Rats and bivvy life

[Golden Paws]

An example of what happens when you leave your boilies inside your bivvy, a visit from Rattus Norvegicus! I seen the thing quite a few times during the day and so deliberately brought the bag inside my bivvy as I thought it wouldn't come in. I'll be storing them in some strong tupperware boxes from now on!

[salokcinnodrog]

On 20/06/2025 at 16:36, Golden Paws said:

An example of what happens when you leave your boilies inside your bivvy, a visit from Rattus Norvegicus! I seen the thing quite a few times during the day and so deliberately brought the bag inside my bivvy as I thought it wouldn't come in. I'll be storing them in some strong tupperware boxes from now on!

I must confess I do keep my bait in buckets, not just for rats but to keep them away from Sky.

She does however act as a good rat deterrent:

[yonny]

On 20/06/2025 at 16:36, Golden Paws said:

I'll be storing them in some strong tupperware boxes from now on!

Worth having a look at the Rat Bag - it's an air-drying bag made from light chainmail with a velcro opening. Completely rodent proof. They used to be sold by a small independent company in 2 sizes - I got both and they're absolutely brilliant. A little while back OMC bought the firm out and started selling them as an OMC branded product. I'm not sure if OMC still do them (can't see them on the website) but there's certainly still stock available online if you Google 'OMC Rat Bag'.

[Golden Paws]

Had two 2.5l lockable sandwich boxes delivered yesterday which should keep them at bay. I fish several different waters over the course of the season and I'm sure they're getting bolder on all of them!

[elmoputney]

Why not just use a bucket?  they've never breached my ridgemonkey yet. I never leave my bait in the bivvy either. And always close my food bag, then I throw boilies in other people's bivvies works a treat 😂

[kevtaylor]

I bought a new dog because of rats at fishing, having them climbing up my spod rod in the doorway and running all over the bivvy was the final straw at Bluebell lakes.  I'd never experienced that level of rat infestation there before because of my previous dog largely keeping them away. I keep all bait in buckets outside the bivvy.

They've damaged cars there eating wires and getting into the vehicle for food/bait.

Not seen one on my syndi in 3 years!

[salokcinnodrog]

2 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

I bought a new dog because of rats at fishing, having them climbing up my spod rod in the doorway and running all over the bivvy was the final straw at Bluebell lakes.  I'd never experienced that level of rat infestation there before because of my previous dog largely keeping them away. I keep all bait in buckets outside the bivvy.

They've damaged cars there eating wires and getting into the vehicle for food/bait.

Not seen one on my syndi in 3 years!

For years there were no problems at Taverham, then more anglers started fishing it when Anglian Water took it on and litter started becoming a problem. Klaus bought a brand new bivvy and rats chewed their way in through the groundsheet and into his bait and food bags. He found a chewed pack of bacon dragged outside the bivvy.

We get a few rats on the syndicate now, not many, and as you can see, they don't cause me any problems, thanks to Sky. How she can wait patiently on the lead until they get close enough to her to attack them amazes me, she's normally head down and charge.

[kevtaylor]

4 minutes ago, salokcinnodrog said:

For years there were no problems at Taverham, then more anglers started fishing it when Anglian Water took it on and litter started becoming a problem. Klaus bought a brand new bivvy and rats chewed their way in through the groundsheet and into his bait and food bags. He found a chewed pack of bacon dragged outside the bivvy.

We get a few rats on the syndicate now, not many, and as you can see, they don't cause me any problems, thanks to Sky. How she can wait patiently on the lead until they get close enough to her to attack them amazes me, she's normally head down and charge.

My spaniels seem to mark the perimeter of the swim and I think that deters most, they deffo will not come in the bivvy.

Whilst dogless I had one eat through the side of the ridgemonkey porch - with an open front (dumb creature), thankfully it was the only bivvy I've ever hated so not bothered!

It has to be the amount of bait and food about on day tickets. 👎

[Golden Paws]

On the couple of waters I fish most often, the bailiff's come round most days to check the rat boxes for poison but I think they have learned to avoid them. They are probably better off with traps but you have to be careful where you put them. Shooting is another option as they are getting bolder but obviously comes  with risks and has to be on private ground.

[jh92]

My staffy would probably run away from a rat 🤣

 

[salokcinnodrog]

1 hour ago, Golden Paws said:

On the couple of waters I fish most often, the bailiff's come round most days to check the rat boxes for poison but I think they have learned to avoid them. They are probably better off with traps but you have to be careful where you put them. Shooting is another option as they are getting bolder but obviously comes  with risks and has to be on private ground.

Rats get immune to poison, and learn to avoid traps, and as you say with traps you have to be careful with where they are put in  position.

 

1 hour ago, kevtaylor said:

Whilst dogless I had one eat through the side of the ridgemonkey porch - with an open front (dumb creature), thankfully it was the only bivvy I've ever hated so not bothered!

I think that that is possibly because of patrol route?

I'm not 100% sure, but they use their patrol route as the base as it were, then when finding or sniffing food expand from there.