# Wild rat...can somebody help me decide what to do?



## Gaiamuse (Jun 30, 2012)

I don't know if this forum deals with wild rats -- but I have a problem and am finding so much differing advice...I thought I'd ask. What to do with an untamed solo wild rat that's been living comfortably in my home for 8 months?

About 5 months ago I realized something was living underneath or behind my oven -- which I hadn't used in a while. Whatever it was was pulling out the insulation and dropping it outside the stove. I noticed this in the middle of the winter -- and since I'm an animal lover (tame or wild) -- I live fairly amicably with the mice in my home -- I decided it was probably some mice and I would wait until summer to deal with it when they left for their outdoor summer quarters. 

But after a while I started to hear noises shortly after I got into bed -- and they were getting bolder and noisier. My two cats didn't seem have any affect on that and couldn't track the noise. ...Finally a few weeks ago, I got the idea to check out what was going on and set up a night video and left some dry cat food out in a bowl on the floor next to the stove. . To my surprise two little eyes popped out from under the stove about 10 minutes after I set the video -- and then a fairly decent sized rat emerged and started drinking water and eating the chow. I think it might be Norwegian Roof but not sure. BTW -- I live in the country -- not even close to a city.

I don't have a fear of wild animals or country rats -- so this wasn't an "eek" situation -- just a "what do I do now?" Shortly after that, I got a friend to come in the day time to help pull out the stove and saw a huge hole in the wall that "Roberto" (I named him) had been using for a in/out door. So we sealed up that and the other visible electrical holes in the house and I figured since Roberto would be out in the day time that that was that.

Wrong.

Turns out Roberto was in the stove the whole time we were doing that and now I've trapped Roberto inside now -- not out. Sigh. The first night he realized this I heard him desperately scrabbling about looking for an exit -- if I could have gotten to one I would have helped release him-- but of course he bolted whenever I got close.

So for the past two weeks I train the video camera on the stove and he does the same thing every night -- comes out, drinks some water and wanders around the house.

I just got a humane trap for him and am setting the peanut butter cracker slowly further and further into the cage before I set it to trap. (He's going in to eat it now...but not all the way yet.) I think there's a good chance I will be able to trap him.

So here's the thing -- I would keep Roberto if I could get him litter trained. I'd just have a wild rat roaming the house -- okay with me. But I don't think that's going to happen. And I'm going to have to clean up after he's gone. I don't think keeping him and trying to tame him is an alternative for me right now - I have too many other things on my plate and really don't want to add a feral rat to tame. But now what? 

I read these stories where they say you're fooling yourself if you think catching and releasing a solo rat into the wild is a "kind" thing to do....they will be stressed, have trouble finding food, if they find other rats they'll have to fight for territory etc. etc. Other sources say that's fine. But I tend to think that rats as social animals -- and particularly Roberto -- who has been living safely under a nice warm stove for months -- will be totally freaked to have to live outdoors, and either barely make it or have to struggle to survive, or get poisoned -- not kind. I am finding that there is no clear cut answer here -- of course if you release a rat into the wild you can't follow it...so how does anybody really know? But I am wondering if anybody here has any experience with this?

So the other option is to catch him and bring him to the vet and have them euthanize him -- apparently not that easy since he's wild -- they'll have to get him out without getting bitten and then inject him. 

(BTW -- I am not worried about the disease part -- wild ones tend to be like squirrels or chipmunks -- they eat what they can find. Of course they have diseases, communicable to humans and I wouldn't want to get bitten and would wear gloves if I had to handle him, but if I were to keep him I'd just make sure he was vetted out after I'd worked on taming him. But I'm not going to do that.)

Any opinions or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you...


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Wow, could you get a picture of him up? it might help identify what species he is, cause knowing that could help.
It is extremely difficult to tame a wild rat, they naturally have a fear of humans, and even if you do manage to tame them, I've heard from people who hand raised them from tiny 1 day old pups that they never end up being kind like domesticated rats. However they do have the same intelligence level, so I can see litter box training him if you were to tame him, and if he was in a cage. But roaming around your house? its not likely. I'm more worried about him eating something he shouldn't, like dry wall or instillation, they are pretty good about not ingesting stuff like that, but you never know.
Please don't take him to a vet to get euthanized, rats have to be gassed to sleep, the needle has to be punctured through their body cavity (a very painful way to die) due to their small veins. That should be your last of the last option.
Ok, I'm not sure how it might work, but have you thought about catching him, putting him outside, and showing him that he has a safe place to return and get food, like a small rabbit hutch or even a plastic dog crate. that way he knows he has a home and a territory, and if he wants to leave, he can. it would be like a raccoon or a deer, raccoons and deers after they are released they tend to return to where they know they can easily get food and shelter. 
Since you are most likely keeping him in some way, you might want to go research keeping rats as pets, there is a ton of information here.
BTW you might want to do a full check on your house, rats tend to live in colonies and due to that, they tend to send out the lower ranked members out to find food, have you noticed him hoarding food? that's a good indication he is a part of a bigger family.


