Wild Rat Litter

[brierose3]

A few nights ago we discovered a litter of about 4 baby rats in our chicken coop as the mother was screeching quite loudly so we lifted a tile to find out what was making the noise. Last night our regular visitor a diamond python was lying across the tile and when it moved into the corner of the coop i checked to see if the rat family was still there. Sure enough the mother was feeding her babies so I put the tile back and put a brick on top of it, to make it more difficult for the snake to get to their tunnel, and left it for the night. this morning, the snake was gone (it always comes for one night then leaves to its hideout somewhere). I checked for the mother rat and she wasn't there and then again about seven hours later but still the same result. Im worried that the snake has got the mother while she was out looking for food and now the babies are abandoned. Is there any way to truely be sure she isn't there to look after them before they starve?

(and no we don't mind rats in our coop)

 

[res]

Why in the world would you want rats in your coop?

 

[Akrnaf2]

I think it's foolish thing to lat the rate lוving next the chickens because rodent are the main cause of salmonella in chickens! The microbe lוves in the rat's gut and pastes the chickens throw the droppings! Get reed of them A.S.A.P!

 

[brierose3]

Well what do you suggest I do to the rat pups?

And it's not that we want them in our coop we just don't have the heart to kill them. We used to own pet rats so I guess we are quite soft and i myself along with half of our family are vegetarian/vegan :/

 

[res]

Multiple ways to kill them - feed them to a dog or cat, heck, even my chickens will devour any mice/rat babies they find, put them in a bag in the freezer, drown them, step on them, move them several hundred feet away from the nest and leave them there, leave the tile off and let the snake eat them.....

I can't do a lot of those methods, but I know lots of people that can... Usually I rely on the cats, dogs, and chickens. Or I take them to my employer and he OD's them on anesthesia gas.

 

[matt44644]

Flush them ,fast quick and easy.

 

[Akrnaf2]

Well,I think that is a situation between the health of your's chickens and your's family health (if you eat the eggs) and the welfare of microbes bearing wild rat. Were is the question in this situation?
Did you know that the plague which killed 40% of Europe population in the 14 century arrived on infected rats from Asia?

 

[Halloweengirl13]

How old do they look? I have kept wild and domestic rats and mice as pets .including one that got loose in my coop. I don't much like killing them either , that seems to be everyone's response to rodents. Older babies can be put in an aquarium and fed moistened rat pellets , but before their eyes open its really hard to care for them. A medicine syringe and kitten formula might work. If you leave them in the coop your birds will probably eat them.

 

[brierose3]

They look atleast 6 days old from looking at other photos online. Their eyes are closed. Would a pet shop or vet take them on?