Oh No!!!!! Wolf Rat on the loose!

[MatthewsHomestead]

We did the walk through today.... Only two spots they can possibly get in through and only one we can fix... So fix we did.... The other is the garage door to the basement. We don't have the budget for that until later on in the year maybe.... So we have it like fort Knox all around it. Traps, poison, even coated around the top areas with Vaseline to make it too slick so they would have to go through our "mine field".

 

[nminusyplusm]

We did the walk through today.... Only two spots they can possibly get in through and only one we can fix... So fix we did.... The other is the garage door to the basement. We don't have the budget for that until later on in the year maybe.... So we have it like fort Knox all around it. Traps, poison, even coated around the top areas with Vaseline to make it too slick so they would have to go through our "mine field".

Is the problem a gap? There's no way to screw something like this around one side of it?

 

[Howard E]

To the OP.......your ability to trap rats as big as these is impressive. What traps are you using to pull it off?

Also....on your basement garage door.......not sure what the condition is that allows them to continue using it for entry, but ugly is as ugly does.

Do try to find a way to patch it or do something to seal it up. Cover holes with hardware cloth, screw sheet metal or some type of metal to the bottom, whatever. No half measures!!!

 

[Howard E]

Also, spoke to a pest guy the other day......one who knows his rats.....and he never uses poisons inside a home, as it is certain to kill those living in there and about 4 to 7 days later, the home takes on the stench of death as the deadn's start to decompose.

So goal is to block entry into the home via rat proofing, then trap out those left stranded inside the home. At the same time find their harborage outside the home and leave poison bait blocks there....so when they die, they die in their outside tunnels where nobody cares what the smell like. If need be, he sets up feed stations far away from the home to draw them away from it. Once their attention and focus has moved way out there......then, and only then, does he replace the feed with the poison bait blocks.

So in addition to all else going on inside, take a good look around outside your home and try to find where the main colony hangs out. That then becomes your focus for future efforts.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

With the door it's along the top. The whole thing would have to be replaced track and all. As for traps, we just have regular large *mouse traps" but for rats. We bait it with a dab of peanut butter squished with some bread. Just enough to draw them to the trigger. Really wish I had taken a pic before hunny disposed of it. It seems like we only had a few though as there were no new droppings last night, no poison gone, no scurrying above our heads last night.... Crossing my fingers it was the last one.

 

[kwhites634]

That's a brown rat aka Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), they range from brown to grey and some get a bit bigger than that too. I'm guessing based on the pink shovel that that rat's body is about 8" long which isn't unusual.

I had a favorite rat named Virgil whose body was 10" long, he was a big guy, friendly and smart, knew his name, would respond to it when called and used to snuggle in my hair.

If I ever see one, I'll name it "Winchester"; maybe "Savage"

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

We are pretty certain our large building. They can get under the floor easy, plus we've seen a few holes. Never thought about setting food out away from home and then poisoning.... I'm going to talk to my hunny about that one.

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

Oh joy, now we have a broad winged hawk on our light pole..... Smh

 

[Howard E]

With the door it's along the top. The whole thing would have to be replaced track and all.

Not sure what that means......"along the top"......but whatever the case, I strongly urge you to find a way to block that off. Tack hardware cloth, metal flashing....something or anything over whatever it is that allows any form of entry. Do this even if butt ugly and temporary until you can come back to fix it right. Again, I don't know the condition you are describing is, but your response to this is what I refer to when I mention "half measures". You have to assume that if there is a potential entry point that allows them to come and go, they will use it. So..........problem continues. We know you don't want that, so again, please do try to find a way to get that blocked off. Somehow, someway. NO EXCUSES!!!!

On the traps, I showed the pest guy my plans for the Big Hammer rat trap. He was only mildly interested........more like amused. His prediction was that while certainly big enough and powerful enough to kill any rat going, it would not work for more than one or two rats. Said with wooden traps of this type, when the trap kills a rat or mouse it is his belief that the dead animal leaves a scent behind.....blood, or whatever, but something the others can detect and thus avoid. So one trap might kill one or two, then stops working. But replace it with a new trap........and it might also catch one or two more. Something to try?

 

[MatthewsHomestead]

We always just throw the whole thing away and put out a new one.