Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with rat

Can we smuggle this little guy on the plane

metahawk — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:11:39 -0800

My niece is coming to stay with us for several months and wants to bring her pet rat (think small, cute mouse (picture here) but friendlier). None of the airlines seem to allow rodents in the cabin. What's the best way to get her pet cross country (NC to CA)? Can she smuggle it on board in her carryon? As far we can tell none of the airlines will allow her to bring a rodent in the cabin (even in a crate with an escape-proof cover.) As far as i know, Continental is the only one who would allow her pet in checked luggage but that doesn't seem too safe for travelling in August.

It is tempting to just smuggle the rat on board since she fits nicely in a carryon. I'm thinking maybe she could put the rat in her plastic mouseball for going through security (so they can see there is nothing hidden) and then after security, tuck the rat back into her cage and the cage in its cover. Anyone ever try this? Probability of success? Consequences? Better suggestions?

I've killed 15 rats and now need to clean and disinfect my garage. Please help!

phixed — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:00:46 -0800

My garage has been a rat motel for the past year. Now that the rats are gone how do I clean it and make it usable again? My wife and I recently purchased a house that was in pre-foreclosure and although the house itself was in decent condition, the garage was an abandoned mess infested with rats. We've been working with an exterminator for the past three weeks and, 15 dead rats later, finally have succeeded in clearing out the current infestation.

Pictures of what we inherited can be seen here, here and here. Overwhelming, to say the least.

Now that the rats are gone and the garage cleared out I'm at a lost of how to move forward. The smell is tremendously bad (in February, in Chicago), there are rat droppings everywhere, about 20% of the concrete is dug up and there are three holes that need to be plugged. Part of me wants to just tear down the entire structure and build a new one but it is a beautiful brick garage from the 1920's and is in really great shape overall.

So please help me! What's my next step(s)? How do I make this garage suitable to be a garage?

Aww Rats!

deborah — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:44:12 -0800

I'm considering getting a pair of rats. My AskMe and internet searches didn't have answers to my two questions regarding cats and vacations. So, I have cats. What do I do about the cats hanging out around the cage? I can, and will, watch during the day (the cage will be about three feet from where I spend most of the day), but what about night time? Should I consider a cover? Will the rats ignore the cats or be too intimidated to move around?

Also, what do you do about going on holidays/vacation? Cats can be left for a few days, can rats? Do I need to get someone to come rat-sit? Or take them to a rat-sitter?

I've never owned rats and my last experience with rodents was hamsters about 20 years ago. However, I've already done quite a bit of online research, but any other information and advice will be greatly appreciated.

FYI:
This is the cage I have in mind. Per a "rat per sq. footage" calculator, it is large enough to hold 3.25 rats.

Sites I've gotten a lot of info from are the Rat Fan Club, Pet Rat Info, Rat Guide and various other sites.

I don't know yet whether I'll get males (larger, slower, cuddly, large testicles) or females (smaller, faster, more curious/less cuddly, prone to tumours). Or, really, even if I will get rats. Answers to this question will help with the decision. Thanks in advance!

What are our options for our pet rat's (maybe) tumor?

goHermGO — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:32:45 -0800

What are our options for our pet rat's (maybe) tumor? Today we noticed a what we think is a tumor on our 3.5 year old female fancy rat. It's under her left armpit and about the size of a grape. From googling it seems as if tumors are a common occurrence in female rats, and this is probably a mammary tumor. We were wondering if any of you had any experience with this sort of thing or possible recommendations for small animal veterinarians in the Atlanta area. We are hoping not to euthanize her.

There are rats in the kitchen, what am I gonna do?

mygothlaundry — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:53:12 -0800

Several questions about rat infestations, including this one: If I use poison on the giant rats who are suddenly infesting my house, what are the chances of a poisoned rat deciding to die where my dogs can get it and then, if they do get it, will they die too? I have a sudden and horrible rat infestation in my house. I've read all the other AskMe rat threads and, based on their advice, I purchased and used a RatZapper. So far I have killed three giant, huge, enormous rats in my kitchen - we're talking like 8" to 10" long here and that's not counting the tails. I got two with a black plastic snap trap and one with the Zapper. I don't know where they're coming from although I suspect from somewhere under the refrigerator. It's been two or three days since the last rat died and I haven't seen any evidence of more rats in the kitchen since.

Question 1: Is it possible the rats are gone?
Question 2: How can I tell?
Question 3: How can I figure out where they're coming from?
Question 4: Any other trap recommendations?

