Just completed new website for Frank - www.frankwalker.co.uk

Rats Rats Rats

Rat Traps

Webster and MacDonald (1995) studied the parasite and disease load of wild rats on farms in England:

* = transmissible to humans

Helminths (worms):
the oxyuroid pinworm Syphacia muris in 67% of the rats
the strongoloyd parasite Nippostronglyus brasiliensis found in 23%
* the liver worm Capillaria in 23%
* the cestode Hymenolepsis diminuta in 22%
Toxocara cati causing Toxocariasis in 15%
the oxyuroid pinworm Heterakis spp. in 14%
* the cestode Hymenolepsis nana in 11%
the intestinal tapeworm Taenia taeniaeformis in 11%

Bacteria
* Leptospira spp. bacteria causing Weil's disease in 14%
* Listeria spp. bacteria causing listeriosis in 11%
* Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria causing yersiniosis in 11%
* Pasturella spp. bacteria causing Pasturellosis in 6%
* Pseudomonas spp. bacteria causing Meilioidosis in 4%

Protozoa
* Cryptosporidium parvum causing cryptosporidiosis in 63% of the rats
* Toxoplasma gondii causing toxoplasmosis in 35%
Trypanosoma lewisii in 29%
Eimeria separata in 8%

Rickettsia
* Coxiella burnetti evidence of infection by Q fever in 34%

Viruses
* Hantavirus causing Hantaan-fever or hemorrhagic fever in 5%

Ectoparasites (note: these ectoparasites are vectors for diseases which are transmissible to humans, such as typhus)
Fleas found on 100% of the rats
Mites found on 67%
Lice found on 38%

We did manage to eliminate well in excess of 500 of these little blighters and the end of the game season.

Come in to contact - be sure to wash your hands, or DONT touch them!

After lamping rabbits for some time they soon become lamp shy, with so many of them still destroying the crops an alternative solution was required. With little scope to be half hearted in our approach we invested in some LongNets, two at 50 meters and one at 100 meters. These are constructed from a heavy twine and erected on hazel shanks. Setting up requires much patience and after a number of mistakes the nets started to catch, in fact they were so effective they had to be disabled when we weren't there! Or they ate the nets :-(
Cant wait to try these with some ferrets later this year.

U N B E L I E V A B L E ! ! ! !
Never seen so many rabbits, no wonder the farmer hadn't put this land into crop for so many years, the hedgerows were like honeycomb, it was awash with them.
Just in the first 2 outings we bagged over 300 rabbits, good for the farmer, not so bad for the pocket either.
The land is now back in crop, and although there are still a fair few rabbits about, its a different league from before. Crops are doing well and management still continues.