Rat infestation-What to do?

[sandypaws]

yeah the traps.. they get wary of.. i have to not use them for a couple month,, then reset them with a different bait... someone said gummybears??? i will have to try that...

 

[cwc362]

Quote:
One time we had a large colony under our Barn/shed where all my young chickens were brooded and we kept all the feed and stuff. They had so many tunnels under the shed that some of the post were starting to sink in the ground and make the roof sag.
It got down below zero and wouldn't you know the electricity went off. I had about a hundred few day old chicks out there with no heat light to keep them warm. So I had to stay up all night carrying Hot coals in our cast iron dutch oven and hot water bottles back and forth to keep them from freezing.

While I was running back and forth I had a brainstorm. I got out the water hose and ran it out to the barn. I stuck it down in one of those tunnels and turned it on full blast. It took a while but finally all those tunnels started filling up wet rats started running out every few minutes- BUT when they came out and took out across the yard - They ran for about 10 or 15 feet very fast and then they started slowing down and in a few more feet they just stopped - frozen.

If you have a very cold day and warm clothes You might try it out if you have a hose that will reach some of the holes. Then you might be able to come back with poison to take care of the survivors.

Wayne

Ps forgot you said you didn't want to use poison-- My uncle always kept and little wire -haired terriers and rat terriers to control rats. They could kill a lot of rats in a short period of time.

Oh and another thing I forgot- The spring after I drowned and froze out the rat colony - We got a chicken snake in the barn and we didn't kill this one. He became pretty tame and never bothered us and the rats didn't come back once the chicken snake moved in. I am as scared of snakes as most people but after a while when I saw that he wasn't going to attack me when I went in the barn , I relaxed but I always look before I put my hand in a nest or into a bag or behind something!!! They will eat an egg or even a chick if you don't have them secure. But an egg every once in a while is a small price to pay for no rats.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Here is the bait station we use on our farm. We place them along the edges of our barns where rats and mice run. Since the baits are held in place with metal rods the rats can not remove the bait except in their mouths or stomachs.

Having the baits in the station prevent consumption by non-target species.

Jim

Tomcat Rat Bait Station

 

[Orpingtonman]

Take a mason jar lid and put a piece of bubble gum on it with peanut butter on top as an attractant. It has to be a good size piece of gum like hubba bubba or big league chew roled up in a dime size piece. Once they get the gum in their mouth, they can spit it out again. They will die within days and it's not poisonous to anyone or anything. Ive used this time and time again on gophers,moles and rats and it works like a charm.

 

[jjthink]

Anything you can do to rat proof your coop will help. Once we put hardware cloth over places they were getting in, the problem went away. We also made sure food sources were not accessible (metal cans with weights on top).
I am in the anti-poison camp. A neighbor put rat poison in a 'tunnel' and a couple days later a beloved outdoor cat I was caring for got ill and did not pull through. I found a dead mouse and a dead rat near where he slept at night in an outbuilding. I had begged them not to put poison out. The cat suffered - it was heartbreaking, the vet unable to help him.
JJ

 

[Black Feather]

I had a rat problem last year. I didn't notice right off when they moved in, but I think they turned up late October, early November and I clued in that there were rats around in December sometime.

They are smart little buggers and every time I tried to prevent them from getting into the coop, they found a different way in, or chewed through a door sill etc. They were nesting in tunnels under the coop and I knew where the entrance to the den was.

It started off with traps, but they got wise to that really fast. They started avoiding the traps. I got more inventive and barricaded the entrancec of the den to force them into the traps. That sort of worked. Then one day they were in the coop and I was able to trap them in there. I sent my dog in (German Shepherd) and she killed one while two escaped. Did this a few times too....worked great as my dog would kill the rats but ignore the chickens/ducks. She got one of the biggest rats this way. Mind you, the battle left her with a nice cut on her lip that I treated with antibiotic cream. Those suckers fight back!

