Disgusting !!!!

[Nasus]

As a few of you know this year Trond and I are taking separate vacations.... he had a need to go to his hometown and as always i have a need to go home to the USA, He comes home Aug 1, I leave Aug 20. This works out that we don't have to kennel Kelvinn which makes me happy even though the Kennel is great... I feel guilty.. ok never mind all that.. Trond is the one that walks Kelvinn for his night walk and of course since he is gone I am doing it. It does not get dark here durring the summer so it looks like 5pm when it's really 11pm.
Last night i needed milk and coffee so we walked to the main drag of our hood, by the post office while waiting for the light to change Kelvinn got very interested in something behind a column. At first i thought it might be food so i gave him a correction, but something was different.. he let out a low rumble, and his hackle's went up.. again i gave him a correction but he would not move... he was focused. All of a sudden i saw what he was so focused on... It jumped up almost to my eye level.. it was a RAT! The biggest rat i have ever seen! It ran behind another column, and i was shacking, wide eyed, and in shock... ppl in cars who were waiting for the light to change saw it to.. one man came out of his car to ask if we were ok.. i was fine.. just shocked, to see a rat in daylight and so bold. The man said to me.. well u know for everyone u see there are 100 u don't. ok that made my skin crawl! I looked down at my feet... i will never wear sandals again! Steel-toe boots from now on LOL..This was so totally disgusting! I called Trond as soon as i got home..He was disgusted also. Yes this is a city and yes all citys have rats.. but when you only clean your streets once a year.. and ppl are pigs that throw food one has to expect that the rats are having a feast and are multiplying non stop.. but one does not expect to see them out in broad daylight.. Disgusting ! BTW.. Kelvinn is way to big to be a ratter dog LOL.

 

[Angela]

:crazy::crazy::crazy:

 

[ardeagold]

Oh ICK! I'd have had a heart attack. You need a Golden to keep Kelvinn company Susan. They're GREAT ratters. Our Vet uses them in his stables...he said they're the best he's ever seen! :lol:

Fortunately, I've never had to test that theory.

 

[Clcsidi]

Ick!!!!!!!!

 

[Nasus]

Donna what i need is to get out of here! I NEED to go home! Yes i will be going home for six weeks. Home where the rats have more respect and don't come out till night LOL.. these Norwegian Rats are just arrogant! to learn more about Rattus norvegicus or Norway Rat go to... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Rat

 

[Sue M.]

Good Lord!!! No wonder Kelvinn is hiding in the dryer!!!

They're as big as a...:beatdeadhorse: "Die Varmint!!!"

 

[Lisa@Caeles Hills]

Just wondering if the post office is near a river? I too once saw a very large rat near our downtown (too large really!) and my dad who was with me told me it was a Muskrat and they live in/near water. I never knew Muskrats look so much like a huge rat I had thought they were cuter. Last year at the farm our lab killed a huge rat and sure enough, it really was a Muskrat. (we have a creek and large pond at the farm)

 

[Bluedog]

Susan, we have Norway rats down here in St. Augustine! They love the Intracoastal waterway and marshy areas. They crawl up downspouts and siding and push up soffits on homes to get into attics. You'll find many homes here on the island, where we live, with rat bait boxes and traps around the perimeter of houses. It has nothing to do with dirty streets here. Since St. Augustine is a tourist town, they keep the streets pretty clean. Garbage pick-up is twice per week here and they have strict dumping and garbage control ordinances in place. You will see more in the historic district though with narrower brick streets. You often see them running between buildings. Hard to get rid of them. Some are as big as a raccoon.

 

[charityd]

Scary!! I would have freaked out.

 

[Nasus]

Lisa, The Aker River is not very close to where we live.

Bluedog, Norway Rats are not very good climbers and they do live where ppl are. I have learned more than i ever wanted to know about the Norway Rat and as i told Trond last night.. I will never, I repeat NEVER go down to the basement again.. for any reason.. at anytime, for anything... We have two storage rooms in the basement, we store our fireplace logs down there.. now he must make sure before he brings in one of those big bags of logs that they are rat free! This has totally freaked me.. I grew up in NYC, lived on LI and i have never seen a rat... ok i did see a mouse once when the Town was digging up the road to put in the sewer system, but it was a tiny field mouse... nothing to be scared about but these rats...... YUCK !

