THENORWAY RAT.
This vermin was brought originally from Norway to England, in ships trading for timber,&c.to that country, and being of foreign extraction, they are commonly, though erroneously, called in many places, theHanoverRat.
There are very few buildings, either in town or country, that are not troubled and pestered with them. Now you must carefully observe what part of the building they frequent; examine the sewers or shores, for they will find their way up them where there is no grate, and if there is one, they will gnaw through a soft brick, and scratch thedirt out by the side of the shore into it, and there lie dry, which often stops up and greatly detriments the shore. If there are any hog-sties, where hogs are fattening in winter time, the Rats without doors about the buildings, will repair to the sties; they are very apt to get under the floors, greatly to the damage of the houses; they will likewise get behind the wainscots, and in cielings, and make a noise that is very disagreeable to the family: it is necessary, therefore, to mind where they go in and out, for some way they must of necessity have, as they cannot remain there long without meat and water. In order therefore for the better discovery of the same, sift some sand about, and if any move, you will easily see which way they go, for this is an infallible method to betray all vermin; in the same manner, if the comparison may be allowed, as Daniel, in the apocrypha, traced the footsteps of the men, women and children, coming in at the private door, by means of sifting some ashes. In the country sometimesthey will lie out in the fields and hedges, as long as any corn remains upon the ground, and breed in the most prolific manner, for I have known them frequently bring forth twelve young ones at one time; and I once caught an old female Rat, that had given suck with sixteen teats; and as a still farther proof of their fruitfulness, I have known them breed when only half grown; but in this case they have had only three or four young ones at a time. But to return, when the cold weather comes on, they flock in prodigious numbers to the houses and other buildings; they likewise repair to the barns and wheat-ricks, and sometimes I have known them take to the ricks, notwithstanding they have been placed on stands, for they will jump up on the top of the stones placed as a safeguard, with surprizing agility, which it was imagined was impossible for them to do, and get into the ricks, where they always make holes in the thatch. I have known them take to hay-ricks and get to the top of thethatch, and bite through the straw, in search of what little corn may be left in the same; so that the stacks or ricks have been obliged to be thatched again.
Having given a general description of these animals, I now proceed to point out the methods of catching them, in the various places they haunt; whether in the cellars, shores, hog-sties, barns, stables, slaughter-houses, brewhouses, still-houses, or any other place, be it what it will. When you have discovered their haunt, you must put a trap, hereafter to be described, as near the place as possible; put a small piece of stick across under each end of the trap, near the standard, to prevent it from falling down or striking, and it will remain in the same position as set, and the Rats have free liberty to go in and out at pleasure, in order to embolden them, before you set your traps in earnest to take them; then scent it, by a method hereafter to be explained, and it will not want scentingagain for a twelvemonth; for it is my constant rule to scent them only once a year, which will be sufficient. Take some chaff of any kind, mix some wheat-corn with it, and put some about the bottom of the trap, this prevents them from any notion that it is a trap. If it be in a place where you cannot procure chaff, throw a handful of oats, barley, or malt about the bottom; but chaff, mixed with some kind of corn, as before observed, is preferable. You will have occasion to do this only for the first time of setting the traps to work; for when once some Rats have been catched in them, and have pissed and dunged therein, they will be in better order for it; it is a wrong practice, therefore, in many people, to wash the trap clean before they set it again; on the contrary let the dung remain in it, for this reason, that the Rat will enter with greater confidence where he finds his brethren have been before him; but if it hinders the trap from striking, orit is got under the bridge, then take it out.
