Rats

Medical and Healthcare
kashaw

Rats

Post by kashaw »

Hi. I have a feeling that we will be swamped by vermin a few months after TSHTF. As we all know these beggers carry all sorts. What can I buy in case mt family or myself is bitten by a rat or mouse?
preppingsu

Re: Rats

Post by preppingsu »

Not sure what you can buy but I would consider the vermin control element first. Stock traps and poison, have plans to bury or burn rubbish so not to attract them. We have rats in and around our compost bins. We put down some bait stuff that swells in their stomach and they die. Last year it sorted the problem.

Prevention is better than cure! :D
kashaw

Re: Rats

Post by kashaw »

Thanks Preppingsu.
I know my post might have sounded silly but my motto is..Never say never. Things could get that bad that there will be death and decay every where and vermin love it! I think the plague was started by the nasty blighters...Maybe something like that could happen again and I haven't the foggiest where to get anything to protect my family. It might sound a bit extreme...Never say never :)
bulldogeagle

Re: Rats

Post by bulldogeagle »

kashaw wrote:Thanks Preppingsu.
I know my post might have sounded silly but my motto is..Never say never. Things could get that bad that there will be death and decay every where and vermin love it! I think the plague was started by the nasty blighters...Maybe something like that could happen again and I haven't the foggiest where to get anything to protect my family. It might sound a bit extreme...Never say never :)
rats didnt actually cause The Plague, that was the fault of the Fleas they carried. i believe they were Black rats where our common rat is of the Brown variety.
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nickdutch
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Re: Rats

Post by nickdutch »

surely you wouldn't want to waste the protein? Therefore trap them and dont poison them. Then cook them to kill the parasites and eat them...

maybe....

just a suggestion
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itsybitsy
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Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:51 pm
Location: East Yorkshire

Re: Rats

Post by itsybitsy »

nickdutch wrote:surely you wouldn't want to waste the protein? Therefore trap them and dont poison them. Then cook them to kill the parasites and eat them...

maybe....

just a suggestion
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry... :mrgreen:
Rosesandtea

Re: Rats

Post by Rosesandtea »

Do be careful about eating them - they carry more diseases than many of their cousins.

I think even more vigilance over preventing a vermin problem will be important. Rodent-proof containers, sweeping up spilt animal feed, etc will all be especially important.

And either get a rat-killing dog or hire your local terrier man (or woman!). :D
kashaw

Re: Rats

Post by kashaw »

Hi, I think I must be the queen of stupid questions but...Can you make blankets or clothes from rat skin?
the-gnole

Re: Rats

Post by the-gnole »

Rats will only be around whilst there is food for them to eat, take away the food supplies and they die or leave.

So don't leave waste or scrap food around, put feedstuffs for animals in rodent proof containers, preferably Galvanised steel drums with clamp-down lids.

Get rat bait and poison to deal with the ones that do come along, and cremate the remains to prevent other animals eating the bodies.

All other dead animals should be cremated as well or buried deep with lime over them.

Remember rats will gnaw their way through almost anything like bricks, blocks and concrete, so when blocking up holes they need to be thoroughly cleaned of rat slime and then stuffed with concrete with nails, glass particles, steel wire etc mixed in to reinforce it all.

A lot of rats are now immune to warfarine poison so you need something like "Slaymore".
Chef

Re: Rats

Post by Chef »

kashaw wrote:Hi. I have a feeling that we will be swamped by vermin a few months after TSHTF. As we all know these beggers carry all sorts. What can I buy in case mt family or myself is bitten by a rat or mouse?
I have a feeling that rats will be a major problem in any SHTF scenario too, they are already swamping our major cities and are truly amazing creatures making them very adept at survival, they will eat anything (inc. each other), they can tread water for upto 24 hrs, they can knaw through virtually everything as the-gnole said, a true adversary to anyone trying to survive a SHTF event. :(

As for bites, apart from treating the actual trauma of the bite, the tetracycline family of antibiotics are pretty effective against most diseases that rats carry inc., the very nasty Weil's Disease and even Bubonic Plague. If you can locate some, both doxycycline and oxytetracycline would be worth having a stock of in the med cabinet/kit. ;)

C