I remember more than once in big places
such as bonding warehouses, when I have been under the floors, my candle or lamp has gone out through being knocked over with grabbing at Rats, and I have not had a match in my pocket, and have had to grope about in the dark trying to find the trap-door where I have got under the floors, more often than not putting my hand in a set trap. It would be of no use shouting for a light simply because I have been alone. It is always better for a Rat-catcher to have assistance for night work, but I have done it myself very often.
Now, the expenses of travelling come very heavy sometimes, for wherever the Rat-catcher goes he always has to pay railway fare for himself and his dog.
Another thing I must tell you. Often when I have gone to inspect a small building I have found that there were a great many Rats in, but I have also known, after inspecting the place, that they have all come from the one place, out of the drain. Well, if I have contracted to do this job for a lump sum, I could easily clear this place and not catch an odd Rat, simply by ferreting them all back into the sewer in the daytime, and then making it good; but in most of these cases they do not like to pay your bill because you have caught no Rats. Still, you have
driven them all down the drains, and after making the drain good they cannot get back again into the building.
Now, in a case like this I always trap them two or three nights and catch a few, just to give satisfaction to those engaging me.
Sometimes gentlemen will write inviting me to meet them at a certain farm, and bring my ferrets and a good supply of nets, alleging that there are “hundreds of Rats in the stacks.” I just relate this to indicate how anyone not regularly amongst Rats can easily be deceived as to their numbers, for a couple of Rats on the thatch of a stack, especially when they have young ones, will probably have twelve holes eaten in the thatch and underneath the stack, and anyone not understanding their habits would think there were a lot of Rats in it.
And it is much the same with workpeople; if they chance to see two or three Rats at once, they will say there are “scores” of them. You would also be surprised to see the awful dread that tenants have of the Rat-catcher in private houses. When ferreting these places they think that if a Rat-catcher has once put his ferrets under the floor they will never see another Rat in the place; but depend upon it they are very bad to catch in these places.
I have often had much trouble respecting houses, warehouses, etc., to know whose duty it would be to pay the Rat-catcher for his work, the landlord’s or the tenant’s, but I think that the landlord should pay. I have had many engagements to catch Rats in newly-built houses before they were tenanted. The time the Rats get into these places is whilst the workmen are putting the drains in the back yards, leaving the drains open at nights. Thence the Rats come out and get under the floors, sometimes having to stop there, too, simply because the next day the joiners board up the floors and thus block the Rats in underneath, and then the Rats can always get into the kitchens up the back of the fireplace. Most property owners would do well to take note of this fact.
I must tell my readers, especially those having large shops, etc., that it is a good plan, if possible, to turn off the gas and water every night and week-end, for I have seen a good many cases where the Rats in the night-time have eaten through a water-pipe, and the place has been flooded by morning. It is just the same with a gas-pipe, and my opinion is that it is quite possible for fires to be caused by Rats in the night-time. Rats are very fond of nibbling and scratching at soft wood, and