Now if you perceive that they come to four or five different places, I would advise, by all means, to put a trap at each place. Some people are afraid of a little expence, and make shift with one trap only, in which case you are obliged to move your traps about, which makes them shy, and missing some of their companions renders them still shyer: mind therefore to have a trap at each place, set them all to feed at the same time, and put a little bundle of straw at each end, that they may go in and out privately; and if you cannot get any straw, shelter each end of the trap with some old boards, and keep them as private as possible, for this they like, and it will answer your intent the better. When your traps are all set, as near the places where they run as you can, you must feed them after the following manner: put some of the feed (the recipe to prepare which will be hereaftergiven) at their holes, scatter a little quite up to the end of the trap, and so along to the bridge within side, and there put a handful. When this is performed at each trap, you must stay two or three nights before you go to them, and you will see which trap they have eaten out of, perhaps from all of them, or possibly from only one, as sometimes they are very shy; for I have known them to eat the food prepared for them, from their holes quite up to the trap, for a week before they would enter in; but when once they have entered in, and find they are not hurt, they will then come freely enough. In the next place, when you go round to take a survey of your traps, take notice of those they have eaten out of, and put some more food in, but after the first time of feeding them, you need only put an handful on the bridge. Make it your rule to take this survey in the morning, and when you perceive they come to feed boldly and freely, then is the proper time to thinkof taking them; but for two or three nights previous to your catching them, when you have given them food in the morning, remember to look at the traps again at night; for if it be a quiet place they will feed by day-light, and where this happens, set those traps going in the day-time, and the rest in the evening; and as they are caught take them out of the trap, by means of a little wire cage; which is described at the end of the Rat trap struck in [pl. V.] afterwards put them into the large cage, proceed in this manner till bed-time, and then put up all your traps again, that they cannot strike, by means of a small piece of a stick laid across, under the ends, as before mentioned, and put some more food in them, for two or three nights longer, till they are become bold; then set them all again; and this may be transacted without breaking your rest in the least; but in some places where they lie in the ceilings or behind the wainscots, they are not in motion till the houseis still, and the family gone to rest, and where this happens you must sit up later, and when any person has this book in his possession, by following the directions therein carefully, he may easily get the better of these vermin.
When I have been catching these vermin at any nobleman or gentleman’s house, after having been absent for some time, I have been obliged to sit up all the night, in order to keep their numbers under: but when a person is in the house or near the premises, there is no necessity of his losing his rest, or attending in so close a manner, because he may take his opportunity to catch them when he thinks proper; and on any night he fixes for that purpose; if any business should intervene, that he cannot conveniently put his design into execution, then let him give them a little food again, and they will not be baulked. Be certain to remember this piece of advice, for whenthe Rats come for their supper, and you have neglected to leave them any, then they will be disappointed, and obliged to go to other places in search of food: therefore when you have some at feed, mind to keep them there at the different places, to which they will come with the greatest regularity, if not baulked; so continue, still feeding them, never neglecting a single night, till you have a leisure evening, and that will encourage them to be bold and come freely. Observe the night that you set your traps going, to lay food that they cannot carry away, and put but a little on the bridge, and on each side, that you may be sure of catching what comes to feed; and if in going round to your traps two or three times, you observe one of them that has not struck, strike it yourself; for sometimes they will not go down easily, if they stand long, but set hard, then the Rats will eat the food out, and not strike the trap. Now as they are caught, go round and take themout with your small cage, and put them into the large one: in this manner I have caught seventy-two in one night’s time, though sometimes in that trap where they have fed the best, I have not caught one Rat, according to expectation. If this should happen to you be not in the least discouraged; for they will come again, and disappointment may have been occasioned by their having met with some other vermin in the way; for sometimes a weasel, stoat, or polecat, will go in and baulk your traps, as they leave a most horrible stench behind them, very disagreeable to the Rats; and in the course of my practice I have caught great numbers of the animals just before mentioned, but more particularly the polecat, all in the rat-traps; by which it is evident how naturally these vermin will follow one another, when prowling in the night after their prey; but these events, which now and then happen, ought not, in the least, to slacken your diligence; for bycare and perseverance, and by following the above rules, you will soon take and destroy these terrible and subtle domestic enemies.
The following cautions are necessary in removing them from the trap to the cage: when you go round in order to survey your traps, and find one down, take the small wire cage, and put it close to the right hand end, which is the handiest method of taking them out, unless the trap stands in such a position that you cannot command that end. When you have placed the cage properly, pull that end of the trap up next your right hand, just high enough for the Rat to come out into the cage, let the candle stand down by the cage, which you must hold fast with your hand, that they may not drive it away; for sometimes when they see light, they will spring or bolt out with such velocity, that except you hold the cage tight, and close to the trap, they will drive it away, and so escape. At other times they are sulky, and will not come out if they can help it; in this case you must make a noise, and rattle against the other end of the trap; and they will soon bolt out into the cage. Another piece of advice is here necessary, for when one Rat has come out you may possibly think there are no more in the trap, and take the cage away, but be certain of this first, for I have had seven at one time in the same trap. By observing this rule you will be enabled to guard against any of them getting away, after you have been at the trouble of taking them.
