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Fenn Man
Hyperactive Member
Ireland
734 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Dec 2008 : 18:28:56
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Why do they do it as they seem to do?
Ever noticed that? Roof spaces are a favourite 'Dumping Ground' for sure. We've all seen roof spaces speckled black from end to end. Sometimes ye'll get a room like it too. Yet other places, despite obvious, high traffic? Nothing.
I'm not certain I recall Ever having seen any on their runs. Perhaps a rat going like the clappers along a well used run doesn't stop to. But they aren't always going flat out. Not while we're not looking, I'd have thought?
Talking of roof spaces and 'empty' rooms full of it; What are they up to in there? Apart from defecating with reckless abandon? Nothing to eat in a roof space. They've obviously eaten plenty elsewhere though. So, one might assume, they have a good feed, where ever they're feeding, then go up to the big, warm place to just generally chill out and spill out.
Wonder what goes through a rats mind, as he wanders around such a space, dropping his guts. Bar of one of my snappers, with any luck.
Has that place where they keep a colony of rats got a " Roof Space " bit to it? Be interesting to hear what they observe there. One place I'd love to visit. Few beers. Ash tray. Comfortable chair. I'd be quite content there. Watching the buggers.
Anyone else care to talk sh!t?
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donky7
Senior Member
United Kingdom
176 Posts |
Posted - 19 Dec 2008 : 20:16:48
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possably its a place where they feel safe from outside interferances....???? or they go there to read the paper like we does.....lol
intersting thought though mr........ |
Edited by - donky7 on 19 Dec 2008 20:17:35 |
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dorsetogg
Senior Member
United Kingdom
112 Posts |
Posted - 19 Dec 2008 : 20:39:03
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hi Fenn,
I have often wondered the same thing as you. You always seem to get the owner of the property asking what what there is to eat up in the loft?
we have all had the last years Xmas chocs from the tree, but as you say normally not a lot more.Is it hunt for more food or just chew on things.
well I'm good at talking sh!t too.
Regards Ogger |
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Dusty
Hyperactive Member
Australia
891 Posts |
Posted - 19 Dec 2008 : 20:48:46
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From the descriptions some people give, it seems they play games up there. Sounding like they run about, wearing boots. Throwing themselves right into it. They dont live there, only party, and as the song goes... It's my party and I'll crap if I want to"
If ever you geeto see some of these areas with a black light, you would swear they had painted the roof space with pee.
JAFA
Don't feed them, get Rid of them - visit us on www.ridpest.com.au
or blog us on http://blog.ridpest.com.au |
Edited by - Dusty on 19 Dec 2008 20:52:07 |
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Spartan
Member
United Kingdom
64 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2008 : 07:14:01
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You have got to wonder, most of the jobs that I go to the housekeeping is good with no food for them to eat, but the loft will give them full access to internal/ external cavities, under flooring, I guess they use it as a hotel foyer, Perhaps there just the lazy rats who cant be bothered to dig holes and build there own castle, kind of like the parasites who have never done a hard days work in our world |
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eekamouse
Senior Member
United Kingdom
337 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2008 : 13:01:01
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Pheromones I recon boys and girls. I am utterly convinced that new rats don't use the same run as the previous infestation you killed of a month or six months ago just because of the topography of the ground, I think it is more to do with pheromones than we realise. Take glis-glis (edible doormice) for example, don't know if any of you have ever trapped them but when you get one in a roofspace, that's pretty well your property on the invasion list for hereon in. A terrace of houses and say number 3 is the only one that gets invaded, and were not talking about easy acess here either. Even if number 5 has abroken air vent they will go past it until one eventually tries his luck and off they go again.
I also am sure that's why cluster flies do the same thing.
Remember years ago on Tommorows World? Raymond Baxter got a plug ugly bloke to spray eau de pheremone under his armpits and stand at a bar next to a medallion man,well the girls that came in said they were attracted to him more than Mr Smooth even though he had a face like a well bent builders shovel. They couldn't say why until....Raymy pulled out a bottle of Eau de pheromone!
We have no need of the detection of pheromones and have lost the skill (if we ever had it anyway) but beasties; well it's a a survival tool.
So Fenzy, I think rats will sit it out in roof space etc. because its an easy place to live and not get whacked or eaten and because in many cases their mates lived there before and they can feel confident in the old pheremone scent.
As to what they are thinking-reminds me of an old joke Q.What is last thing that goes through a flies mind as ity hits a car windscreen?" A. Its arse!
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Edited by - eekamouse on 20 Dec 2008 16:15:28 |
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The Spotlight Kid
Moderator
1238 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2008 : 18:04:26
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| As far as dumping grounds go as Donks says it's all about privacy. Latrines (sorry if that's too posh) are usually in a dark shelterd area tucked away in a corner. I had a case last week where there was a motorway (nay, spaghetti junction) of runs in the shrubbery. I was merrily burrow baiting (about 25 holes) and came to a run that led under an old long-leaved plant that had been beaten to the ground by the elements. I lifted the wet and rotting leaves off the ground to find the mother of all latrines. Obviously the colony's dumping ground. |
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Fenn Man
Hyperactive Member
Ireland
734 Posts |
Posted - 21 Dec 2008 : 04:34:58
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How nice to see so much genuine, open handed, brain storming on such a 'mundane' matter  Well done, lads. This shows we don't all simply consider ourselves Masters of our game and are yet willing to put our hands up and say; 'Buggered if I know!'. A vitally important quality in men or women who are looked upon to guide others.
