Continuing Rat Problem

[kamav]

We have tons of rats, tried poison, they don't eat it. We have 2 ratinator traps; they are like a maze. Put bait in the center and the rats go in, can;t get back out. Record so far, 54 between the 2 traps 2 weeks ago, but you have to drown them in a tray. This reduced the population some but still keep coming. Our local feed store recommended putting honey on the bait, will be trying that soon.

 

[Acre4Me]

No I have been advised against it because the poison gets in the rats which get eaten by our barn owls and other predators and the poison then becomes systemic. I also have four mousing cats. Do you think its OK to use it?

generally it is understood that the vast majority of poisoned mice/rats will die in their hole, so inaccessible to other animals/owls/etc.

In addition, as I’ve read, a mouse/rat eats the poison (a small amount), metabolizes it to whatever extent, then suffers the effect. So, an animal that eats the poisoned mouse/rat is getting a very small amount of metabolized poison, however, since the vast majority will die in their holes, it isn’t a huge concern.

A much bigger concern with poisoning is accidental poisoning such as the poison bait blocks being left out for any animal to sniff/taste/eat, or the mouse/rat taking it away to stash it for later, and the poison is found by another animal. While a cat/dog might not eat a poison block, maybe they would taste it. However, a chicken certainly would peck it and ingest poison. So, there are bait stations that allow the rodent to access the bait (and leave the station), but nothing else can access it. They sell rat sized bait stations, along with mouse sized ones.

As for poison preference by the rodents, some like one type, others like another type. So, people with rodent problems find success with one or another or they switch out the bait every few weeks between types/brands.

We’ve been using Tomcat brand poison (in bait stations) around the barn. We started to have mouse activity in the chicken run...not surprisingly under the area we hang their feeder. While they don’t bill out much food, and we try to keep that area clean, undoubtedly there are some feed pellets in that area. We also had some mice entering the barn due to the colder weather. We bought more bait stations and the poison brand “Just One Bite” that I’ve read about on BYC. Apparently this is a well liked poison as we’ve had to replace some of the poison already in less than a week. We’ve had success with the Tomcat brand, but figured we could switch between the two.

If you do a search in BYC, you can find much about rat poisons and other poster problems with rats. Quite often you will find that in order to actually eradicate rats, you must use poison. @Howard E has posted much good info and threads on rats. Maybe he can post a link.

 

[Folly's place]

In the country, I think it's actually easier to manage rodents, rather than in cities, with more close neighbors, more garbage outside, and more people feeding the 'wildlife' outdoors. Rats and humans do very well together, and have for a very long time.
I'd just prefer that they don't live in my space!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Sterilized rats wouldn't be welcome here either...
Mary

 

[WthrLady]

IF you don't, they get out of control SO fast! Two rats turn into too many too quickly!

A rat can breed at 5 weeks old. THey have 5-10 babies at a go. SO TWO rats can turn into 1200 in ONE YEAR! (babies having babies and so on)

 

[kerbotx]

I second the advice about the snap traps - bait them, but don't set them for a night or two, so the rats get comfortable around them. Then set the traps on a night when you can go out there & scare them! Do you have water in the coop? Set traps around it. Try different foods as bait - canned cat food or dog food, or place traps in a "plus sign" pattern, with chicken feed in the middle. But poison is probably your quickest, best bet. Good luck!

 

[tacothechicken]

I cant support poisen as were i live youd unintentionally kill off so many pets and wild animals by doing so our owls and dogs would be first. We have HUGE field rats that will kill birds in winter when it gets down to it! We control through A: owls as we have about 5 Gey's living on our block not counting our hawks and cats. I put out 5 gallon buckets for them to drown in, look for rat holes and clean out nests whith my dogs who enjoy the game and will checo the areas regularly preventing return, and let the cats sleep whith our chickens. Cats kill for fun and can take out multiple rodents in minutes, plus chickens and cats generally get along fine and are great at using team work to flush rodents. Hens can pulls a mouse from its hole by the tail and straight into the jaws of a cat. If you have that many rats though its become a colony and a colony uses "streets" figure out their path ways and kill off a few litters and they'll judge your flock a danger zone and work away from the coop eventually cutting them down through wild predators once more as your feed means they dont need to forage.

 

[Lizzy733]

Try bacon grease for bait. They can't seem to resist it here and it generally sticks around between trappings. Also, traps work best when set up along a path the rats are known to travel on - not where there is a food source to compete with the trap.
They are phobic of new things in their environment, so it may be a few weeks before you get a hit.
For snap traps, I would recommend wooden box tunnels with mesh on both ends - one that slides out to remove and reset the trap and one permanent side with a rat-sized hole in the bottom corner. If you have spare wood bits outdoors, use those to construct the box since they'll already be part of the environment.

 

[Acre4Me]

Have you tried poison yet?

still curious @Shanti Permaculture Farm if you have tried poison? If so, any success? If not, why not?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Hi Shanti permaculture farm. It looks like you bought one of my feeders off Ebay. Next time find our website and save some money. Ebay is expensive to sell on.

Howard has already asked if you followed the directions, exactly.... Good man. And it is key if you want the feeder to work.

First thing is to have it secured to a wall or post so that it doesn't move, we provide a rough wood block for that, screw the block to the wall, slip the feeder over the block and run a couple of screws in from the side to secure the feeder.

Next, that treadle HAS to bottom out on something. The ground, a block of wood buried in the ground, patio block, anything, so that the bird can stand on one leg and keep the treadle pushed down with the other leg and not be all wobbly.

Next, remove ALL feed. No free range, no snacks, clean out any deep litter if there is a ton of feed buried in the litter. You have to get the birds hungry, a few hours will do it, and one of them will figure it out if you follow our instructions to the very letter, nothing left out, nothing added. Once one bird knows how to use the feeder it will teach the others.

And most importantly, email me if you are having problems getting the birds to use the feeder. After selling many thousands of these things I know a bit about them. [email protected]. Send pictures from three sides so I can check your installation and see if the spring is installed correctly.