_Page 87_ _Plate III._ The SEPERATE PARTS of the RAT TRAP described. _J. Lodge sc._
I shall now give the reader a very minute and exact description of the make and construction of the trap, made use of in the foregoing instances, which, with the print annexed, will give him a full, perfect, and adequate idea of the same; it is made in the following manner: Take three boards [pl. III.] two feet two inches long, let thetwo sides stand on the bottom, nine inches high, by nine inches wide in the clear; then take a thick bit of wood three inches wide, and put it in the top of the trap in the centre, for the upright centre E. [pl. IV.] to go in; in the front of the trap, at the bottom, cut a hole for the trigger, half an inch wide, and three inches high, BB; line the inside of the hole with some pieces of tin about an inch wide, that they may not deface the inside of the trap, for a Rat will always gnaw and scratch wherever he sees any light; then take two pieces of board to go in even or level at each end, and under these take two short pieces, six inches high, to go in easy, nailing the top down to these at each end, and then hanging the top-pieces F F. within an inch of the end nearest the centre, they will go up and down together. In the centre, at the bottom of the trap, against the back, take a piece of wood, two inches long, and half an inch thick, make a hole in the centre of it, thenput a nail through without a head, fasten it down to the bottom of the trap, and let the nail stand up half an inch; in order to hang the bridge on: then take a piece of half inch board five inches wide, and seven inches and a half long, make a hole at one end, in the centre, and at the other end put a strong bit of wire D, and let it come through the trigger-hole B B, bent and turned up at the extremity, a quarter of an inch, that it may hitch or fasten to the trigger, and over the trigger-hole about half an inch, nail a little piece of wood C, about two inches long, in order to stop the tiller, to prevent its going into the trigger-hole; let your standard E, at the top of the trap, be five inches high, with a notch in the centre, opposite the trigger-hole; let it be half an inch wide, and two inches down; then you must put a small nail at each end, to both which tie a string and bring them through the notch in the standard and tie them both together; then cut one end off,and bringing the other end down tie it to the trigger, which is the small piece of wood tied to the end of the string, in order to set the trap, which must be set up about six or seven inches high, at each end. The intent of having the under pieces but six inches high, is, that you may be enabled to take them out with the greater safety; for when you place the small wire cage at the end of the trap, then lift the end thereof level or even with the small hole at the side of the cage, and there will be sufficient room for the Rat to go into the cage very easily.
_Plate IV._ _Page 88._ The RAT TRAP set. _Fig. 1._ The BOX wherein the RAT TRAP is placed. _J. Lodge sc._
Having described the trap, I now proceed to another particular, which is, that you must put it into a large box, in order to keep other animals from eating the food prepared for the Rat, and likewise to hinder the dogs from coming to it; for sometimes, when they find a trap where the Rats come to feed, they will lie by it and baulk theRats. This box, therefore, is a safeguard or defence for them, for when any thing disturbs them, they will run in at the holes, at each end of the bottom of the box, to save themselves, and when the ends of the trap are sheltered, they will feed quietly; if therefore your dogs should come and disturb the traps, you must baulk them, and, during your absence, mind to lock the boxes, to keep any person from them, which has always been my constant practice.