So far then;
Donks: Your notion of the pure and simple 'Quiet spot' factor actually ties in rather well with Spot's final crack, doesn't it? As it happens, I've ~ quite literally ~ just returned from a sneaky visit to my own ditch. I often remember, whilst out there, the incident in " Young Guns ", was it? Where a bloke is shot to death in that exact situation. As the door is thrown open and the pistol pointed, his groan of misery bespeaks far more his thoughts on being gunned down with his pants down, rather than any actual concern for his own life, per se.
Could it be then such a primeval part of an animals hard wiring that we all seek out that modicum of security for that most personal of moments?
Hmm. But then, we're 'predators'. We seek solitude. Dogs and foxes are predators. They'll as often seek some prominent 'land mark'. Or, equally, that all important, special spot in the universe which may be as flat and exposed as a tennis green?!
Rats are Prey. Where do they fit in? Choosing 'Concealed, open spaces'? Food for further thought, anyone?
Ogg; As I came down from a roof space, completely devoid of Any food source Or rodent sign, just the other night. I told the client flatly; " Ye have NO rodents up there. Why would they be there anyway? There's absolutely nothing for them to eat. "
Granted. That was a little bit of Janet and John psychology. Clients family were saying they heard them up there. I just said that to hammer home the fact that there genuinely was no sign. It makes sense to ordinary people. 'Nothing to eat = No life.'
But there's nothing to eat in the 'space at my " Rowan " job either. But sh!t everywhere. And I'm actively catching very real rats up there. Yet they aren't gnawing the wires! Curiouser and curiouser!
Duster; You may yet be closest to the truth! Do rats, so accustomed to living in a world of tubes, where one might have to back up to let a more dominant one pass. Or where leaving the security of such tubes exposes one to predation. Might it not simply be that places like roof spaces provide a sort of communal pool? Lesser rats at the shallow end. Big rats at the deep end. All free to enjoy themselves and not impinge on or be bothered by another.
In short; The one sort of place rats Can hang out, with room to move and without concerns of sudden death. I actually like that idea, a Lot! It does rather fit. No?
Spartan; I'd sooner invert your idea, mate. Put simply ~ and following my own observations ~ the various cavities etc. lead to the roof space. They don't 'Live in' the roof and spread out from there to do their thing. I'd say they converge on the 'space, from the wider environment. Bit like how youngsters may stream into a disco. They come from all points, to join the attraction.
Eek; If I remember correctly, Pheromones are, basically, the scent which triggers sexual attraction. I was actually explaining this, in lay mans terms, to a mate of mine, just the other night. In a word? A sexually active male emits pheromones. Their 'undetectable' scent marks him as a potential stud to females. Thus the attraction of bent shovel face. 'Nuff said.
But, that taken into the equation? Would not the 'Stud' rats ~ as I believe they've been shown to do ~ actively drive off the young bucks. Keeping the ready females to themselves? Hardly the the sort of thing one would choose a 'free for all' type situation for?
No. Glis and scent ~ normal, body scent? Maybe. But I'd suggest rats run where they do because a combination of everyday scent and the simple fact that it's a 'crease', or cover, and good (rat) sense says it's a safe place to run.
Do we not find the 'Pioneer' rats are either the pregnant females, looking out for a secluded spot to birth. The young bucks, driven out to try and find their own bit of ground. Or even the old and weary, again seeking a bit of peace? Each of which will inevitably leave a 'normal' scent trail, thus tempting others to follow. Thus we get colony expansions / movements. But none of which quite nails down these sh!t covered roof spaces.
Roaring silence from the 'Greater Gods' of these fora. I'd rather expected a response like " Don't you Rat Catchers learn Anything during your Training? It's simple as it's obvious. The answer evading you all is ..... ".
I do hope I haven't inadvertently raised a question not covered by 'Training Manuals', the brit govt's " Blue Book " or answerable by a simple lecture on " Proofing " ?
Anyway, my thanks to you guys for ye own thoughts on this subject. I don't suspect any one of us has quite cracked it yet. But I feel our little Brain Storming Session has opened up some further avenues of possibility.
Perhaps, one day, some lucky sod will get a grant to pay for all the thermal imaging cameras, heat source detection stuff and paid a living wage to 'Stake Out' a few heavily trafficked roof spaces and their approach routes? Then he'll end up with a Thesis on Faeces and a Phd. in Ratology.
What ever.
Any more for any more? Surely, to leave this one unresolved would be to just shrug and say, " We Don't Know! ". Hardly " Professional ", is it?
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The Spotlight Kid
Moderator
1238 Posts |
Posted - 21 Dec 2008 : 22:47:12
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quote:
Could it be then such a primeval part of an animals hard wiring that we all seek out that modicum of security for that most personal of moments?
Animal or human, we are all probably at our most vulnerable with our pants down. Whether emtying bladders or bowels no creature is prepared for defense when in excretion mode. |
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Dusty
Hyperactive Member
Australia
891 Posts |
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Rat Droppings ?