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## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

Actually They can go through the stomach its more humane ... They give them an under the skin injection to sleep and then go through the stomach and that works fast ... This is what they did with my Izzy 

However I would not want him euthanized ... I wish he hadnt been sealed in the house things would be easier ... you could have him live in a cage but he will never be tamed ... I would rerelease him outside his colony should accept him back


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## Valitra (Jun 27, 2012)

I think its really sweet that you're being considerate of that rat!  

It might very well get quite rough for him out there, but he IS a wild rat and he's meant for this sort of life. Stressful new situations, predators, dealing with other rats and having to forage for food are exactly what they've evolved to live through. Perhaps you should give him his fighting chance and release him, he might make it just fine in the end. Not to mention that he WILL die in absolute stress and terror if you capture him and bring him to a vet for euthanasia. He'll just think a predator finally got him and know he's about to die.


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## Babs (Jan 26, 2012)

You sound like a very nice person. I'm really impressed by the lengths you're going to make sure this rat is taken care of humanely. 

I'm not sure that taming him would really be an option. Some pet rats can be hard enough to tame, and that's without the added risk of transferable disease. I would imagine the kindest thing you could do for this fella would be to catch him in that humane trap, cover it with a tarp or cloth once he's inside to reduce stress, take him off in your car to a nice isolated area and let him out near a wall or some forest so he doesn't have to run far for cover. 

As has already been pointed out, he's a wild rat and well made to handle situations in the wild. If he's not, then he may die. . .but that's how it's supposed to be unfortunately. You'll have done him a kindness in giving him a second chance at it. If euthanasia was an option, you don't have to worry about needles. Most vets (in Ireland, anyway) will just put the rat in a little tank and humanely euthanise them with gas that will just put them straight to sleep. It's not as horrific as needles and that most of the time.


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## Gaiamuse (Jun 30, 2012)

I have an affinity for most wild animals -- but also have a firm belief that we kind of disconnect from the fact that the life of a wild animal is as important to them as ours is to us -- that's what allows us to kill them with impunity. If you've never read it, thebook Ishmael really gives a great perspective around that...and it's a wonderful read too.

Secondly, this little guy has done an awful lot to demonstrate his personality -- one morning I got up a 4 a.m. to feed one of my cats who wanted to go out early -- and Roberto the rat realized I was "out" while he was -- so he shuffled by the two of us to get back under the stove --but he was moving slow enought that he seemed more embarassed than frightened. My cat -- just a kitten and about 3 times his size -- just looked at him like "Oh, is that our new addition?" Secondly at some point I realized he was likely resting in the cat bed in the upstairs loft -- his droppings were in a pile right next to it but not in it.

And back at all of you -- you also seem so helpful - thank you. I am vascillating between the two ideas and thank you for your input - am now debating taking him to a nearby woods preserve with water and leaving a bunch of food for him near a stream when I release him. Either that or if they can "gas" him -- that's the other option. I know this might sound strange -- but a stressful free life outside a colony (rats are social animals yes?) versus an easy death is something I want to weigh. I am slowly getting him used to going into the humane trap for his nightly peanut butter on cracker -- and should be able to trap him in the next week.

Oh -- also -- it's a little hard to get his pix up -- it's on video tape which means I have to transfer the tape to computer first...I will try to do so -- though it's not a very good shot -- I am using the video camera's "night vision" setting which means you see his form but no color etc.


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## elliriyanna (Jul 27, 2011)

Well if he is a wild rat ... Chances are he can find a community to live in ... There is no way he will spend the rest of his life alone he may very well find his way back to his own colony ... He had to come from a family unit


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

I would catch him, make your home rat proof (this requires keeping him confined until he can no longer enter the house) and release him outside. Give him an initial hideout there with one bowl of food and then no more.
You know where there is one rat there are more and before you know it you will have an infestation. Are you sure it is a male? If not you will be having more and more wild guests.


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## BigBen (Nov 22, 2011)

If he can find his way back to his own mischief, releasing him outside would be okay, but rats that try to join a different colony live very stressful lives, if they're not killed outright by the resident rats. That is why it is usually illegal to release a trapped rat back into the wild. I hate to say it, but the humane way of dealing with wild rats in the house is to seal up all possible entrances to the building and to set snap traps to kill any rats trapped inside.


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