Well - after getting cheesed off (no pun intended) with the poison bait, which clearly doesn't 'poison' anything, boxed or otherwise, I set a couple of spring traps the other night - reluctantly, as a measure of last resort. Nothing in the instructions about 'putting them in a box', I set them in a narrow gap between shed and garage where I know the rats run, at right angles to the run according to instructions, etc. etc.
This morning one had vanished entirely - don't know how. It might have been dragged under the wooden shed which is spaced from the ground by battens, and where I suspect rats lurk - the space is inaccessible for larger animals. The other one had been sprung, but not by a rat alas! By a mouse. Literally a bit of an 'overkill', the traps are very powerful! Not what I hoped for, we don't have a mouse problem and I'd much rather let the creatures be - in the garden at any rate. But the laws of chance decreed otherwise...
At least we haven't seen the rats for some days now. But if they reappear, it'll probably have to be the professionals...
One thing I'll probably do when the weather's a bit warmer - block up all access for rats under the shed, with cement. This'll be quite a bit of work.
The mind boggleth!
