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I'm hoping Mac will be along in a minute to confirm.

The little bugger has been out and about in the garden for a while but today there were two. It looks like a mouse. The body shape, ears, feet all look more mouse than rat to me but it's wombles massive. I thought it was a wood mouse but it's got to be over 10cm long so I'm fearing the worst.
And with its mate

Simple field mouse where I come from. We also call them critters.
Sic the cat on them for kicks and giggles.

Bald tail squirrels .... clearly .... i think you have discovered a new species. Looks like a rat to me. Particularly, if it is over 100mm.

They look more like young rats to me as well, the tail looks to thick for it to be a mouse. If that's a composter in the second photo with an open bottom they are probably living in that, food on tap sort of thing

Chris.

Thats not really a good enough image to fully ID but the rule of thumb is...Mice the tail is longer than the body. Rat's the tail is shorter than the body.

The top pic with the single Rodent looks like a Rat.

The bottom pic with the two rodents look like Mice. Looking at that the tail is quite long...

10cm isn't far off for a adult mouse...

Juvenle Rats are bigger than that...

Yes it looks like they are just attracted to the food source.

This is a juvenile Rat...

StuartWags wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:14 pm Bald tail squirrels .... clearly .... i think you have discovered a new species. Looks like a rat to me. Particularly, if it is over 100mm.

Bald Squirrel you say ?

MacV2 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:25 pm Thats not really a good enough image to fully ID but the rule of thumb is...Mice the tail is longer than the body. Rat's the tail is shorter than the body.

The top pic with the single Rodent looks like a Rat.

The bottom pic with the two rodents look like Mice. Looking at that the tail is quite long...

10cm isn't far off for a adult mouse...

At a guess they're 12cm to 15cm, having now got a 10cm reference. They're rats.

What's astonishing is how active they are in broad daylight and how unafraid. I watched them later from not much over two metres away.

The question is what to do. The food source is bird seed and not going away. I might be able to rig something to catch want the birds drop but the squirrels will up-end that.

Buy an air rifle!
Bait some bread with peanut butter
Make sure your shooting down
Make sure all pellets stay within your property boundary
.22 at short range
Job done

But we're there is food there are rats
Just sit in a supermarket car park and watch
Hotels
Hospitals
Farms, especially chicken farms
Now it's getting cold the become bold

i have chickens. They have a food source that attracts rats. This time of year the rats get very brave as any natural food sources dwindle. As the population plumes, they will spread further afield in the search for food. The damage they cause is a pain.

I ended up going down the air rifle root. I had to learn to shoot though. With a bit of practice, with good rifle (recommend PCP), they can be dispatched humanely, from about 20 - 30 yards.

Poisson is not humane in my opinion and dodgy if you have pets and chickens

I think they are young rats. Their natural food is more scarce now as winter is coming so they look for easier sources.

Their reputation hasn't recovered from the plague but they are not that bad really. They are just large mice. IMHO, no need to wage war on them, you'll never win and they won't do you any harm.

Remove the food source, remove the rats. Good luck.

Catch em and give them as away as crimbo presents - tell the kids they are big tough fluffy hamsters

Personally I prefer a decent break barrel air rifle no tanks or filling to worry about. They do take a bit of practice to shoot. The secret is not to hold the gun too tight. Allow the recoil to happen. Yes there's recoil but nothing to hurt the shooter, it's just a case of management. Nothing like a shotgun.
Don't buy Chinese.
But the choice is yours

Also buy decent pellets and stick with that make

https://www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-ps ... lsrc=aw.ds

These work. Just remember to release them in a remote, uninhabited location ...... like a city center at the moment

Or shoot 'em