Advice on Getting Rid of Rats??

[Corona Ranch]

Hey ya'll!

I'm sure this is something a lot of poultry owners have dealt with at some point: Rats. I live in Florida and we have rats nesting in my house. MY HOUSE. I'm animal lover through and through and have never loathed anything other than mosquito's and roaches. Heck, I even take spiders outside whenever I find them in the house. But now I have rats that have decided to move into my house to use as their own personal toilet and breeding ground. I have tried so many different natural ways to get rid of the vermin. At this point I don't even care if it's humane!! I have dogs and chickens (and the nasty things are nesting in my walls and ceiling) so poison is NOT an option. The only thing that seems to work, and solved my last rat problem, is putting away alllllll food/feed items in the house (where the dogs sleep) and just letting my dogs take care of the rats that, out of desperation, come out from hiding. However, that process takes longer than I would like and gives the dang things time to reproduce and defecate in the ceiling.

Does anyone have any special tricks or magical spells that can help me be rid of these disgusting creatures??? I'm desperate. My bathroom now has a weird smell that I'm 99.9% positive is rat related. Oh, and the fleas... my dogs now have fleas, too.

Thank you so very much!!!!

 

[ejcrist]

Hey ya'll!

I'm sure this is something a lot of poultry owners have dealt with at some point: Rats. I live in Florida and we have rats nesting in my house. MY HOUSE. I'm animal lover through and through and have never loathed anything other than mosquito's and roaches. Heck, I even take spiders outside whenever I find them in the house. But now I have rats that have decided to move into my house to use as their own personal toilet and breeding ground. I have tried so many different natural ways to get rid of the vermin. At this point I don't even care if it's humane!! I have dogs and chickens (and the nasty things are nesting in my walls and ceiling) so poison is NOT an option. The only thing that seems to work, and solved my last rat problem, is putting away alllllll food/feed items in the house (where the dogs sleep) and just letting my dogs take care of the rats that, out of desperation, come out from hiding. However, that process takes longer than I would like and gives the dang things time to reproduce and defecate in the ceiling.

Does anyone have any special tricks or magical spells that can help me be rid of these disgusting creatures??? I'm desperate. My bathroom now has a weird smell that I'm 99.9% positive is rat related. Oh, and the fleas... my dogs now have fleas, too.

Thank you so very much!!!!

If they're to the point of nesting in your walls, etc. I think it's well past time to call an exterminator. Once they get to that point it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. They'll chew wires and make for all sorts of hazardous conditions. I'd call a good pest exterminator right away.

 

[aart]

If they're to the point of nesting in your walls, etc. I think it's well past time to call an exterminator. Once they get to that point it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. They'll chew wires and make for all sorts of hazardous conditions. I'd call a good pest exterminator right away.

Ditto Dat!!!!^^^^

 

[LadyVictorian]

I normally yell at them and tell them to get back into their cage. That works for me. But I never had rat problems because I have pet rats. The smell of their urine in their cage and the few patches of fleece I use as their bedding is left around the house in popular place where mice and rats would go. It's the same as marking territory for wolves. Another mischief of rats won't enter my home because it's already claimed by a mischief and rats for the most part want to avoid conflict with rival gangs. Mice won't come into my house because rats are their natural predator. So in short I keep rats and mice out of my house by owning rats. It also works in my car. My car has a cut up patch of fleece I use in their cage and I never get mice in the winter trying to use my car as a place to bed down and stay warm. Unfortunately outside it does not work as well in barns but sheds where it stays dry. When the fleece gets wet too often the smell goes away and the mice start coming around. Once you have wild rats in the house to that degree it can be tricky but i know the smell of cedar chips and peppermint hurts their respiratory system. Mice and rats have very delicate respiratory systems and their noses are more sensitive than a dogs. Long exposure to either smell will eventually cause respiratory infections and kill them. Again it's easier to use that to prevent them from coming into the house, once they are there your best option is snap traps set up in their common travel ways. Poison isn't always the best with rats because of how they test new food so you would need an alarmingly strong poison to kill them, the same sort that could easily kill pets and small children as well. Rats only eat a small amount of new food to test if it will make them sick. If it makes them sick they will never eat it again and they will also communicate it to the rest of the mischief. They will know from the scent of the food item on their mouth so in order for poison to work it needs to be strong enough that even if they eat one bite it has to kill them. Snap traps will also work if you keep moving their locations. After a while if they stay in the same place rats learn they will kill them so they avoid them. You need to keep moving them around to different paths they commonly use. Often times if they are living in the walls chances are they are living in the attic for the main nest. Rats are social creatures and live in a pack called a mischief. Much like wolves it has a hierarchy and is comprised of a few males and several breeding females and their young. Mischeifs in New York are known to get over 100 members strong. As people have said they are very hard to get rid of at this point because rats are so smart. Some even argue smarter than dogs, I know my pet rats can out think any of my dogs without really trying. When it comes to getting rid of them your tactic has to constantly change to keep up with their learning curve and the learning curve is quick. My rats learn tricks that take my dogs weeks in just hours just to give an example.

 

[Corona Ranch]

There are only about 2-3 rats at a time because my house is pretty small and the dogs are pretty good at catching them whenever the rats do venture out. The rats aren't in every wall and ceiling but the ones they are residing in will most definitely have to be replaced. They made their way into the house late this past summer after some really heavy rains.
I haven't tried the cedar chips or anything to mess with their respiratory system, I think I will try that! Make them uncomfortable and draw them out and just let my dogs (or chickens) finish the job. The rats are quick learners and have learned that the food traps are not safe lol. Last time I had this issue I starved them out and started finding half eaten rats (they were cannibalizing) and one came out in broad daylight and was quickly picked off.

I'll keep trying with snap traps and start moving them around like LadyVictorian suggested.

Thank you! Please let me know if there is anything else that I can do. Calling an exterminator for 3 rats seems a bit much to me, but I will if I can't fix this issue soon.

 

[Lilki]

Poison's no good because they could die in your walls. I'd set traps. You can even get free ones from the county- at least you can here.

We had one die and get stuck somewhere above our bedroom. Nothing quite smells like rotting rodent. We were stuck with that smell for months.

 

[LadyVictorian]

Also the risk of pets getting into it, had to deal with my grandma's cat over that and he ate the new stuff that dries out your body. It was a nightmare and close to $1,000 vet bill too >.<

 

[aart]

There are only about 2-3 rats at a time because my house is pretty small and the dogs are pretty good at catching them whenever the rats do venture out. The rats aren't in every wall and ceiling but the ones they are residing in will most definitely have to be replaced. They made their way into the house late this past summer after some really heavy rains.
I haven't tried the cedar chips or anything to mess with their respiratory system, I think I will try that! Make them uncomfortable and draw them out and just let my dogs (or chickens) finish the job. The rats are quick learners and have learned that the food traps are not safe lol. Last time I had this issue I starved them out and started finding half eaten rats (they were cannibalizing) and one came out in broad daylight and was quickly picked off.

I'll keep trying with snap traps and start moving them around like LadyVictorian suggested.

Thank you! Please let me know if there is anything else that I can do. Calling an exterminator for 3 rats seems a bit much to me, but I will if I can't fix this issue soon.

Wonders how you know you have only 3 rats in your house?
Even if you do, just a few can turn into exponentially more pretty quickly.