Large rat strolling around on neighbour's lawn

[snoozequeen1]

Don't panic! (unless you are in Nunhead) it's in Nunhead. I thought they were only supposed to stroll around bold as brass in abandoned places at night, not on lawns where children play in the middle of the afternoon.

Does anyone have a gun I can borrow, or would it be okay to pop round and ask the Home Secretary's nice looking policemen to deal with it?

[Brendan]

I?ve got quite a powerful air pistol. Although I?m at work at the moment and a little bit drunk so I probably shouldn?t handle guns.

I?m also a terrible shot at the best of times.

[KalamityKel]

Snooze hun I just popped outside and had a word wiv nice policeman wiv gun... he winked at me at said he'd deal wiv it as soon as he's off duty... ;-)

[snoozequeen1]

It was a very large rat - I had no idea they were that big, quite scary - in a small garden so shouldn't be that hard to hit?

If the cavalry don't turn up I will be needing that firearm when Mr Brendan has sobered up.

Just as Nunhead was starting to claw its way upmarket, too.

[LuvPeckham]

??? is theis part of the Fantasy East Dulwich Neighbour discussion... I mean who on earth wants to live next to a large rat (apart from James Cagney that is)

[giggirl]

Are you absolutely sure it wasn't a very small cat?

[SteveT]

Some long suffering types put up with them, and others eventually sue for divorce;-)

[dulwichmum]

Or perhaps it is a hamster?

[Cassius]

I don't think hamsters have long reptilian tails - shudder.

[wee quinnie]

What about a squirrel but with a hairless tail?

[snoozequeen1]

It wasn't a hamster

It wasn't a squirrel

It wasn't a cat in a hat

But a big fat rat

If I obtain photographic evidence of the Giant Rat of Nunhead, I shall post, with "Not for nervous" notice.

[fish]

Did this Rat take up residency in Nunhead, at the same time as the Home Secretary?

[dulwichmum]

Perhaps it was a mink? I could let you see my coat, perhaps you could identify it that way.

All of the mink used to make my coat died of natural causes you know. I am frightfully eco trendy.

[early_doors]

I've seen a squirrel with a hairless tail. Nasty looking critter. Are these typical or a new breed indigenous to Nunhead?

[ratty]

eeeeeeeeeek

[snoozequeen1]

early_doors Wrote:

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> I've seen a squirrel with a hairless tail. Nasty

> looking critter. Are these typical or a new breed

> indigenous to Nunhead?

Oh no. Not a crossbred squirrel/rat. The fearsome Nunhead Squart. Or it could be a Squirat or a Ratirrel?

It says in my kiddie wildlife book here that squirrels use their tails to communicate with other squirrels.

Have we got hard squirrels, then, the bald-tailed Nunhead Squart being a squirrel of few words?

Like the Rotherhithe bald-headed grunting male?

[bon3yard]

Strolling eh, was it wearing a cravat and smoking a pipe?

[Cassius]

Rat spotted darting into the alley behind LL Carpets towards the Sikh temple mid-afternoon - hopefully just disturbed by the work done on El Paso

[snoozequeen1]

bon3yard Wrote:

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> Strolling eh, was it wearing a cravat and smoking

> a pipe?

Could not see if it was wearing a cravat, but it did have the generally carefree air of the aristocrat taking a stroll on his lawn. If you are missing a cravat, I would look no further.

I was wondering about the squart/frankenfurry, does it hold its bald tail curved up, like a squirrel's, or is it kept down, in rat position?

[KalamityKel]

I have a used cricket bat free, any takers?

[snoozequeen1]

That's very kind of you but I really don't want to have to get that close.

Does anyone know what the legal position is? The neighbouring house is owned by a housing association which has convered it into two flats.

They are appalling and have left a problem with the drains unfixed for years. I saw a rat run towards the area that water is leaking from today and wondered if that's where they're coming from.

Southwark Council tell me that they have to be invited in by the tenant of the property and unfortunately these tenants don't seem to care, they are still letting small children play in their rat-infested garden, and they do not look to me to have asked the Council in.

What to do in this situation please? Any law I can use to get some common sense (and rat poison) applied?