 

[ina/puusty]

Ok..another life perspective here. Yes..rats are all almost everywhere in the world. They can be thought of..as a problem..and as a help..in some ways. They carry various illness, leave dirtyness behind them..and..they eat/clean..various other stuff. A bit like the vultures..who act as scavengers..cleaning as they go. The tighter one is..about patrolling ALL food sources..the less apt you (you..being anyone..anywhere) will be to having the rats join the public highways and pathways..for a 'communal stroll'. Population surges do occur. Here..if we get lazy..there will be a rat show up in the woodshed. Thus..all dog food storage is in sealed heavy duty containers. Their 'source denied'..they move on. Rat poisen is not an option..given the various cherished animal life around here. It is also true..that if you see one..a hundred..'are out there'. As to living in a subdivision 'edge of'..the rats are making out like bandits..over there..and living in garages and under house..in brush..as so many leave various pet foods out over night. Sigh..cannot educate everyone. Going down into a basement..is not a problem..wear your heavy socks pulled up OVER your slacks legs..and when turning on the lights in the basement..stand and give a 30 sec. pause..so that they can scamper, cursing no doubt..into their lil cavelets and hideyholes. We live..in a wild world..and should learn to deal with the life around us..as we are exposed to 'what all'..may be entailed..no pun intended. We are..as a race..problem solvers..and we would still be in caves..gnawing on fish bones..if mankind had not delt with 'up grades'. Just ask around for various suggestions on traps, baits and the like. Letting a rodent..dictate your lifestyle..would be a needless, sad thing to live with. Out think the lil begger..outthink it..and its breathern. hugs, ina n HB n Kesa

 

[Bluedog]

We don't put out rat poison either Ina. Won't do that to the other critters. We live trap, and uh...well, lets just say they never knew what hit them. Huge carriers of disease, tics and flees. More concerned about the Newfs than us on that.

Bluedog, Norway Rats are not very good climbers...

Tell that to the rats we live trapped in our attic. Definitely brown Norway rats not black. Have seen a few muscrats in the waterway too though. Hubby's job to get rid of them; I won't go near them. In talking to residents I don't know of a house out here that hasn't had them at one time or another. Just need to find how they are getting in and fix it. Our rats had pushed in a screen cover on the roof vent. Fixed that, and no rats for 6 mos. now. We have very few if any basements in Florida. The water table is too high so they find other places to go. Maybe we have super Norway Rat mutations here. Gross suckers!

 

[Nasus]

Ina, good idea's except for the fact that the streets are cleaned only once a year.. garbage pails when u can find them are overflowing, food after a night out is just dropped on the sidewalk.. this is rat heaven.
I was at an Embassy party and cornered one of the councilman for Oslo and asked him why this city.. the capital is so dirty.. he responded we spend 230 million a year.. i said u need to spend 500 million Kroner then.. I told him it was outrageous, that the city is a pig pen.. no wait pig pens are much cleaner there are laws for pigs to have clean pens.
As for going down the basement.. NOPE not going to do it even if I had a full HAVAC suit, steel boots, helmet, chain-male... not going to happen, not now not ever again.

 

[Prdmary]

Sounds like you probably need a dog as big as Kelvinn to deal with that rat!

 

[estacey]

Alberta is rat free. Except for politicians, they are the fatest rat bas***ds you will ever meet on the street.

 

[ina/puusty]

"fastest rat ba-----s"..hee hee..giggle..ok..loveit..or could ya tell..?? ina n HB n Kesa

 

[Murphy]

I always thought Norway was very pristine..

 

[Cassandra]

Susan, we have Norway rats down here in St. Augustine! They love the Intracoastal waterway and marshy areas. They crawl up downspouts and siding and push up soffits on homes to get into attics. You'll find many homes here on the island, where we live, with rat bait boxes and traps around the perimeter of houses. It has nothing to do with dirty streets here. Since St. Augustine is a tourist town, they keep the streets pretty clean. Garbage pick-up is twice per week here and they have strict dumping and garbage control ordinances in place. You will see more in the historic district though with narrower brick streets. You often see them running between buildings. Hard to get rid of them. Some are as big as a raccoon.

Nancy, I love ya, but I'm never coming to visit you now.

 

[noblenewf]

:shocker: Oh my gosh!!!! Disgusting!

 

[CMDRTED]

Alberta is rat free. Except for politicians, they are the fatest rat bas***ds you will ever meet on the street.

Unfortunately in Illinois we have lots of Rats, only they walk on two legs and work in Springfield (the capital)!:grrr::cussing2::devil: Oh, I forgot Chicago has both kinds of rats.:run::whistling: