Maine

[buckabucka]

 
So sorry for your loss, striperron  It sucks to lose them even harder if it's a favorite!

Still battling the rats! Rats 2, Me 0...Traps sprung 2 nights in a row. Used peanut butter mixed w/birdseed, then just peanut butter. Using bread tonight. I've gotta get some peanutbutter cups.

Scored a 5 gallon pail of veggies

I had some giant rat problems last summer/fall. Rat traps (zappers or neck snappers) didn't work. I had success with: drowning buckets, small/medium Have a Heart traps and just plain going outside with a .22 and shooting them at dusk/dawn and even during the day when they'd wake to steal duck food. We also did one of those sulfide gas bombs and then shot what ran out. After we did that (and shot/drowned a few) the rat colony moved on to greener pastures. Good luck.
Oh, and I also put out a game cam so that I could figure out where they were coming from/going to so I knew where to shoot from.

Funny, I thought we were the only ones aiming the game cam at the rats!
I think ours might be dead. They dragged off so much poison. We only caught one mouse in the rat zapper outdoors, and then we moved the coop. I haven't seen any new tunnels in the compost or elsewhere.

We did hear a mouse in the house, and zapped one in the closet and one in the basement.

 

[lazy gardener]

2 days ago, I was sitting at the computer, and heard rustling noises in a basket on the microwave beside me. I looked up to see a mouse, helping himself to some chocolate. I was not able to move fast enough to get something thrown over the basket. He set the trap off the next night. Evil creatures. I hate the thought of him on my counters. Will pick up some more traps and other mouse goodies today. My other cat wouldn't have allowed this sorry state of affairs to occur! May he RIP.

 

[Marcy54]

MY dachshunds are good killers of mice and rats. They also hate the smell of mint. I soak cotton balls in mint essential oil and put them in the cupboards. It really does work. If you put mint oil or mint leaves I the walls of old houses, it will keep them away.

 

[lazy gardener]

Marcy, I thought you were saying that your Dashshunds hated the smell of mint! Now, I follow you. Perhaps, I'll grow lots of mint and hang it in the new coop next summer.

So, tell me about your flock???

 

[Marcy54]

I just re read my note, I can see where it might be confusing.

I have seven wyandottes, six gold, 2 silver, and a RIR rooster. They are a little over six months and just now starting to lay. I have received about 10 eggs in as many days from two chicks. I usually only get one egg a day. It's like they nudge each other and say, go ahead, I'll get us tomorrow. The mint was an old trick my great grandmother had. She kept chicks too.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Funny, I thought we were the only ones aiming the game cam at the rats!

I am fairly certain I've never used my game cam for its intended purpose.

 

[lazy gardener]

SCG, have you ever caught a rat in the PB bucket??

 

[superchemicalgirl]

SCG, have you ever caught a rat in the PB bucket??

Yes, ma'am. Small ones though, not big ones. I used a 20 oz soda bottle, some lubed up wire through it and peanut butter smeared on the edge. The bigger rats can stretch out real good and not fall in (or jump back out) but the smaller rats drown. I had my best luck with the water buckets for small rats and the have a hearts for the larger rats along with a regimen of sitting on the front stoop with a .22 and shooting them.

I also made a weasel trap (caveat: I have my trapping license) that I'd be interested to try out on rats, now. The rats that I had were incredibly smart and very suspicious. I never once caught them in an actual rat snap trap. They figured out how to flip the trap and have it snap and then eat the food. They also figured out how to unset the have a heart and eat the bait by reaching in between the wires. I ended up having to wire tie the food dish down so they couldn't get at it easily. They'd still unset the trap and flip it but it wasn't as rewarding.

I hate rats.

I also bludgeoned one to death with a shovel one day when I came (unexpectedly) face to face with it while cleaning the duck house. I was sobbing/screaming the entire time but glad I was "armed."

 

[Cknldy]

Leftover rice tidbits with a bit of velveeta cheese (from the mac-n-liquid cheese pack) worked here for field mice and voles after they learned to avoid peanut butter. We've never left open the under-the-house door for any stray cats to get to the mice so mice/voles learned to just squeeze in next to the dryer vent hose from under the house. Snazzy modern traps have never worked here so outdated wood snappers get hidden. Hope everyone finds a happy medium during cold weather!

 

[CoopChick719]

Yup Rats 3, Me 0. I'm making a bucket trap tomorrow. I haven't seen the little bahstids to shoot them but the 22's are ready to go. I may just have to sit in the garage with a window open this weekend.

The dogs found a dead one last week. Pretty sure a neighborhood cat got that one. Saw him stalking something today behind the coop. Thank you Mr. Gold & White kitty!!