Rats, Rats, big as Pussy Cats

[newcomer01]

6 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Saw one in the Pantip Plaza food court a few weeks ago.  Rats were the cause of the Bubonic Plague, but of course these are Thai rats, so mai bpen rai.

Rats carried the infected fleas which when biting people passed the disease

Fleas will also live on people. 

That aside they are nasty creatures. 

It's not only Chiangmai they are every where.  There are also water rats which I hear are quite tasty.

 

[madusa]

15 hours ago, deonvz said:

Oh no, you got to be sick to eat these stuffs.

[Hutch68]

1 minute ago, madusa said:

Oh no, you got to be sick to eat these stuffs.

Or just hungry.

[lordblackader]

I was at the Airport on Tuesday, a rat scampered into the inrernational arrivals area much to the shock of many of the tourists and locals there. 

[geisha]

Not long ago I was watching a food stall opposite Bangrak Robinsons, the lady was stir frying and a few customers sat in front of her while a huge rat scrambled around their feet ! I was mesmerised, nobody even looked down ! I didn't like hua Hin for this reason, huge rats there too, even in the restaurants on the night market .

[whaleboneman]

8 hours ago, just bob said:

Old City, mid day, didn't mind having his picture taken.  What's worse...  The open sewer or Mr. Ratso?

 

 

Very nice photo.

[Bigstef]

I've got the same thinking about CM every time I've been there I seen them even at daylight,i seen one in Bkk in the night.....

 

 

[roo860]

Very rare to see one in most american towns, some of the older big cities still feature them though.

"Still feature them", brilliant comment!
[emoji23]

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[bandito]

On ‎3‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 6:49 AM, Saladin said:

Chiang Mai is infested with rats. It is not uncommon to see a rat scampering across the floor in even the best of restaurants. When taking a stroll along the moat in the vicinity of Tapae Gate and Loi Kroh Road you will disturb a bunch of the buggers every 30 metres or so wherever there is a pile of rubbish waiting to be collected. They are big and bold and you could easily trip on them. Are they a danger to health as I have always been taught and if so, what are the Chiang Mai health authorities doing about eradicating them?

 

Not only in CM.

I used to live in Bangkok and there are more rats than there are people.

In Bangkok they are everywhere.

Where I now live, upcountry, did I have to block the waterdrain outside with a long stick as the rats came up the drain and in my kitchen by gnawing a hole in the mosquito screen in the kitchen door.

Is part of living in the land of smiles.

[StevieAus]

When we lived in Sydney used to see rats down at Circular Quay not far from the Opera House feasting on food dropped by tourists

I have two Jack Russell Terriers that are guaranteed to dispatch any rat with one quick flick

Maybe hire them out to Chiang Mai council

[Ryder88]

I 've seen these idiot locals  catch rats that are running all around their food stalls. They catch them and then take the filthy things and release them near the moat.Thais think they're a national treasure.It's bad enough to see them in the streets climbing all over garbage and running around your feet near outdoor food stalls, but I was shocked to see HUGE ones in Huaw Kuay Central Mall! Ground floor in the food court.They start coming out after 9pm and not one Thai rest. owner/Mgr. does a thing about it.

. As far as other posters here saying rats are a world problem, they're right BUT at least civilized countries do not embrace AND EAT! vermin like these barbarians here in this culture, they have extermination methods that are used on a wide scale.

A  Brit friend of mine was dating  a good looking girl from Issan. He went to meet her family. They served meat he did'nt recognize...yep rat.his girlfriend dug right in.He asked her how long have you been eating this , she said always...he broke up with her immediately...he told me ''My God I've been kissing this girl for months ...french kissing I felt I wanted to vomit when I found out''

Edited March 24, 2017 by Ryder88

[canthai55]

43 minutes ago, Ryder88 said:

''My God I've been kissing this girl for months ...french kissing I felt I wanted to vomit when I found out''

Meat is meat. You do not eat the outside, you eat the inside. Ever see how pigs are raised ?  Kept in steel cages. Or chickens ? Same. Or beef in a feedlot ? Knee deep in excrement. 

[scottiejohn]

I don’t know if this is an ‘Urban Myth’ or not.

 

I seem to remember being told of a scheme, back in the early 2000's in CM or all Thailand, where there was a bounty (don’t know how much) on handing in rat corpses but it collapsed when locals set up rat breeding farms just to collect the bounty!