I called my landlord, who said he was going out of town and, "yeah, whatever, I'll leave a package of rat poison in your mailbox, you had better put it in the basement crawl space, that's the thing to do." I have two dogs, a Springer Spaniel and a collie mix, both about 50 pounds and I've been afraid to use poison for fear that they would get into it. (They are big friendly floppy worthless wusses who are apparently afraid of the rats and they have been absolutely no help whatsoever in the continuing rodent crisis, by the way.) The dogs can't get into the basement BUT the locked door to the basement is located in the fenced part of my yard where they have free all day access.

Question 4: If I put rat poison in the basement, where will the rats go to die? Out in the yard?
Question 5: What if my dogs find and play with (I doubt they would eat it) a poisoned rat?

Any and all further information on getting rid of rats is very welcome. I don't know where they came from and I don't know why they suddenly appeared - I've lived in this house for over a year and never had a problem before.

How can I get rid of this smell?!

Orrorin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:14:14 -0800

A rat died in my wall (or ceiling), and it smells terrible. I'm leaving town for a week, what can I do to make sure the smell is gone (or greatly diminished) by the time I come back? My house had a rat problem, and my landlord opted to put bait in the attic. When asked about what would happen if one died in the walls, he insisted that the bait would make them thirsty and leave the house. No problem for a few months, but now there's definitely something dead.

I noticed that my bathroom was smelling sour a couple days ago, but I didn't think it would be a big deal. Now it's beyond belief nasty. The window is all the way open, I've taken everything out, and I've sealed off the bottom of the door to halt the stench.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, so Ive planned to leave the window open while I'm gone and put down some fly traps. What else can I do to help this awful process along, and will the smell die down over the week? If I were going to be around, I'd try and have my landlord do something about this, but I would prefer not to have him in my house if I'm not here.

Celebrate Chinese New Year, Come On!

notjustfoxybrown — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:58:28 -0800

The U.S. calendar new year sucked for my sister and me so we'd like to commemorate Chinese New Year today. How can we celebrate the Year of the Rat? Obviously, we could go eat Chinese food but since this is a year that symbolizes prosperity and some other good things, we'd like to recognize that too...especially the prosperity part. And we're in Phoenix, where the only scheduled Chinese New Year event occurred in January!

Oops, extra "pet" rat, non-fatal expulsion options?

singingfish — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:48:49 -0800

What to do about an extra "pet" rat. We have two domestic rats who get a bit of freedom (out of the cage for ~ 1hr per day so there is a risk of temporary escape). But now an extra rat has come into the house. Previously I've used poison to get rid of rat visitors (we live next to a creek so they're pretty common round about) but I'm reluctant to do so in case one of the pets escape. Any suggestions on how to proceed? The two pets are called "Dotty" and "Stripey" btw so we've christened the visitor "Hidey"

What's so great about Sinatra?

holdkris — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:25:19 -0800

What was (is) so great about Sinatra? I have heard lots of the songs, seen a few of the movies, read a few stories. I just don't get it.

Whither the word for rat-related?

delfuego — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 13:47:51 -0800

OK, so I'm sitting here with one of my buddies, talking about his research, and we realized that we know the word for "of or relating to mice" (murine), and the word for "of and related to cow" (bovine), but have no clue what the word for "of or related to rat" is. And after what we thought of as a pretty comprehensive web search (including this very good Google Answer), we're no closer to an answer. Anyone know what the word we're looking for is?

Toilet Rat

Felicity Rilke — Mon, 22 May 2006 17:21:10 -0800

A rat just swam up into my toilet. Can I flush it back down?

Where's my ratty?

asok — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 08:22:30 -0800

How do I kill a rat? I have caught a rat under a bucket with a rock on top. It is not very lively, but still alive.
It is illegal for me to release the animal alive. The council rat exterminator has a two week waiting list.
Last year I caught a rat and released it, I fear that this is the same one I have caught again. I do not want to release it again for it to return to eat my stored food.
I would like to despatch it without causing undue stress to the animal.
I have been advised not to touch it.
Maybe I should take it to the council and leave it with them?

Huge Moth

twine42 — Sat, 24 Jul 2004 17:54:22 -0800

Oh my god - is that a moth or a flying rat? [MI][moths][uk (possibly)] This summer I've been attacked by three fecking HUGE moths. I've never seen anything like them before, and they're actually large enough to freak me out.

These things are mid grey, have about a 2-3 inch wingspan and rest with their wings open sitting about half an inch off the deck. Their bodies are the buggest I've ever seen and they almost look like they have a bulldog / dragon type head. They've got bright orange antenae and they can take three or four direct hits with a rolled newspaper with no apparent ill effect.

What the blue b*****y f**k are these things? I've never seen them before, and I don't really want to see them again. Will I be famous for discovering them or for building the aerosol powered flame thrower that brings them down?

We're up on the Cambridge Fens if that's of any relevance.
On preview: I've decided I like that typo. It's staying. ;)