How to Build a Better Mouse Trap?

[speedy2020]

I tried various traps and include home made bucket trap. The best would be Snap-E rat trap. It work well very to control the rat population. I didn't feel safe enough so never try poison.

 

[Katz5617]

Well we have two rat baiters that we made from the plans above. We have a bait trap that is enclosed and safe to put in the chicken yard or out with the dog. We have two Tom Cat regular rat traps, we have D-con in the storage house and we have the zap trap. This morning we had our first dead rat - he was zapped and he was inside the run so they are still burrowing in - they must have burrowed 6 feet - we have concrete now two feet around the perimeter and hardware cloth two feet on the inside and they burrowed up under and past the wire. The chickens are in the coop at night so we put the zapper in the yard. One down and a legion of rats to go.

 

[yaldnif]

I was planning on burying hardware cloth under the coop and immediate run. Also going to use it for the fencing. Has anyone had theirs buried for years and how does it hold up? I was thinking of spraying with rust-oleum before burying it so it wouldn't rust and fail?

 

[Katz5617]

I can't say how long the hardware cloth will last buried - we just built our coop and run this year and actually we didn't bury the hardware cloth for rats, but we have a Great Pyrenees so we buries it around the exterior perimeter and staked it down with 18" tent stakes so that he couldn't pull it up and as a just in case - if he did manage to get it up, we laid another two feet around the interior so if he got it. We have since concreted a two foot pad around the exterior and quick creted around the interior of the fence over the hardware cloth and we still had rats burrow probably a good six feet or more - they started on the far side of the concrete and burrowed well beyond the two feet inside to come up somewhere close to the middle of the run. I would have never thought rats would be that determined but apparently they are - but the hardware cloth is holding - they just go beyond it. We're at war right now with the rats.

 

[enola]

For those of us that don't know, what poison baits should chicken owners NOT use?

 

[Katz5617]

Well this morning brought rat number two in the zapper. With all the woods behind the house can't tell if the bait is working - sure hope so - but we have now gotten a rat two nights in a row in the zapper. This morning I will wipe it down with some vinegar and let it air out before rebaiting for tonight. At first I was using peanut butter as bait and didn't get anything - now I am putting in a sliver of apple with peanut butter and it seems to be working.

 

[ChristieB]

I've had rats in my house!! Traps caught nothing, was on the verge of burning the house down, instead I got a cat someone had posted for giveaway on facebook and that night she got one, couple days later she got another, haven't seen anything since, still have evidence of them but they have gone into deep hiding now there's a predator on the loose, I've put out live traps with poison in them, and snap traps but they've got nothing, rats are too smart, mice not so much, I get a mouse everytime I set a trap lol

 

[Katz5617]

I'm like American Sniper now - I have five confirmed kills. I hope there are more that crossed the fence and died in the woods behind the house. Since I am baiting using the PVC pipe plan that my husband built per instructions on this thread I am checking the run each morning before I let the chickens out of the coop to make sure the girls don't get to a poisoned rat and I don't let the dog into the big yard until I check it for any of the dead vermin. I keep him confined in the fenced in patio area during the night now and prior to checking the yard. This morning I had one small, one medium and one full grown rat in the yard. We have dispatched two in the zapper trap but none in that for the past two nights. My husband is also going out each night and checking and takes the BB gun in case he sees any. We continue our war with the rats. Each evening around 5 I bring in all food that is left and if there is any spillage on the ground I rake it up and put it into a galvanized trash can that is now storing the compost. All bags of food are now in galvanized cans and we have bait inside the storage house in case any try to get in. It will be a long time before I am comfortable going out to the coop and run at night.

 

[RonP]

Keep the bait station baited.

Once the baits stops disappearing, for 2 or 3 weeks, you probably have the situation under control.

Do not stop!

They will be back.

You need to be vigilant, or they will establish another colony.

 

[Katz5617]

Thanks RonP - I told my husband what you said - we will keep the bait traps out. They seem to be what is working best. I hope there are more casualties that made it back into the woods. I know that the habitat is right for their breeding and there are plenty of places for them to hide and nest. We've told our nephew about the rats since his yard connects to ours on one corner. He is all the time cleaning fish and leaving the heads and just in the woods behind our fence - we have asked him to please dispose of them in the trash and he is going to put rat bait in his shed and where he cleans the fish as well. These are just disgusting creatures and I will only go to the coop and run during the daylight hours now when I can see. My husband is having to go out at night and close the coop and check on the chickens. Until I am confident they are gone I won't be going back out at night.