant little dribble where ever they go, it's just what they do in the wild, it's the rattie version of facebook lol, gawd knows what that would be like with a massive rat!

I knew for a while there were big rats in England.

The biggest of them all reside in the Balmoral Castle in the summer. And they even have names... they call themselves `The Royal Family``...

[edit on 20-8-2010 by Vitchilo]

Why are so many people comparing rats as pets, to these monster vermin. I know they make good pets as ive had friends who love them, but on the whole theyre so different to the wild verminous types. We can only blame ourselves for the way they've became so prolific, but it is one animal that i would always agree to killing rather than relocating.

I have seen maybe twenty rats make a pig carcass look like something unrecognisable within minutes. They were so fat through gourging on it that they couldnt run to get away from the dogs. Theyre also very vicious, like i'd said in a previous post, smaller dogs will often come out hurt when theyve been up against a rat/s.

reply to post by DogsDogsDogs


Perhaps I ought to be more clear. I support the well being of all animal kind , even the ones I enjoy eating. It is not that I throw money at faceless charities, I put time and effort into ensuring that what I do during a day doesnt interfere with animals. I walk round spider webs, step over snails, and help my cousins aunt and uncle to count glow worm populations every so often. Also I am a firm friend to my local fox clan, who have entirely ceased to run off in a blind panic when I approach , and seem to consider me part of the furniture.
And finaly, some of the best people I have ever met, are my friends dogs and cats, and lizards and snakes and spiders and so on and so forth. Hell a friend of mine used to have four rats, all of whom were more than happy to sit in my hair (kinda long ) for about half an hour every time I visited.

I love animals as much as the next person but if I were to encounter a feral two foot long rat in an uncontrolled setting (IE said gigantic rat not in a very sturdy cage) I would not think about my love of animals. I would not be concerned with WWPD (What would PETA do).

I would run like I was Forrest Gump or I'd shoot it.

So let other folks say they'd bring it home and hug it, kiss it, and call it George. I don't want to end up with rabies, the plague, or with any part of me serving as a rats snack.

*edited because ADD really muffs things up sometimes*



[edit on 8/20/10 by Hefficide]

a bunch of rat loving tree huggers... kill these dirty things they are just rats don't complain about it when you contribute to the deaths of millions of poultry, cows, and pigs by eating meat each day. wah rats are people too give me a break, if you saw one wild in your house you would kill it just like anyone else.

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire


I've had pet rats and I've had a small colony of rats living in my garden. I've never, ever had a problem with the wild rats being vicious.

My dog used to go belting out of the house at about a hundred miles an hour to chase rats, but they always ran away.

In my experience, rats will have a bolt- hole which they will make for if they find themselves threatened.

I've seen a rat in a friend's garden and crouched down to get a closer look at it - all it did was look back at me and then went on it's way. It didn't even attack me on the occasion when I accidentally 'flushed it out' with a hose when I was watering the flowers.

If a rat has to defend itself against a dog or a cat, it's hardly surprising that they will fight for their life. Most creatures would and you can't blame the rat if it is successful when it's only defending itself.

Most wild animals will not attack people unless they feel threatened and rats are no different.

As for their eating habits - well, if they are hungry they can't be blamed for eating whatever is available.

reply to post by berenike


I can honestly believe what you are saying. I dont go out thinking today i feel like killing rats, thats not my mentality at all. I will however go and kill rats that may cause damage to livestock and their wellbeing. Rats will literally eat livestock whilst that livestock is alive, they will also spread disease through animal feeds if they get into it, and lets not forget the damage they can cause to property. Rats can chew through a steel drainpipe, there isnt much (without going into the ridiculous) that can hold them back.

You may have never been attacked or even witnessed a rat being vicious, but if you ever had to move that colony on, you would see them in a different light.

Originally posted by berenike
reply to post by butcherguy

 

I read the article on the Black Death that you linked to and had thought of posting it myself.

It seems that humans weren't above using the plague for their own purposes. This from your link:

After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Jani Beg was suffering the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants.

Here is the link again:

en.wikipedia.org...

It should be noted, too, that the rats came across the world following caravans run by humans and hopping aboard ships, made and sailed by humans.

Wars, famine and unsanitary living conditions also contributed to the spreading of the plague and the fact that the population were more susceptible to it.

Humans were also responsible for killing off most of the cat population of Europe, thus authoring even more of their own misfortune:

www.knowyourcat.info...

Naturally, one of the best forms of protection against disease-spreading vermin was the common domestic cat. Except thanks to stupidity, superstition and religious fanaticism, the cat was not so common any more.

[edit on 20-8-2010 by berenike]

All true to the best of my knowledge.

As far as I know, the travelers in the caravans and sailors on the seas did not invite the rats to come along with them, so I don't think humans should carry all the blame there.

Wouldn't a person tolerating disease carrying rodents living in their walls be more to blame than a sailor having an unwanted stowaway on his ship?

If you read the link about hantavirus and deer mice, is it our fault for living in houses when the deer mice bring the disease to us?

reply to post by TruthxIsxInxThexMist


anyone else get the picture of parliment and the banks
you cant get bigger rats then them

Originally posted by Catch_a_Fire
reply to

You may have never been attacked or even witnessed a rat being vicious, but if you ever had to move that colony on, you would see them in a different light.

One of the reasons I dragged my heels about moving was that I didn't want to leave the rats

I just feel that, sometimes, rats get a bad press that they don't deserve. It seems to me that so many of the things they get accused of, one could easily accuse humans of too.

They're a very successful species and compete with us for habitat and resources in a way that few other animals can manage. It's something to ponder that if humans weren't so successful, rats probably couldn't flourish either.

Industrious as they are in so many ways, many of them do rely on us for shelter and sustenance.

I have a great admiration for rodents (in case it wasn't obvious). I've observed them making their little nests - even tame ones will find their own little corner of the house - storing food, stealing whatever appeals to them. They're survivors and I think we can learn a lot from them, determination especially.