Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher | Page 3

again. Then, after ferreting, make the drain good, and if
there be an odd Rat or two left in the building you will get them in a
few nights by baiting the trap.
There is another way of catching the Brown Rat which breeds under the
floor in large buildings where there are no drains. They are very
awkward to catch. Always have a trap or two set, but do not set them
where they feed; place them in their runs. But there are other methods
for other Rat-infested places. For instance, take a restaurant, where they
feed in the cooking kitchen; we will suppose they have eaten four holes
through either floor or skirting boards. The best way to catch
these--however many holes they have leading into the kitchen--is to
block up (with tin or similar material) all the holes with the exception
of one, and let them use that one for two nights. Then put a plateful of
good food, such as oatmeal and oil of aniseed, as far from the hole as
you can in the same kitchen; then run a small train of meal and aniseed
from the hole to the plate. Next drive two six-inch nails in the wall,
with a long piece of string tied to the nail heads. Put on these nails a
brick or piece of board right above the hole 2 inches up the wall. Be
sure the nails are quite loose in the wall over the hole, and leave in that
position for two nights, so that the Rats will get used to it. On the night
that you are going to catch them, before leaving the place carry the
string from the nail heads to the door or window; let the door or
window be closed within an inch, with the end of the string outside.
After the place has been quiet for thirty minutes return to the door or
window very quietly, and you will hear the Rats feeding. Pull the string,
the loose nails come out of the wall and the brick or board drops over
the hole. You can then go in, close the door, turn up the gas and catch
or kill them at your leisure, as they cannot get back again.
By this method I may mention that I have caught a great number of
Rats, and it is quite possible to clear a place in this manner: that is, if
they do not come out of the drains. I have caught upwards of 103 in six
nights in this way. The best time to catch Rats in any building is always
at night, and always about half-an-hour after the place has been closed,
as Rats are generally more adventurous to come for their first feed.

Always go about as quietly as possible.
In some of the very old Manchester buildings that were built in the
days before drain plans had to be submitted to the corporation, one
finds under the cellar floors old-fashioned brick and flag drains (better
known as "spit" drains), that were left in when the place was built.
Once the Rats get in these disused drains all the professional
Rat-catchers in England could not clear them without pulling the
building down. The Rats have, by some means, got out of the main
sewer, probably by the bursting of a sewer into one of these disused dry
brick drains. It is then impossible to get underground to see where they
have got into the dry drain, and the only thing that can be done in a
case of this sort is to engage a professional Rat-catcher occasionally,
and keep two or three good cats to keep the Rats down. These places as
a rule are more plagued with them when it is very wet weather and
there are floods running. This is the best time to catch them, as they are
all under the floor of the building, and are very easy to catch in the
night with the traps.
As a rule the Black or Drain Rats feed only in the night, very rarely in
the day, as they are of a dirty nature, and prefer being in the drains. In
my opinion the Black Rat is more vicious than the Brown.
There is another Rat I call the Red Rat, which is akin to the Brown Rat.
You will always catch these at a tannery, or about kennels, where
hounds are kept, and they generally feed on horseflesh or offal. Red
Rats are the "gameist" Rats I know, for whatever kind of Rats are put
into the store cage, these Red Rats kill them the first night they are left
quiet.
I may describe another mode of catching Rats. In any Rat-overrun
warehouse, storeroom, or cellar, where there is a