In the end though I had to resort to poison. I selected a warfarin based poison and shoved it down their nest holes as far as I could, then covered in the holes. When the holes stopped getting dug out, I stopped putting poison out. I never saw a dead rat and suspect they dies in the burrows.

I did not want to use poison at all, but the thought of an ongoing infestation and the damage that could create was the final straw. Actually, the final straw was when I heard them digging under my home.

I was successful in getting rid of them and am thankful for it. I know rats can become a HUGE problem is they get established.

UC

 

[scogind]

If these are really rats, then this trap might not work except on the smaller ones. Personally, I call all of them rats even the mice. Anyway, I had a infestation of mice, fat, corn-fed mice, so bad they would scamper around in broad daylight. I got this repeating mouse trap made by Victor I think, called the Tin Cat. I removed the feeder that night and baited the trap with the same feed and put it right where the feeder was. The first night I caught 30 mice in that trap. It was so full that it was warm from their body heat. The instructions said it would hold up to 30 and boy they must of really tested that thing. I relocated it the next day and caught 9, then put it back where the feeder was that night and caught 24 more. That thing has caught more mice in less time than anything I've ever seen. It only cost me $16 and I've been using it for 5 years now. You can take the trap and sink it in a bucket of water, or creek in my case, or even take it over to your boss'es house and release them, safe and sound...

 

[kees]

I have a rat that's been chewing at the corner of my house by the radiator. Initially, I thought that it was a mouse. However, a week later, I thought that it can't be a mouse because it's been chewing and it's jaws are too strong.

Two sticky traps are put out. Within 5 minutes, one of my cats is running around because he was curious. Cat's paw easily comes off and the traps are put into the basement out of reach where I think that they might be coming in.

Fast forward, now this thing won't stop chewing. I'm freaked out by it and won't go into the living room or down to the basement. I see a gap by the corner and pour a little bleach down it. Noise stops. Big sigh of relief. A couple of hours later, the noise starts again. It's obvious that RoboRat has returned. Do the bleach thing again. Quiet. The rat wakes me up at 3:30 AM with the chewing noise.

Now I'm really freaking out. I can't afford a professional exterminator and I don't want to use poisons or a snap trap. I think that I'd have a hard time disposing of a rat in a trap.

I get a couple of cans of that spray insulation foam from Home Depot. The previous owners of the house didn't insulate the house very well. I spray some down by the gaps of the wood floor.

Following the suggestions of many posters, I clear most of the hay that I had tried to compost. I realize that perhaps it wasn't the best thing to do because it provided bedding and cover for the rat.

I'm thinking that if there's one rat, there's got to be more. (Last summer I saw this HUGE one run through the yard.)

I go outside with a friend (in case I get scared) and find a couple of rat holes. Darn, those things can dig! I spray foam in to block the hole (temporarily) and seal up every crack outside the house.

I also set a trap that is kind of like a Havaheart trap, only cheaper. I couldn't believe that two stores told me to trap the rat and just release them because they were clean animals! Ick!

Set the trap against the side of the house with luncheon meat and we'll see what goes in...

I hope that it doesn't attract a skunk! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks for all of your suggestions about clearing any bedding. Never would have thought of it myself.

Suzy

 

[Cluckatar]

Has anyone tried a Rat Zapper style rat trap? We have a rat with two smaller rats (mom and the kids?) who have started hanging out in our run at night. We went out a little late to close the coop tonight, and they ran down the ramp. I guess they'd had enough time to check in for a snack at the feeding station. Gross. They need to go. Poison is not an option for us, but we need a trap that works. Thanks for any info.

 

[daze333]

Hi,
I don't have a trap solution, but we raised our coop up on cement building blocks (because they were living under it) and locked the food up tight and tried to close the coop before or right at dark. Then the rats started dying from starvation I guess. We eventually made a new and improved coop with a cement floor. Haven't seen a rat since. Good luck!