Hunting I thought rats are nocturnal

[notaboringgrandad]

I stayed up while 2am with bolt p25r never so a thing got up mid morning went out with a cup of coffee bloody rat I don't get it.
Are they afraid of something at night time or just daytime scavengers

 

[the madspread]

depends on the area/situation they want to feel safe on coming out(you may have neighbours cats patroling your garden during dark (even urban fox)they are more night feeders than day in most circumstances but they will venture out in daylight if they feel safe

 

[notaboringgrandad]

Thanks for the info.
My grandson gave me a new tin of jsb diablo exact domed head 8.44 grain im going to give these try too.

 

[brian747]

If the area is safe they come out at any time.
regds brian

 

[crissdee]

Funnily enough, I found a dead one on my patio this morning, fairly fresh so not been there long, although there were a few flies round it. I assume it was dropped by an owl or something, but wonder why it didn't fly down and pick it up again...

 

[Wurzel1]

When I was little we had a two storey cottage at the end of the garden as a shed. Our neighbours rabbits had burrowed everywhere and rats soon moved in as they used to scatter the rabbit food around.

The neighbours son was a good laugh and tried many things to clear them including burrowing a shotgun and blasting their garden to a mud bath

They soon moved into our shed and said neighbours son had a go at poisoning them. No idea what he used but it just made them not scared of anything and they came out in the daytime. I remember I was only small and had gone to get a basket of firewood, this rat chased me all the way back down the garden despite me hurling firewood at it. Damn thing was like the terminator

 

[Toxkid]

Dropping stores off at one part of the Hospital a couple of weeks ago, at about 9am, a pair of rats wondered past without a care in the world looked at me then sauntered off, pity can't take one of the guns to work..

 

[Philthunder]

Funnily enough, I found a dead one on my patio this morning, fairly fresh so not been there long, although there were a few flies round it. I assume it was dropped by an owl or something, but wonder why it didn't fly down and pick it up again...

Sounds like a fox, I've had them come into the garden with a live one, done a Jack Russell on it ( a good shaking) dropped it then walked around, given it another shake and walked off. If food is plentiful they will leave them, like when they do a chicken run.

 

[Mrs. H]

They're out and visible in the garden all day here; so long as its relatively quiet they'll be about. More chance of groups (3+) at dusk and dawn, presumably as there's just less about to disturb them, but I can look out pretty much anytime of day and see something moving somewhere. When we still had chickens there could be 7-8 at a time in the run at lunch stealing the food.

 

[pogue]

Funnily enough, I found a dead one on my patio this morning, fairly fresh so not been there long, although there were a few flies round it. I assume it was dropped by an owl or something, but wonder why it didn't fly down and pick it up again...

the most usual cause of finding dead rats is rodenticide, is a neighbour using it ??

 

[Hyperion]

Like all animals they will adapt to the pressures and factors of their environment and will chop and change between diurnal and nocturnal dependent on predation, water and food resources, population pressure and habituation and of course disease and other factors such as behavioural changes due to poison

 

[crissdee]

Sounds like a fox, I've had them come into the garden with a live one, done a Jack Russell on it ( a good shaking) dropped it then walked around, given it another shake and walked off. If food is plentiful they will leave them, like when they do a chicken run.

Not impossible, but unlikely give the nature of my garden.

 

[crissdee]

the most usual cause of finding dead rats is rodenticide, is a neighbour using it ??

Again, always a possibility, but both my neighbours have gardens smaller than mine and completely concreted.

 

[confidis]

Had some day rats in the Cotswolds a few years ago . They were very bold sitting in Apple trees watching you.
Orchard on the side of a cottage where the lady fed the birds. Next door old boy with chickens fed them at 8:am every morning. Rats were waiting.
Posh village beautiful rats all chubby and shiny
Marks and Spencer rats if you will.
Shot 14 on the first day as they were semi tame or just not wary. This wore off quickly but they never become nocturnal. Shot 70 or so in about 4 months shooting once a week. Got the rest with traps changed the bird feeders cement and chicken wire in the gaps in the walls . Rats gone.
Incidentally I saw my biggest rat ever, chocolate brown .
I had been shooting since 7 am and nailed a few .
Saw this thing with it's back to me at about 30 yards, shot off the roof of the hen house aimed at spine and missed by 6 inches . Sights were off, they had worked perfectly around 20 mins earlier. Very strange.
Won't say how big it was because you wouldn't believe me!
See some in the feed at the dairy in daylight but they are always moving fast and amongst the cows so very hard to shoot .
The cottages was some of the best ever shooting, sitting on the kitchen step with coffee and biscuits.