The box [pl. IV. fig. 2.] is made in this manner: three feet long, a foot and a half wide, and twenty inches high, with two small holes E, one at each end, at the back, close to the bottom of the box, about three inches diameter, or square, as you like; then the Rats can go in and out without being disturbed, and no other animal can take their food but themselves. Let the inside traps have a pound weight of sheet-lead nailed on at each end, which willmake them strike quick, and keep the end down, for I have known them to get out of these traps for want of sufficient weight: and for the more effectually preventing them from getting their noses under the end and lifting them up, take a small piece of wood, an inch wide and three quarters of an inch thick, and put it across, at the bottom, in the inside, at each end, that the end of the trap may strike down flush without side. Let this piece of wood be lined with tin, that they may not gnaw it away. Let the traps be made of stout inch-fir, which is the best wood you can make use of; for that will never warp nor bend, as other wood does; but any old packing box will do for the outside. If they are not exactly made as I have already prescribed, they will answer the intent, yet if you are obliged to make new ones, they may as well be made according to the directions before given; but if it is a quiet place where you can lock the door, or in a barn,or the outside of a barn at a farm-house, the following trap may be used with great advantage and efficacy, which is the common hutch or box trap, which however must be sheltered, at each end, as before directed. This trap the reader is referred to [plate II. fig. 1.] and likewise to the description of the same, in the account of the wild cat, in page49of this work. And here I beg leave to give a general caution to the reader, which is, to follow the directions laid down in the preceding pages, and practise them by himself; for company will baulk the sport, and when once the traps are baulked, the blame will fall upon the author, who is not in the least in fault; for he will maintain and abide by every instruction before given, to be exactly just and true. Remember, likewise, that they are a very subtle vermin, for if they in the least suspect what you are about, you cannot catch them, for I would not have you imagine that any kind of vermin will ever enter a trap, knowingit to be one; on the contrary, you must entice and encourage them by the means before laid down, which will make them bold, and enable you to catch them with the greatest facility imaginable. Now when you have set all your traps to work, you will want to scent them, which must be performed in this manner; take twenty drops of the oil of rhodium, six or seven grains of musk, half an ounce of the oil of anniseed, put them in a small phial for use, and before you set the traps, shake them well together, then scent your traps as follows: Take a small piece of paper twisted up, dip it in the bottle, and rub each end of the trap, and put two or three drops on the bridge, and likewise the holes at each end of the box; leave the paper in each trap, and let every trap be served in this manner; the reason of mixing these three ingredients together is, that I have always tried it with success, for in some places the rats love the smell of rhodium, in others they like the smell of musk, and again, in other places,they love the smell of anniseed; on this account I mix them all together, that the scent of either one or other of the above ingredients may entice and allure them to the trap. Another piece of instruction is necessary to be given: when you first set your traps to work, different means are to be used according to the different places you are catching at; if it is at a dog-kennel, put some small pieces of boiled flesh about in the trap, as well as the feed; if in a slaughter-house, put some small bits of fat, or small pieces of guts; if in a brewhouse put some malt; if in a still-house put some of the meal; if in a mill the same; if at a barn, put in some corn as well as the feed, and so likewise in all other instances. The reason of this method of proceeding is, in whatever places your traps are set, put some of the same things in the trap as they have been before used to; for then they have not so great a notion of its being a trap: you must not use any of thescenting in the feed, for there is nothing they are so fond of in their food as the oil of carraways.
Take a pound of good flour, three ounces of treacle, and six drops of the oil of carraways, put them all into a bowl, and rub them well together, till it looks all alike; be sure to mix it well; then put a pound of the crumb of bread to it; for they like the bread mixt with their feed better than the feed alone, it being too luscious, for which reason they do not like it so well by itself; but that night on which you catch, put no bread to it, lest they should carry it away.
There is a necessity for your having two wire cages, one small, [pl. II. fig. 2.] usedin going round your traps, in order to take the vermin out to put them into the larger one, made in the manner following:
The small wire cage must be thus constructed; let it be nine inches in length by nine wide, four inches and a half high, with a fall in it at one end and a door at the other, the first to let them in at, and the other to let them out into the great cage, which must be made as follows: Let it be twenty inches long, nine inches wide, and eight inches high, with a fall at one end, to let them in from the small cage, and a door on the top to take them out at; now when you are catching, set your great cage out of the way, at some distance, that the other Rats may not hear them squeak, for that will baulk your sport and occasion them to run away. In the morning, if you do not choose to drown them, perhaps you will want to hunt those you have taken, and know not how to take them out at the top of the great cage; butthis may be done very easily; for if you do not hurt them they will not bite you; for by standing together in the trap all night they are cowed, and have not the least notion of biting, unless you should happen to squeeze them too hard; but you may take them out one by one, with your hand, very safely. Now this matter is a secret, for we always inculcate the notion that they will bite you terribly, unless you rub your hands with some kind of ingredient or other. I was once of that opinion myself, but am now better convinced; indeed when there are but four or five left behind in the trap, they are apt to be very violent and outrageous, you may then shake them out to your dog. There is a wide difference in the temper and disposition of these animals; for some are so savage and untamed, that they will set up their backs, looking very fiercely and crying out, if you do but look at them; but when you meet with one of this kind, shake him well in the cage, together with the rest, and observe when hehas put his head among the others, and take him out by his tale and he will not bite you; but observe when you have first catched them do not go to handle them directly, for then they are so mad and furious that they will bite any thing.
