Is it a RAT???

[smk2010]

I just discovered last night that we "may" have rats. I thought it was mice again so I've been setting mouse traps at night near the holes and nothing. Yesterday I bought some new more human finger friendly traps and set them right after dark. Two hours later I went to go check them and one had been buried under a mound of dirt (a mound too big for a mouse to make) and the other had been tripped. Next to the tripped trap we found some large droppings that looked like huge mouse droppings. This may also explain the mysterious drop in egg production the last couple months. I thought the chickens were eating them or maybe a snake, but I rarely found egg shells or goo in the nests. If it is not rats what else could it be? Do rats leave/create huge mounds of dirt next to their holes? They remind me of the huge prairie dog mounds out west but these are in my chicken coop!!

 

[Judy]

Would help if you put your (general) location in your signature. Around here, mounds of dirt mean some sort of gopher or mole type critter.

Between the dogs and Just One Bite poison (harmless to whatever eats the dead rat) I haven't seen a sign of mouse/rat in quite a while. When we moved here about 4 years ago the place was full of them.

 

[smk2010]

Sorry - I live in Northern Virginia. We do have quite a few mole's around but I have never seen them leave huge mounds of dirt. Some of the holes are about the circumference of a toilet paper/paper towel roll or a little bit larger. Maybe I should try mole bate along with the mouse traps.

Where do you find the Just One Bite poison?

 

[rungirl]

I had something making noise in my my crawlspace and when I put mousetraps down there the traps would disappear, which really freaked me out! So I put poison chunks down there next and it would carry them off. A few days later there was a bad stink in the house when the heat went on. Husband had to retrieve the corpse out of the furnace and it turned out to be a MOLE! So yes, a mole will carry off the traps. I was kind of relieved it wasn't rats. But after that I stopped feeding the birds next to the house because the spilled seed was attracting the moles and then they'd burrow down to winter in my crawlspace!

 

[smk2010]

The disappearing mouse trap and bate would freak me out too - yikes. Glad it was just a mole. Hope that's all I have too!

 

[lleighmay]

Sounds like rats to me. They will definitely leave a mound at the entrance of a hole; I've seen them do it. Also, your description of the droppings is dead on for a rat. If you don't want to use poison buy rat traps- a mouse trap isn't big enough to take out a rat. You can try baiting it with peanut butter or bacon- make sure it's smeared on the bait pan so they have to work to lick it off. Good luck- I've kept rats for pets before but the wild ones give me the creeps.

 

[smk2010]

I've had them for pets too - they can be very affectionate

. Whatever it is did not seem the least interested in either the peanut butter or the canned dog food. The peanut butter and the canned dog food worked great for the mice last year. Guess I'll buy a rat trap and try that along with the mole bate. One of them will hopefully work!

 

[Judy]

I can buy Just One Bite at Ace or other local hardware and feed stores. The chemical is bromadiolone, in case you have a different brand. Think I've seen it at TSC, too, and wouldn't be surprised to see it at WalMart. I poke a little chunk of it just into those kinds of holes and cover the hole with a hunk of broken concrete block. Bait disappears in a day or two and the block hasn't moved.

 

[smk2010]

Thank you. I'll have to stop at TSC or the hardware store tonight and look for it.