[yardrunner]

21 hours ago, gemguy said:

I thought the story was going to refer to the politicians in the Chiang Mai area...lol

 

But That is another kind of rat anyhow.. but the rats that the story refers to are creepy critters no matter where you go and when you encounter them while rats instill fear in everyone...especially when they are encountered in numbers and large sizes as they can be vicious if they are cornered and need to defend themselves.

Fortunately, they scurry off  like the rats they are and known to do.

But rats, that go splat, and end up flat, like a door mat and under the tires of a motor vehicle are everyone's favorite kind of rat.

Cheers    

but in Thailand rats can be fed as a way of making merit but show most Thai's a snake and watch as thet try and kill it

[dingdongrb]

6 hours ago, Ryder88 said:

I 've seen these idiot locals  catch rats that are running all around their food stalls. They catch them and then take the filthy things and release them near the moat.Thais think they're a national treasure.

 

A  Brit friend of mine was dating  a good looking girl from Issan. He went to meet her family. They served meat he did'nt recognize...yep rat.his girlfriend dug right in.He asked her how long have you been eating this , she said always...

 

I have never really studied Buddhism or know much about it but I do believe Buddhists are taught not to kill living things. I have personally witnessed a Thai friend who had a red ant biting his arm take that ant, gently remove it from his skin and then place it on the ground so it could wonder off and find it's next victim.

 

The rats they eat in Isaan are generally 'field' rats. That is, rats that are typically feeding in the rice fields rather than in the sewers and garbage piles. If they taste different, who knows, as I've never eaten it before. Some folks in the USA have been known to eat muskrat, which belongs to the 'rodent' family whereas some don't eat squirrel as it also comes from the 'rodent' family.

 

BTW, I would almost bet that your friend was eating something of his girlfriend's that was much dirtier than any rat....  

[KhonKaenKowboy]

13 hours ago, bandito said:

 

Not only in CM.

I used to live in Bangkok and there are more rats than there are people.

In Bangkok they are everywhere.

Where I now live, upcountry, did I have to block the waterdrain outside with a long stick as the rats came up the drain and in my kitchen by gnawing a hole in the mosquito screen in the kitchen door.

Is part of living in the land of smiles.

I don't doubt it, but I think it got so bad in BKK that they finally took measures to abate it....I spent a few weeks there last year and didn't see one....besides seeing them in food service areas, the bags of garbage with them on  the sidewalks is just plain uncivilized.  Like the dog problem, it just has to get a little worse before it gets better.  People try to justify it by saying they are everywhere, but   there is no excuse for them to be in personal property.  Clearly a correlation in life expectancy and rat abatement.  I have gone decades without seeing them, and I lived near or in some major cities.

Edited March 24, 2017 by KhonKaenKowboy

[Aussie69]

I hate to be pedantic but the poor old rat gets a bad press over the ‘Black Death/Bubonic plague. It is not the rat which carries the virus but the infected fleas that furry animals carry!
Bubonic plague is mainly spread by infected fleas from small animals. It may also result from exposure to the body fluids from a dead plague infected animal or human being. In the bubonic form of plague, the bacteria enter through the skin through a flea bite and travel via the lymphatic vessels to a lymph node, causing it to swell

Flea hater [emoji16]

[sanemax]

On 3/23/2017 at 3:59 PM, scottiejohn said:

I hate to be pedantic but the poor old rat gets a bad press over the ‘Black Death/Bubonic plague. It is not the rat which carries the virus but the infected fleas that furry animals carry!

Bubonic plague is mainly spread by infected fleas from small animals. It may also result from exposure to the body fluids from a dead plague infected animal or human being. In the bubonic form of plague, the bacteria enter through the skin through a flea bite and travel via the lymphatic vessels to a lymph node, causing it to swell

Also, the Bubonic plague was caused by the lack of rats

The flea that carries the virus is quite content living on rats

Its when there is a lack of rats that the fleas then look to Humans to live on

Killing rats caused the plague

[Thongkorn]

23 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Meat is meat. You do not eat the outside, you eat the inside. Ever see how pigs are raised ?  Kept in steel cages. Or chickens ? Same. Or beef in a feedlot ? Knee deep in excrement. 

Rats are the only thing I would not eat they carry to many germs and bacteria even when cooked.