I shall here give the reader another maxim I have often followed very successfully; if you find the holes quiet and no rats to use them, it will then be incumbent on you to stop them up in this manner, to prevent others from entering therein: Take a pint of common tar, half an ounce of pearl-ashes, an ounce of oil of vitriol, and a good handful of common salt, mix them all well together in any old deep pan; get some pieces of paper, and put some of the above mixture very thick on the paper, and place enough of this into the holes to stop them, and then let the bricklayer make good after you; and if you should find any of the holes opened again, it is certain you had not put in a sufficient quantity, then put in somemore, and, if it is done as it ought, they will never approach there any more, while either smell or taste remains in it; now by stopping the holes in the shores in town, where they come up, with the above mixture, I have kept a gentleman’s house entirely clear, and never have caught one single Rat.
Now sometimes they will get in behind the wainscot and in the ceiling, in town, and not come out into the house, but remain there, and become very troublesome, and this is a very bad case: in order therefore to make them forsake these places, find out a small hole or crack, then take a handful of common salt, and put it in at the hole or crack, and pour upon the salt a spoonful or two of oil of vitriol, and this will make such a fumigation or smoke, that they cannot bear it, then stop the hole or crevice again, that the smoke may not come out, do this in two or three places, as near where you hear them as you can, and itwill cause them to forsake those places. This method is very safe, as no damage can possibly ensue to the wainscot from the smoke.
I shall now point out a method to kill them, where you cannot set a trap for them: Take a quart of the same food, before made use of in taking them in traps, then rasp three figs of nux vomica, add to these a quarter of a pound of crumb of bread, mix them all well together, and this will be their certain bane; but first give them some without the nux vomica figs, for two or three succeeding nights, and when they find it agrees with them, they will then eat that mixed with the fig, with great freedom and greediness.
I am not much a friend to poisoning Rats in houses, except in cases of necessity, but if it must be done, I would by no means recommend the use of arsenic, or corrosive sublimate, which is too often practised, for then they creep into holes about the house, get between the ceilings, and other places, and there die, and occasion a very disagreeable smell; for as soon as they have taken enough of it, it is like a spark of fire in their bowels, and brings on an insatiate thirst, and they are restless and uneasy till they get at something to drink, either water, milk, or beer, and then they die immediately; from this circumstance it is evident what dangerous consequences may arise, if any person should drink any of the milk or beer, where these vermin, thus poisoned, have been slavering and drinking; but sometimes it is a difficult matter to make them swallow enough to kill them, for the moment they taste the sharp acid contained therein, it corrodes the mouth and loosens the teeth, and then they will eat no more of it, whereas the mixture of the nux vomica, before recommended, is quite different, and if even tasted by any person, no such fatal effects can happen, for there is nothing but a little bitter taste that is disagreeable; and they will take a sufficient quantity to kill them before they know it, and then they cannot get rid of it, for it throws them into fits, puts them to the greatest agony, and they die soon after; and in order to be more certain of its effects, I have kept them in a cage, and gave it them to try the experiment.
I conclude my account of the Rat with the few following particulars, which I flatter myself will prove useful; they are often very troublesome in coming up the shores, more especially in still-houses and brewhouses; now in the above instances, or in any other shores, where you cannot conveniently set a trap, I have practised the subsequent scheme with great success, which although it does not destroy them, will infallibly drive them away: When you have catched some Rats and killed them, take some white arsenic, finely powdered, put it into an old pepper-box, and shake a quantity of it on the fore parts of the dead Rats, and put them down the holes or avenues by the sides of the shores, where they come in at, which will put a stop to their coming any farther; for when they once perceive the arsenic, they will retire immediately, whereas if you was to put them down without the arsenic, the living Rats would eat the dead ones; I have seen one Rat kill another, when put into the large cage, and afterwards eat him; and once had an old she Rat, big with young, which she brought forth in the cage, and immediately eat them; for there is no kind of vermin whatever so savage as a Norway Rat; again, when you find they have taken to a rick of any sort of corn or hay, take some dead Rats, put some arsenic over them, as before observed, then place one in each hole they have made in the thatch, and it will make them all forsake the rick; in like manner you may stop some of these Rats, served as before, under the barn-floor, where the Rats use, and it will prevent others from taking shelter or harbouring under them; these vermin are likewise very fond of lying under the calve-pens, where they keep snug and warm; use the above method and it will drive them away; and also in any of their burrows, if you can put the dead Rats, prepared as above, so safe that nothing can easily get at them, and by observing these rules, you will obtain the desired effect.