Is this a rat?

[iwiw60]

Update: It's still out there and I still can't kill it. This is soooo frustrating. I reopened the chicken pen to let them back in and put their waterer in there but I'm not filling the feeders because I don't want to attract MF in there. So I have to go out twice a day to feed the chickens. I really want this taken care of before winter sets in.

I've used 11 bags of gravel to fill the tunnels and he still comes at night to re-dig them. The people at Home Depot are starting to talk about my gravel purchases.

I was thinking today how I can't set traps inside the barn/pasture because of my livestock, but maybe I should try setting them outside the pasture. I hate to think what I might get though. I'll probably have to deal with skunks and coons then. I don't know what else to do, I feel like I've tried everything.

Does the MF re-dig a certain tunnel back open each time you fill it? If so, you might need to do an "all-nighter", just sitting there...waiting...with a shotgun. Why a shotgun? Because in the craziness of the moment you see him come up you can just aim and shoot quickly and you'll know you've got him. Just thinkin'

 

[DoubletakeFarm]

Yes, it's the same tunnel each time.

Quote:

I've actually considered doing this. I was thinking 22, but you're right, a shotgun might be better. I also thought about an all nighter with my dog, but the problem with my dog is that he is too much of a killer. Rat, snake, groundhog, chicken, goose, they're all the same to him and he will kill anything he can get to.

Two reasons I haven't spent the night out there armed: my geese would have to be penned up somewhere else because they wouldn't stay away from me. Geese are crazy. I could probably pen them somewhere in the pasture away from the barn but I don't know if they would honk all night if I did that, and they are very loud.

Also, Me+Gun+MF+Dark=bad things happening. I don't want to be on the list of Darwin Awards.

I also thought about putting an ad on Craigslist for someone to come kill it. They could bring their dog, cat, gun, whatever, I don't care. $50 for a body. Could you just imagine the crazies I would get though? I asked a girl at work if I could borrow her barn cat and she just laughed at me.

*Sigh* All this for some stupid little critter that won't go away.

 

[aart]

Can't remember and too lazy to go back and reread....but wasn't a game cam going to be set up?
Maybe you need bigger 'gravel'...what kind did you use?

Not sure if flooding is an option but......

Reminds me of the woodchuck I battled with digging in my pond filter pit and under the spa slab adjacent to it last summer.
I flooded and refilled the hole....several times....LB!!!(little b@stard)......it was too sly to get a shot at it out the window.
Never did get it. When I broke down the filter for winter I filled the pit with welded wire fence pieces. Saw onei out by the brush pile this spring and got off a couple shots at it, not sure if I killed it or not...but my standard poodle killed and brought me a juvenile GH near another shed early this summer. Varmints can drive ya nuts!

 

[Outpost JWB]

Have you tried a Have a Heart trap? We have spent nights out at the coop with the shotgun as suggested by IWIW

! Good luck. We are all on the edge of our seats about you getting rid of the pest. I think we all may have our own little MF elimination party when you finally get rid of it!!

 

[Suzierd]

Update: It's still out there and I still can't kill it.  This is soooo frustrating.  I reopened the chicken pen to let them back in and put their waterer in there but I'm not filling the feeders because I don't want to attract MF in there.  So I have to go out twice a day to feed the chickens.  I really want this taken care of before winter sets in.

I've used 11 bags of gravel to fill the tunnels and he still comes at night to re-dig them.  The people at Home Depot are starting to talk about my gravel purchases.

I was thinking today how I can't set traps inside the barn/pasture because of my livestock, but maybe I should try setting them outside the pasture.  I hate to think what I might get though.  I'll probably have to deal with skunks and coons then.  I don't know what else to do, I feel like I've tried everything.

If your talking about live traps get the squirrel size you won't catch a coon or skunk that way. If its a rat I would use the bait station with the one bite on it so it can't be removed once you find it dead you can remove it. You have to leave it a few days before a rat will go in it they don't like anything new.

 

[RodinBigD]

If he is digging gravel out of the same tunnel. Maybe buying a bag a concrete and mixing it real soupy. Fill that tunnel up gravel and all.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Have you tried a gopher/vole/mole trap? You could put a bucket over it and I don't think it would be dangerous to anything not in the ground.

One of these things:

 

[Busy Hatcher]

I have not tried this myself but have heard it works great. Mix powdered Fast Set (a drywall or wallboard compound) with dry oatmeal and place in a dish. Make sure there is enough for a larger animal to eat all he wants. Then just wait. If they eat it it should kill them quickly as the oatmeal will soak up the animals water content and the Fast Set will harden in the stomach, throat and gut. When used on mice they never get more than 5 feet from the bowl before they die. I don't know that it will work on this animal but it is worth a try. Get the fastest acting Fast set you can find. Five minute should keep him close so you can find him. Hope you catch him.

 

[lalaland]

just found your thread.

I have a rat problem under the porch....last year crawled on hands and knees laying down hardware cloth and stapling it to the deck edge, going out 3 feet on the ground. Pointless! little mfs just tunnel under it anyway. I can hear the buggers chewing, and they don't care what I do - pouring ammonia, etc thru the decking.

Got a rat zapper - it electrocutes the buggers. Have caught 2 baby rats so far, but nothing big. The wooden traps worked on one rat, but...nothing since. Pain to set etc because I have to do the box thing so birds don't get caught.

 

[canesisters]

I don't know if this will help - and I haven't read the whole thread to see if this had been discussed or not ...

A couple of years ago I had rats in my barn. They were eating the dribbled horse's feed. At first I was all 'live and let live' - they were, after all, cleaning up... Then I found rat poo INSIDE the feeders. Shortly after that they chewed a hole in the bottom of the feeder so it fell out faster without them having to bother to climb in.
I didn't want to use poison because of the dogs and cats around the barn. So I tried dozens of crazy ideas that I found online.
1. moth balls down the holes - nearly gassed the horses to death
2. gold fish gravel down the holes (won't pack, traps them) - the decorated the barn with it
3. glue traps tucked up under the feeder - had to shave them off of the horse
4. glue traps shoved down the hole - had to shave them off the horse again... ?
5. spring traps - nearly lost a finger - had to remove from horse's tail
and on, and on, and on.

Finally someone reminded me that the rat will only eat enough poison to kill a rat - they will die before they consume enough to kill a lab.....
...... lightbulb moment...
I poured a little Decon down each hole and backfilled them.
Have not seen another rat or hole since.