Need Help Trapping Rats, Please

[leadwolf1]

Never realized killing rats was so difficult. One shotgun, One shot, One of them gone. NEXT

Unfortunately, not everyone lives where they can use a shotgun.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

True. But she said she had pigs which led me to believe she didn't live in a subdivision

 

[leadwolf1]

True. But she said she had pigs which led me to believe she didn't live in a subdivision

Maybe she's not a good shot and afraid she will hit said pigs

 

[redhen]

That would be a real concern...

 

[sourland]

That would be a real concern...

Finaly, Hammie will become barbeque and bacon.

 

[canesisters]

I vote for poison. I had a rat problem in my barn and tried for a year to get them without poison - because I was afraid of hurting my barn cat. I tried filling the holes with mothballs and packing dirt in them, they pushed the dirt and the balls out. I tried filling the holes with fish tank gravel (won't pack, animal gets trapped, dies in hole), they used it to decorate around their holes. I tried glue traps, had to shave one off of the horse's rump - and the rest went untouched until they got so dusty they were useless. I tried shoving the glue traps down the holes and packing dirt back down the holes, they shoved them back out... and I had to cut a hunk out of the horse's tail. Finally I dumped some poison down the holes and packed dirt back in the holes. I haven't seen evidence of a rat since.
Someone pointed out that the rat will only eat enough to kill itself. Another animal will have to consume the entire rat to even get that small dose. And they'd have to consume several entire rats - in one feeding - to get enough poison to do damage.

Also, unless you're a really, really good shot, don't bother with a gun. Rats are wicked fast and it's really pretty amazing how much ventilation you can instantly install in your barn walls with just a couple of missed shots.......

 

[Jubilee1111]

Canesisters, I know it wasn't fun for you or the horse but I did get a little giggle out how often the horse ended up with glue traps stuck to it.

What about those bucket or trash can traps? For rats, I think you would need the trash can, five gallon bucket for mice. Make a ramp on the outside so the rat can climb up and get into the trash can. Fill it half way full of water and put in a layer of sunflower seeds so it looks like a can full of of it. They float so the rats can't see the water. They jump in to eat the seeds and drown. Not a fun way to die but it has to be better than death by poison.

 

[canesisters]

Give it a try. Personally, I think that I might find myself having a 'horror movie' moment as I tried to work up enough courage to lean over the top of the can and see if there was anything floating in those seeds...

I don't know if the poison causes pain.. It works by making their capillaries leak, so they bleed internally. Wonder if that would just feel like being really anemic - tired, sleepy, weak....?

Yeah, poor old Gail (the horse). She is 32 this year and is pretty clueless about most thing going on around her anymore. She dribbles ALOT of feed and at first, I was ok with the rat(s). I figured that I'd just as soon let something eat all that feed on the floor of her stall as sweep it up and throw it away. Then they chewed a little hole in the bottom of the feeder - not cool - getting greedy.. The last straw though was the night when I found rat poo IN her feeder. I had been willing to share.. I had been tolerant... but they weren't even going to give her a chance to eat in peace?!?!?!?!

 

[leadwolf1]

My husband says drowning is peaceful..once you take the first breath of water. He was resuscitated when younger and remembers it well.

 

[War Chicken]

What is dead may never die.