Rats Rats And More Rats

I would swear that the jack Russell across the street is the dumbest one ever! But then again his owners made her that way. They ruin more dogs!
I think we finally got the rats under control using several methods at once...the p.o.p. and sugar was never touched unfortunately, so we moved on to traps and poison. The traps were sprung but never caught a single rat. The poison was put far out of reach of the chickens and near to the point of entry tunnels, after several days we found a dead rat under the back steps. We also dug up about 30 inches in front of the coop in the run ( where they were tunneling into) and 10 deep. We laid hardware cloth down and attached it to the rail ties that our coop sits on. We have not seen another tunnel since! I am hopeful, but.cautious. The rats could come around the sides and tunnel in but that also has hardware cloth buried and they are sneaky and don't really like to be found out. My fingers are crossed

Won't touch rat poison - one fellow I knew put out some rat poison in their sub-basement. Rat managed to crawl into area where his wife's small dog was and the small dog was poisoned and died at the vet's. A good deal of long term misery at that household for a good while. Problem with poisons is that the unintended targets often get it - to me,,, just not worth the risk; use other methods more direct and non-toxic for non-target animals.

bayareapilot said:

Won't touch rat poison - one fellow I knew put out some rat poison in their sub-basement. Rat managed to crawl into area where his wife's small dog was and the small dog was poisoned and died at the vet's. A good deal of long term misery at that household for a good while. Problem with poisons is that the unintended targets often get it - to me,,, just not worth the risk; use other methods more direct and non-toxic for non-target animals.

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TOTALLY AGREE. Unintended victims so much of the time, and an utterly grizzly way to go. The only thing that really works long term is rat proofing coops with hardware cloth at any possible opening. Once that is done, never again does one have to worry about rats. In the meantime of course, keeping food locked up tight at night... JJ

Seeing as rats have been known to chew through steel drainage pipes, I'm doubting rat proofing a coop is even possible. If they are hungry enough, they will find a way.

Beekissed said:

Seeing as rats have been known to chew through steel drainage pipes, I'm doubting rat proofing a coop is even possible. If they are hungry enough, they will find a way.

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jjthink said:

TOTALLY AGREE. Unintended victims so much of the time, and an utterly grizzly way to go. The only thing that really works long term is rat proofing coops with hardware cloth at any possible opening. Once that is done, never again does one have to worry about rats. In the meantime of course, keeping food locked up tight at night... JJ

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I don't think total rat proofing is possible if the infestation is bad enough. Recently, the large, dense forest across the road from me was cleared (deforested) by it owners for its timber.

This resulted in an onslaught of rats to my home and barns. Nothing stopped them & they were numerous and were quickly very destructive. I reluctantly purchased poison blocks and was careful in how and where I put them. Also, the poison I used is supposed to have a low risk of causing secondary kills/ poisoning (although one never knows).

FWIW, I am posting a link to the poison I purchased: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/terad3-blox-p-1283.html -- so far, so good for me.

I placed the blocks in boxes with holes in out-of-the-reach places and clamped down the blocks too.

Normally, I am against using such poisons for all the reasons cited & I have five dogs and a cat, BUT I thought the rats would chew into the electrical in house (they made their way into the crawl spaces, attic, etc.) and cause a fire. They actually chewed those hard plastic feed cups you mount on the chicken cages (to where I could not mount them -- and in one night!). I started bringing in the cups. I still caught sight of a rat the other night in one of the coops -- it ran up the roosts with the chickens -- going through them to escape me.

I'd always accepted a certain level of mice infestation which the cat took care of in the house and mudroom. In the barns and coops, the chickens catch and eat mice, and I allowed the rat snakes to stay. Occasionally, I'd set a bunch of traps, set the water buckets out with the turn wheel. The rats were different and overwhelmed me though. I will always listen to alternatives to poison but at this point, I have none.