Dealing with rats

[Ladies-Eight]

I am unfortunately still encountering rats.
They haven't eaten much of the poison for months, even though it is still out there, and I am still seeing multiple rats in the yard on a daily basis. The population decreased when they were eating the poison, but now it appears to have increased again. Any ideas on how to get them to eat the poison?

Put the poison in peanut butter. They seem to love it.

 

[rehdancer]

Bottom line is that they're around because there's something in it for them - like food & shelter & a certain amount of safety for raising young. Eliminate those things and they'll find another place to be. Look for a local animal shelter or rescue who either has or can direct you to a feral cat population. These rescues (typically) spay/neuter the cats then release them back to their colony. If you rescue such a colony, or even a couple of them they will eliminate your rat population. However, you will of course have to not use poison and wait a bit until the poison is out of the systems of existing rats, who may have gotten sick but not died.

 

[Howard E]

If rats are still present, and bait is out and they are not eating it.....it means they are still able to find and eat something else.....like the chicken's feed. If they were starving, they would eat the bait and die or else move on to somewhere else.

Sanitation, exclusion and elimination........and in that order.

So sanitation (eliminate food for them to survive on), exclusion..........and when those are in place, you can focus on elimination of the stragglers.

Mistake most folks make is to go straight to elimination. That is a tough one and almost never effective on it's own.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/rat-control-the-video-series.1337456/

 

[Acre4Me]

Bottom line is that they're around because there's something in it for them - like food & shelter & a certain amount of safety for raising young. Eliminate those things and they'll find another place to be. Look for a local animal shelter or rescue who either has or can direct you to a feral cat population. These rescues (typically) spay/neuter the cats then release them back to their colony. If you rescue such a colony, or even a couple of them they will eliminate your rat population. However, you will of course have to not use poison and wait a bit until the poison is out of the systems of existing rats, who may have gotten sick but not died.

some rescues won’t adopt out if you mention that the cat won’t live inside your home...even if they are overrun with cats (as most are). We wanted to adopt a cat for the barn (with heated workshop), and would spay/neuter, vet care, food, bed, warm area....but were actually told by many “the cat must live in your home”, or “we’ll need to discuss your request with the board”... yes, we could have lied, but we wanted a cat that would take to the outdoors or was already used to the outdoors. Finally found a kitten at a shelter that was ok with our plan and she has turned into a good “shop kitty” that likes being outdoors and kills the occasional rodent. She gets regular care, vaccinations, etc. but, not as easy as one would think to adopt a cat for the barn.

rats: gotta remove their food and shelter options @Howard E is correct!

 

[cmom]

I am unfortunately still encountering rats.
They haven't eaten much of the poison for months, even though it is still out there, and I am still seeing multiple rats in the yard on a daily basis. The population decreased when they were eating the poison, but now it appears to have increased again. Any ideas on how to get them to eat the poison?

I know I have already posted this previously. They probably are nesting somewhere near by. I had a coop that was infested. After I renovated it the rats lost their places to build nests. Are you sure it's the rats? My baits were disappearing so I put up a game camera. This is what I found and they are immune to rat bait.

 

[rehdancer]

You are absolutely correct about the rescues - I volunteer at our local Humane Society and we do not adopt out cats as barn cats or outside cats UNLESS they come to us as outside cats. That's why I specified feral cats. Feral cats are not happy as indoor cats but are extremely useful (at least around here) for rodent control and are well cared-for as such, to the degree of heated shelters in the winter, which is more than the livestock get !!

 

[aart]

.....and there are 'barn cat' programs around.

 

[Acre4Me]

.....and there are 'barn cat' programs around.

Not here, unfortunately.

a friend trapped (in a pet carrier) a barn cat for us, but it escaped (possibly a young child was involved?) and they were unable to catch it again (so probably a quick learner, too).

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

some rescues won’t adopt out if you mention that the cat won’t live inside your home...even if they are overrun with cats (as most are). We wanted to adopt a cat for the barn (with heated workshop), and would spay/neuter, vet care, food, bed, warm area....but were actually told by many “the cat must live in your home”, or “we’ll need to discuss your request with the board”... yes, we could have lied, but we wanted a cat that would take to the outdoors or was already used to the outdoors. Finally found a kitten at a shelter that was ok with our plan and she has turned into a good “shop kitty” that likes being outdoors and kills the occasional rodent. She gets regular care, vaccinations, etc. but, not as easy as one would think to adopt a cat for the barn.

rats: gotta remove their food and shelter options @Howard E is correct!

I've got over 50 cats come to Iowa and I'll load them up for you. (We live by a popular lake and people dump there animals here.) We have a dairy farm, and you guessed it where there is milk there are cats.

 

[Howard E]

Another place to look for cats is Craigslist. If you don't see what you want, ask.

There are free or nearly free cats everywhere. All over the place, sombodies momma cat is having 4 or 5 kittens that nobody wants. Ask and you may well get them.

Place I live now came with 4 barn cats......all males.....all from the same litter. All were fixed, had their shots, etc. When we moved in, one moved out to the neighbors barn and was causing trouble over there. Would simply not stay here any longer. Shelters refused to take it so I suggested they shoot it and they did. The other 3 stayed put, and while it took some time before they warmed up to me, they eventually all did. I have no rats or mice in the barn. I do get coons coming in for the cat food. Not sure how these cats have avoided the neighborhood coyotes, but they somehow they have. Either very good or very lucky.