 

[Mrs. H]

Tree rats here too; literal! Large ivy covered beech tree next to the chicken run rapidly turned into a high rise block. Quite disconcerting to be in the run, hear a noise and look up to see brown furry bodies moving about. And yes, flippin' massive. I shot one bigger than a chihuahua, 24" from nose to tail tip. They are remarkable climbers so don't think a wall will defeat them. They climbed up the outside of the house here (cladding) and chewed a way in through the fascia soffit boards at roof level.
Photo below is about 12 years ago soon after we got chickens, rats had always been about but suddenly this put us firmly on their map. The photo is fuzzy as the person taking it really didn't want to be that close to the beastie.

 

[smartshooting]

No, they are just opportunistic and clever. They will be about at all times of day and night but get more adventurous under cover of darkness. Virtually every rat Ive ever shot was during daylight but there again I CBA to go out looking for them after dark..

 

[notaboringgrandad]

Tree rats here too; literal! Large ivy covered beech tree next to the chicken run rapidly turned into a high rise block. Quite disconcerting to be in the run, hear a noise and look up to see brown furry bodies moving about. And yes, flippin' massive. I shot one bigger than a chihuahua, 24" from nose to tail tip. They are remarkable climbers so don't think a wall will defeat them. They climbed up the outside of the house here (cladding) and chewed a way in through the fascia soffit boards at roof level.
Photo below is about 12 years ago soon after we got chickens, rats had always been about but suddenly this put us firmly on their map. The photo is fuzzy as the person taking it really didn't want to be that close to the beastie.



View attachment 1018188

My eldest granddaughter they have ducks and chickens they took a old shed down oh my they'd made a happy home lol that is a big one we'll fed I bet that's at least 800 grams to a kilogram

 

[junglie2022]

Sounds like a fox, I've had them come into the garden with a live one, done a Jack Russell on it ( a good shaking) dropped it then walked around, given it another shake and walked off. If food is plentiful they will leave them, like when they do a chicken run.

Leave them for later maybe, I used to watch a big vixen catching them on the overgrown railway goods line embankment at the end of my garden in Leicester every spring to feed her cubs, she would bring them one by one to the end of my garden, just over the wire fence & leave them on a pile . Then come back to get them all when she'd caught up to half a dozen. It was hilarious sometimes watching her trying to get them all in her mouth at once without dropping any then trot off with all the back ends hanging out each side of her mouth .

 

[Mrs. H]

I had similar to above with jackdaws many years ago. There was a veritable plague of them here causing untold damage; they were ripping holes in the wood cladding to get into lofts to nest. I was sat in the lounge one afternoon with the conservatory doors open and there were three of them sat on a branch of a cherry tree about 20yds away. For sake of argument we'll call them Kevin, Nigel and Dwayne. I thought "If you're still there by the time I've got my Airwolf I'll have you.." and popped upstairs to get the gunbag. Came back..and they're all still sat there oblivious.
Sighted in on Nigel in the middle...nice neat headshot and he falls backwards off the branch without a flutter. Kevin and Dwayne just look down at him, apparently mystified as to what just happened. Reloaded, sighted in on Kevin...and he lands neatly on Nigel. Dwayne is still utterly clueless. I saw movement under the tree and there was a fox looking at me; this was about 2pm so quite early for them to be out and about. The fox looked at me, looked at Nigel and Kevin and then looked up at Dwayne, who was still looking down at his chums, and then looked back at me as if to say "well go on then, might as well have them all". I reloaded, sighted in on Dwayne....plop.
Foxy came out, gathered up all three feathery bundles and trotted off through the field quite happily.

 

[thispoison]

When we had chickens, we started to quickly see rats. There was visible activity dawn and dusk, but late evening was always the most productive time. We had a chicken feed point in an enclosed brick courtyard so it was a perfect place to zero and wait.

I originally used a .22 HW100T with a collimated laser from outside the courtyard with great success, but eventually settled on a Leshiy with a Pard 008 shooting down from a (comparatively warm and dry) bedroom. Used to get up to half a dozen per night and could see when I was getting close to control as the younger rats started to appear (at any time of day).