Cornbread rat cure

[Al Gerhart]

My apologies, surely I must have been obtuse and didn't adequately explain things.

The article you linked to admitted that the potato flakes do nothing......

Then the two studies I linked to fed rats ONLY potato flakes for many weeks with zero ill effect. There was no other food available in these peer reviewed published studies.

If one goes to the expense of a tight coop, assuming that is what you intended to say when you wrote "a predator proof coop" what would the reason for putting out potato flakes? If you did, wouldn't the rats have other food to eat?

Please explain that since A) rats can survive eating only potato flakes and B) the potato flakes do them zero harm, what would be the purpose of putting out potato flakes?

 

[McChooky]

My apologies, surely I must have been obtuse and didn't adequately explain things.

The article you linked to admitted that the potato flakes do nothing......

Then the two studies I linked to fed rats ONLY potato flakes for many weeks with zero ill effect. There was no other food available in these peer reviewed published studies.

If one goes to the expense of a tight coop, assuming that is what you intended to say when you wrote "a predator proof coop" what would the reason for putting out potato flakes? If you did, wouldn't the rats have other food to eat?

Please explain that since A) rats can survive eating only potato flakes and B) the potato flakes do them zero harm, what would be the purpose of putting out potato flakes?

If you actually read my comments you would know I don't have rats.

 

[Al Gerhart]

When I moved in this place 10 yrs ago I inherited some rats so I fed them dry instant mashed potatoes (the cheapest I could find)Keeping a bowl of fresh clean water beside the bowl of potato flakes will encourage them to drink more water and cause the flakes to swell.I had a pest control employee give me this tip when we got rats at a guardhouse in Rural Hall NC.I never saw the first dead rat but they all disappeared

In this post you claimed you did have rats and said feeding them potato flakes killed them.

 

[McChooky]

In this post you claimed you did have rats and said feeding them potato flakes killed them.

We killed them at a guardhouse in 2008.

 

[McChooky]

The previous tenant had rats where I'm living but we got rid of them after I moved in.That was 10 years ago

 

[FunSally]

For more than a month now I have been using 50% Jiffy cornbread mix with 50% baking soda and a small handful of sugar mixed in, as recommended by a farmer who told me how to control rats. “Rats can’t burp a fart,” he said. I have scooped up 6 rats so far—2 dead and 4 barely alive. I have not seen a rat, either. But I know they are eating the mix because I see the excrement. Let them. They’ll die. I don’t like killing anything but I had to do something. The hens have half a garage and a run. I put the mix in the half of garage they cannot get to. It isn’t the greatest thing for your dog or cat to eat but it is NOT poison, and if an animal eats a dead rat, the ingested mix won’t kill the animal. I can’t think of a better way to do this. I still spray coop twice a week with a peppermint mix spray. It just smells so good! Photo: those are my barn cats. They find rats and mice distasteful and will stick to the occasional butterfly.

OMG! wish I heard of this when I had a rat problem in my coop several years ago! I will def use this as a deterrent from here on! Thank you!

 

[FunSally]

Oops. should have continued reading.... OK So What Gets Rids Of Rats Around Coops? For Real!!!!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Oops. should have continued reading.... OK So What Gets Rids Of Rats Around Coops? For Real!!!!

Quite the roller coaster ride, isn't is Sally?

What works, either a Fort Knox coop or you follow the sanitation method, stop feeding the rats, then they will leave.

Now, do me a favor, next time you hear some of these too good to be true methods of rat control, scream at them that it doesn't work.

 

[FunSally]

Quite the roller coaster ride, isn't is Sally?

What works, either a Fort Knox coop or you follow the sanitation method, stop feeding the rats, then they will leave.

Now, do me a favor, next time you hear some of these too good to be true methods of rat control, scream at them that it doesn't work.

the thing is ... I do have a fort knox run / coop. the only the I do not do is bring in food at night. Never had to for 15 years! I only had issues with rats since covid... when many restaurants shut down. I am so far from any restaurants or any kind of stores... I am in a very forestry area.. HOW TO REPEL RATS!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Okay, forgive me because i missed something and I need help understanding.

If you have a Fort Knox coop, rats cannot get into the coop, how is this a problem?

BTW, bringing food inside at night does help stop feed theft at night but rats will happily eat during the day.

You don't repel rats, you stop attracting them by no longer feeding them. You have read about the three methods of rodent control advocated by Howard E., correct?