[canthai55]

34 minutes ago, Thongkorn said:

Rats are the only thing I would not eat they carry to many germs and bacteria even when cooked.

https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html

[NancyL]

8 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html

I didn't see rat meat listed on this helpful chart.

 

[scottiejohn]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

I didn't see rat meat listed on this helpful chart.

It's in the vegetable section under 'ratatouille'!

 

But somebody had to use the word on this thread at some point.

[scottiejohn]

3 hours ago, Aussie69 said:

Flea hater

Rat lover! 

[canthai55]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

I didn't see rat meat listed on this helpful chart.

 

Extrapolate

[metisdead]

Offensive off topic trolling posts and replies have been removed. 

[Teak]

I don't know....sitting with some fellow barflies late one night, bored, and in comes three young rats who start wrestling and playing with each other a few meters from our feet.  If we spoke or laughed aloud they would pause for 5 seconds, look up and than resume play wrestling. When this becomes normal it is time to move on...or stop drinking ;-(

 

[jak2002003]

Used to go to my friends small country bar.  Every night, at exactly the same time, 2 rats would casually walk along the beam just over our heads.  Always the same 2 rats.. big fat one on front and small one behind. 

 

I don't mind them.  If you keep you house clean and tidy, don't have rubbish or food laying about, then you will have no rats.  As for the rats running about on the streets eating the rubbish, I think that is a sign that that area needs cleaning up!  I find the stinking festering bags of rubbish more disgusting to be around than a few rats. 

[mania]

7 hours ago, Teak said:

I don't know....sitting with some fellow barflies late one night, bored, and in comes three young rats who start wrestling and playing with each other a few meters from our feet.  If we spoke or laughed aloud they would pause for 5 seconds, look up and than resume play wrestling. When this becomes normal it is time to move on...or stop drinking ;-(

 

 

Saw the exact same in famous Jok Pet place on moat

Thought they were the owners chihuahuas playing in the kitchen as workers walked past them.

When I told my wife she said look again they are not chihuahuas

 

I told her sheesh rats like that in kitchen while open imagine how that kitchen is over-run when closed.

In classic Thai logic she replies...No worries this place never closes ..They are open 24 hours 555

 

[bandito]

On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 10:38 PM, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I don't doubt it, but I think it got so bad in BKK that they finally took measures to abate it....I spent a few weeks there last year and didn't see one....besides seeing them in food service areas, the bags of garbage with them on  the sidewalks is just plain uncivilized.  Like the dog problem, it just has to get a little worse before it gets better.  People try to justify it by saying they are everywhere, but   there is no excuse for them to be in personal property.  Clearly a correlation in life expectancy and rat abatement.  I have gone decades without seeing them, and I lived near or in some major cities.

 

Well, I lived in some different sois in BKK, '70s and '80s, mainly off Latphrao Road and it was really bad there.

I had a small dog which hated rats and who was chasing them all over the house and killing them what made my house rat free.

The rat population is larger here than the people population.

You are right about garbage but when I complain about it then I get blank stares from the Thais and a comment like " you are the only one complaining, nobody says anything about it".

The mind boggles.

Ah well.

[madusa]

On 2017/3/23 at 11:11 PM, Ryder88 said:

I 've seen these idiot locals  catch rats that are running all around their food stalls. They catch them and then take the filthy things and release them near the moat.Thais think they're a national treasure.It's bad enough to see them in the streets climbing all over garbage and running around your feet near outdoor food stalls, but I was shocked to see HUGE ones in Huaw Kuay Central Mall! Ground floor in the food court.They start coming out after 9pm and not one Thai rest. owner/Mgr. does a thing about it.

. As far as other posters here saying rats are a world problem, they're right BUT at least civilized countries do not embrace AND EAT! vermin like these barbarians here in this culture, they have extermination methods that are used on a wide scale.

A  Brit friend of mine was dating  a good looking girl from Issan. He went to meet her family. They served meat he did'nt recognize...yep rat.his girlfriend dug right in.He asked her how long have you been eating this , she said always...he broke up with her immediately...he told me ''My God I've been kissing this girl for months ...french kissing I felt I wanted to vomit when I found out''

Hi man, from what you said, I guess I would have drop the girl too. Because I can't imagine kissing a mouth that has been eating rats. This awful feeling comes up when you think about it.