Hi Sharon,

You can buy non-lethal traps (they are a box with a trigger plate inside that
closes the door, or boxes with one-way doors). I've found them fairly effective
with mice. However, once you've caught the rat you still have to dispose of it
somehow - obviously releasing it anywhere other people live is not very good for
the people. But releasing it far away from human habitation might not be good
either; they might not be able to survive in the wild, and if they do survive
they'll be competing with and eating native animals. If you really don't want to
kill them the best option I can think of would be to release them in a
wasteland/rubbish area that would have food resources for them and few native
animals. Even then it's likely that there will be local rat populations which
will kill them.

If you decide to kill them, conventional spring traps are usually pretty good
cruelty-wise - mostly the trap will break their neck and kill them instantly.
Poison on the other hand gives a lingering, extremely painful death.

Someone I know had a pet rat, and a wild rat got into its cage. The tame rat ate
it.

Good luck, and I hope someone else has a more pleasant suggestion!


Suzie



--- In AMRIS_rodents_and_rabbits@y..., "sharon" <sharon@c...> wrote:
> photos neededHi All,
>
> I have two lovely male rats, but they aren't my problem....
>
> The past week I have had probelms with rodents of the wild variety! i.e. rats
in the roof keeping me awake by their running around & a mouse (or mice) in my
house running between my legs, leaping out of my linen cupboard at me & waking
me up at 5.30am today by rustling round in my rubbish bin! I can even SMELL that
mousy smell in my study.
>
> Yesterday I thought I couldn't bring myself to use any of the usual disposal
methods (ie. traps, poison) because having rodents as pets I couldn't bear the
thought of them suffering. But now that they keep disturbing my sleep I'm
becoming less empathetic!
>
> Does anyone have any opinions/ideas on the ethical disposal of wild rodents??
>
> Thanks.
>
> Sleep Deprived Sharon
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]