The joys of country living.....EEEEEEEEK !

<shudder>
When we were farming our neighbour had a rat in their downstairs toilet that had come up into the loo (it was dripping wet), there was no other way it could have got in.

You do get a bit blasé when you live in the countryside- including checking wellies for slugs/mice before you put them on (sockless + live mouse= heart failure!)
Only thing worse is the cat cr....g in your welly ?

A few years ago I noticed that the hot water was giving off a funny smell and had changed colour. I called a plumber to investigate (you'll probably guess what he found from the nature of this thread). Yes, it was a dead and decomposed rat in the hot water tank in the loft. We had been showering, washing our hair and washing up in this foul mix for some time.
Funnily enough non of us went down with any horrible illness or skin complaint.
My daughter, who was quite young still remembers it .

I've never had a cat crap in my welly but one of our Jack Russells once shit in my slipper.

Same here llrina hate the things ?

Not rat related, but mice and living in the country:

I make 2 × 2lb Christmas puds every other year and keep one for the following year 'feeding' it regularly with brandy. This particular year I put the spare pud away in a rarely used cupboard, well covered up, and forgot about it for a couple of months.

I went back to the cupboard to feed the pud, only to discover the covering 'thrown' to one side and the pudding bowl completely empty. Mouse droppings in the bowl and cupboard identified the culprits. That must have been one hell of a feast, and I imagine them as extremely well fed, bordering on obese - and possibly pissed!!

My FIL once thought one of his shoes 'felt a bit tight'. Being a very laid back kind of guy, he didn't get around to investigating for two days. When he did he found a very squashed shrew in the toe - a present from the cat...

Bad enough clearing hair out of your own shower trap, or even worse, holiday cottages where the cleaner doesn't dare to go( only some, been in lots of immaculate ones.....!)

Rosared was that said as a joke (no smilies) but why would cleaning a drain be a mans job ...what if there isn't a man ? I ve had a rat which came from next door where they were leaving lots of food and stuff around anyway you can't call on men to do your jobs all the time so I caught the little b*** myself I would have let him free but he d already kicked the bucket no idea why because I didn't put traps or poison down just lured him into an area but didn't catch him before I went away and he must have been unable to escape which didn't make me feel good as I would rather have humanely let him go on his way but he had had he's fun and is in ratty heaven
I have no problem with rats or mice I can't stand roaches, earwigs, wasps and slugs yukky

I had a hedgehog in my bedroom once - and I don't live in the country. It was an old house with a very steep staircase so I have no idea how it managed to get up there or wanted to.
Getting it out was a problem. I picked it up with a carrier bag which it ripped (being a hedgehog) and pooped down my leg.
When I first saw something run across the floor I thought it was a rat and was relieved that it wasn't but it wasn't what I wanted to deal with in the middle of the night.

I really loathe rats, can't bear their appearance or that horrible squeaky noise. We have rat alerts in our house for when they appear on TV programmes. Years ago one of our cats developed a very nasty abscess on his hindquarters. The vet said it was probably caused by a rat bite. Didn't help my phobia.

I thought it was going to be a spider story. I'm so spider phobic that I actually felt a huge sense of relief that it was 'just' a baby rat. How ridiculous am I!

I left my bathroom window open for fresh air during the hot weather last summer. I got up to have a shower and there was a baby bat over the drain in my shower. I didn't know how to pick it up as pipistrelles are really small. I got a stiff piece of thin card and a jug, slipped the card under the bat put the jug over the top and held it out of the window where it flew away. I have a maternity colony of bats in my roof every summer. At last I have learned to close the bathroom window before dusk!

OMG thought the rat up the toilet thing was a joke I'm nervous about going now!

We did get a rat in our garden when our neighbour got rid of his chickens (Mr Fox came one night).
We put a humane trap in our garden but the only thing we caught was a poor hedgehog and it took a while to get him out the trap to release him.
The neighbour hired a firm to get rid of the rats from their garden and we were told that if we'd caught the rat and let him go somewhere else we could have got fined.

I think that might very well have finished me off !

Re spiders. When we first moved to Devon from Newcastle we had an enormous spider in the lounge. I swear you could hear him move. I felt like ringing the zoo, then a neighbour told me they make 'em bigger down here.

Want a ripping good rat yarn?
Read "Der Rat" by Gunther Grass!
You'll never think about rats the same way again. (Although you still won't want one in your drain...)

I had a pet rat as a child. She was lovely. Cats were teriffed of her.
One of our cats brings in occasional rat- usually dead. As I worked for a time for Environmental Health I know the health risks.

I'd love to put a plastic one under the trap cover for someone to find on Four in a Bed!

DH is terrified of rats, hates them! We get them in the back yard from time to time, and had tried, unsuccessfully, to trap them. I couldn't resist putting a soft toy rat in the trap one day ?. It was worth it - first to see hDH's face when he saw it in the trap, then to watch him very slowly realize that it wasn't real. Luckily he was amused once he got over the shock

When the beetroot I was growing in the garden last year started to disappear, it took a while for us to work out that rats were the culprit. They were dragging them away whole to eat at their leisure in the overgrown garden next door. Some of the leaves got stuck in the chain link fence, which is how we solved the mystery. We quickly set a trap and within an hour had two of the blighters. They were only youngsters, but must have been the only ones in the family with a taste for beetroot, as we haven't had a problem since!

Thanks for sharing that with us merlotgran!

ladybird.... sorry to scare you but there are rats everywhere: in towns, villages, gardens, etc. Luckily we are usually unaware of them. I don't know what I admire most Merlotgran: cleaning out the trap, dealing with the rat or ever being able to take a shower in here again without keeping one eye on my toes for fear of nibbling.....

I once made the mistake of rescuing a wriggling ferret / pole cat (not sure which is the correct term for the wild variety) from my cat's jaws. It was a beautiful, with a thick dark cream and brown coat. I hated to think this cat would just slowly torture it to death. In order to show its gratitude the ferret sank its very long and sharp teeth deep into my thumb. I had to rinse the wound out with neat bleach then get a tetanus shot. Ok, so I know it was a daft thing to do but I was younger then, and still had good intentions toward everything.

I saw a rat in our garden having a feasting on a fallen fat ball under the bird feeder. DH was blithely mowing the lawn at the time totally ignoring my frantic gesticulations. He got nearer and nearer to the rat who was having far too good a time to leave the party. To my horror he got within 6 foot of it and still hadn't scared it off, when suddenly DH noticed it and let the mower continue on without him - I am not saying he's a coward and yes, you've guessed it, the rat continued to gorge. It was not a pretty sight and I still shudder years later!

I smelt a horrible smell in my kitchen for ages. Kept putting dissenfectant down plug hole but it persisted. Found remains of two packets of biscuits in kitchen drawer and blamed kids. Smell got worse and i traced it to the drawers. Opened them one by one and in the third one was the most enormous dead rat. Ashamed to say i ran, screaming, into the living room. Had to have pest control out and turned out they were in the drains of the chemist shop next door! I was very wary of opening drawers and cupboards for weeks after!

Aurelia - I think you're right. It did have a tail like that, and the huge eyes. And there are some around here.