Rats!!!

I myself am an animal lover... I Hav-a-heart trap chipmunks and groundhogs all the time and release them in a wooded area on the other side of town to keep them from my vegi garden.  Saying that, Rats are a different story.  I once had a couple of rats in my shed and snap trapped them.  In reality they probably aren't more prone to disease than any other rodent but somehow they are different to me!  It's up to you here.  Buy a few very expensive hav-a-hearts and release the rats somewhere more appropriate (where are rats appropriate???) or a bunch of very cheap snap traps and dispose of them in the trash.

Saying that.. why don't people hate squirrels like they do rats?  Does a fuzzy tail really make THAT much of a difference???

Saying that.. why don't people hate squirrels like they do rats?  Does a fuzzy tail really make THAT much of a difference???


ANSWER : YES!

DO NOT release the rats anywhere! Why would you dump that problem on someone else? (That goes for any trapped animal, btw) If there are so many of them, your best option is poison. You can get bait stations that other animals can't get into. You can get poison that supposedly won't kill an animal that has eaten the poisoned rat. Another thought would be cement mix (Sacrete or some such thing) mixed in with chicken feed, placed where the chickens can't get at it. This method worked great for some friends of ours. Rats started disappearing within days.

Set up a couple open topped barrels about half full of water.  Drill 2 holes thru the rim of the opening, opposite each other, and stretch a piece of clothes hanger wire thru them, secured to the rim.   Hang a bait for the rats in the middle of the opening on the wire.  Lean a couple ramps from the ground to the rim of each barrel for easy rat access.   You're done!  the rats will travel up the ramp and try to reach the bait by crawling on the wire, they will fall into the barrel and drown.   No poisons used and no risk to pets (unless you free range hampsters) and inexpensive.

I have heard of this before.  Free range hampsters...that is funny.  Did that once, but not on purpose.

Hey I see you on here a lot with great ideas on how to get rid of things, thanks for all the wisdom btw. Any cool ideas on how to get rid of moles or other ground tunneling type things?

LOL!

So true!!! all about the tail

We use snap traps.  Poison is too dangerous and can so easily mess with the eco-system, and I couldn't drown them.  A snap seems much more human to me, albeit I have been in the unenviable position of having to kill a half-smashed, suffering rat before.