Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher | Page 5

or eight different firms in one block of
buildings. Now, suppose four of these firms are suffering from the
damage the Rats are doing. Well, one or two of these firms may go to
the expense of having the Rats cleared away. But between the two
buildings there may be a hardware business or ironmonger's shop,
where Rats cannot do any harm to their goods. The owners of these
shops will not go to the expense of having Rats caught, nor will they let
us go into their shops at midnight; therefore the result is the Rat-catcher
in his trapping and ferreting is limited to these two places, and all he
can do is to catch some and drive the rest into the hardware shop. When
under the floors in such places one finds there has been so many
alterations made at different times that one joist may be a foot or six

inches below the other, and when the Rats are completely driven out of
these places it would require joiners and bricksetters to work for weeks
under the floors to stop the Rats returning. And most firms will not go
to this expense. I only give my readers this as an illustration of what
has often happened with me, and to show why I never guarantee to
clear Rats completely in large towns. If they are in a private house,
stable, greenhouse, or any block of houses, of say five or six, I might
then, after looking through, give a guarantee to clear them completely.
These are the fullest details I can give you, and if you will put any of
the ways I have mentioned into practice you will find that they are all
successful, especially the covering of traps. I can give you just one
more instance in Manchester, where I was engaged. The workpeople
had been tormenting the Rats with traps, not knowing how to set them.
They sent for me, and on my looking round the place I knew there was
a lot of Rats. I submitted my price to do the job, and when I went down
one night with 40 traps, dog, and two ferrets I thought I should catch 20
or 30 Rats, but I found that they had plagued them so much with their
attempted trapping that I only caught three in the whole night. This
place belonged to a limited company, and when I went before the
committee the next morning they were not satisfied. I told them that
their own workpeople had tormented the Rats so much with traps that
the Rats would not go near one. I then told the committee that I would
still stick to my terms, but I would leave the job over for a fortnight.
Now during that fortnight I went down a good many times, and laid the
sawdust as I have already described, and thus got the Rats used to it.
The first night that I went catching I took with me 33 traps. I had them
all set by 8-30 p.m., and by 12-30 a.m. I had trapped 45 Rats; the next
night 31 Rats; and before I completed the job, with the trapping and the
other ways that I have mentioned, I caught 183 Rats! This I give merely
as an illustration to show the necessity of engaging an experienced man
to catch Rats--that is, if you want them caught. And to confirm the
statements above, I shall be most happy to supply privately the name
and place of the firm, and also to give a personal interview if necessary.
And now a word or two respecting the different ways in which
Rat-catchers are treated. Many people think that a Rat-catcher is

favoured if they give him permission to catch Rats on their farms or
round the banks of their corn or wheat fields. Well, on some occasions I
grant this may be a favour, for I have seen when I have had an order in
hand for about 10 dozen Rats, and have had only a day or two in which
to get them. Such are the only times and circumstances when a
Rat-catcher gives his services gratis, and simply because he wants the
live Rats. Most farmers will send you word when they are threshing
their corn, and then the value of the Rats are worth the day's work to
the Rat-catcher.
This is all right as far as it goes, but when one comes to consider the
yearly expenses of the Rat-catcher it will be found that they are very
heavy. Now, first of all it will cost, at the least, 5 pounds annually for
the wear and tear of traps alone, then there is the wear and tear of nets;
two dog licences; always three or four