Biggest Rats

A

andrewc2855

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On a trip to Rome and was by the castle that's on the river, looked down and saw what my missus said were beavers, because they were definitely beaver size creatures. Some chap came up and said to me "no, they're rats" ! There was a few of them swimming around in the murky waters . Could not believe the size of them !! Photo not brilliant but didn't want to get too close ! If I lived here and had rats that size, I'd have to rethink my .177 choices! 😆
 

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Stevie W. said:
They are probably Nutria (Coypu).
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My missus thought they might be those but she couldn't remember the name of them. I'd like to know what they were . Some Dutch bloke told me a story of these rats that were imported from aisa for their fur..blah blah. They were massive so like to think they weren't rats !
 
OldStock said:
Are they not Nutria
"nutria have adapted well to the urban environment and are now a common sight in Rome."

--edit-- Sorry was looking for the name while @Stevie W. was already on the case.
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Think you're spot on there. Just googled Nutria and it definitely looks like that's what I saw. 👍Part of the rat family but bloody enormous!
 
Mr Fettler said:
Apparently the ones in Birmingham have turned into super rats because of the amount of available food.
There was a photo in the paper before Christmas.
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I'm from brum. My missus isn't. Whenever we go away we always bump in to some brummies . She always says "you brummie are like rats, never more than ten feet away from one " ! 😆
 
Not rats. As others have said, they are nutria or coypu. I used to see them in Norfolk as a lad before they were exterminated. Despite the hype, Brown Rats don't often get over 500g and a rat near that size looks like a whopper.
 
andrewc2855 said:
On a trip to Rome and was by the castle that's on the river, looked down and saw what my missus said were beavers, because they were definitely beaver size creatures. Some chap came up and said to me "no, they're rats" ! There was a few of them swimming around in the murky waters . Could not believe the size of them !! Photo not brilliant but didn't want to get too close ! If I lived here and had rats that size, I'd have to rethink my .177 choices! 😆
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Definately nutria,i had to shoot a lot of them in germany,they where trapped out in the uk in 60,sand 70.s, uk they where called coypu

Nightowl
 
Mr Fettler said:
Apparently the ones in Birmingham have turned into super rats because of the amount of available food.
There was a photo in the paper before Christmas.
Click to expand...
I've been dealing with the rats in the alley's of Middlesbrough town centre for the last six months and believe me there's plenty of food waste. I've not seen any over sized rats, not yet anyway ;)

Certainly no rats as big as cats :ROFLMAO:
 
Coypu were a pest but would have made an interesting quarry. They are edible and have high quality pelts. Maybe a bit much for a sub-12 air rifle though.
 
Only ever seen one coypu in the wild and it was about 45 years ago when I was about 15 , a farmer said he'd seen the biggest monster of a rat going under some tin sheeting and kept on going on about it , so i went to the farm with 2 terriers i had at the time and started moving the tin sheeting and must admit when i did see it i thought it was a rat at first and my eyes nearly popped out in disbelief. Anyway the dogs were unimpressed and quickly dealt with it . We never did find out where it came from but it was about the same time the loonies were releasing mink from fur farms so maybe it came from somewhere that had coypu for fur and similar had happened .
 
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