Rat Poison in Bagni di Lucca

Not sure if they do, but Rat traps are available. Be careful if you do get poison as the last thing you want (or maybe it is) is a neighbours dead Cat on your conscience. Or maybe borrow a cat and lock it in the shed for a couple of hours and job done....

Thanks Flip We are out in the country so no cats nearby, and we will place the poison in the shed. Maybe a two pronged attack, poison AND rat trap. Don't like the idea of it suffering for days, but it has to go. I will let you know how it goes. Fabbriche

If you do manage to catch it in a trap, an Indonesian friend of mine has an excellent recipe for Marinated Rat Kebabs....

I wrote an answer which seems to have disappeared.... I agree with Flip's first thread about the dangers of using poison, but here is something that I found regarding products used in Italy to get rid of rats: http://www.disinfestanti.it/ratti.html As for the "Marinated Rat Kebabs".... yuk!!!!! I don't think that it would be a wise option. You can always get inspired by St Francis of Assisi and befriend the rat...... I'm currently looking at having the "Northern Tuscany" group reinstated.

We had a resident rat in the pantry bought in by one of our cats...the 4 cats used to pop in and chat to it. Think they befriended it ..after humane traps and then lethal traps and then poison the rat finally died...but it was a long process. If it was outside in a shed I wouldnt worry. Interesting when you say you are out in the country and there are no cats?...plenty of semi-feral that would love a new home!...and will become the perfect house -cat, we have 3 of these but too well fed to catch rats...tuna and chicken ...rats no thank you.

We also had a rat/s in the shed - and the amount of damage it did was incredible! It nibbled and ruined anything and everything including golf balls, fireworks and candles! We used the blocks of wax impregnated with poison and they worked a treat - and as they were only used inside the shed, no danger of neighbours cats having a nibble too. You do need to get rid of them quickly - a neighbour had one, turned out it had a 'friend' so pretty soon the one became hundreds and a professional 'rat hit man' had to be summoned. The wax blocks were readily available in all the farm supply shops along with many other methods.

Perhaps, learning to live with the rat is not such a bad idea. Make it an official pet.... or get some professional help.

Personally I prefer the spade to the head approach with Rats.....

Thank you to Flip, Gala, Angie & Robert and Andiamo. See what a variety of people contribute to the Forum! I like the idea of befriending feral cats (we have seen some) but as we are only over a few times a year they may not enjoy the Feast or Famine aspect of our adoption. Befriending the Rat - again I don't think we could establish a meaningful relationship in the time. I think he moved in when the wormen were there on a regular basis with their lunchtime snacks. Looks like Andiamo wins at the moment - before the RAT chews through the tyres on the wheelbarrow. Will update next week on our return to England. Thanks everyone, I am not a regular contributor but I do enjoy perusing on a daily basis. Fabbriche

"Perhaps, learning to live with the rat is not such a bad idea. Make it an official pet" Most Italians have done this for many years - he's called Silvio