Rats! I have rats.

[llombardo]

I work inthe garbage industry, rats are present all the time. I left one location and came back this past Saturday. All of the sudden they have tripled the bait boxes. These rats are huge. I guess o e was trying to get in the front door and one of the guys tried shooing it away and it ended up coming in. It was literally a battle between him and the rat.

Not sure what luck you or anyone has with those bait boxes, but if there are 20 out there by us, there ends up being maybe one in the box a week. Not very good odds. These boxes don't allow them to come out once they are in.

Good Luck. Have you thought about getting a couple cats?

 

[Debby in france]

It’s really hard to get rid of them once they have taken hold. Here’s how I did it ...

Always use galv. Metal dustbins for food and bedding with strong heavy lids (old roof tiles on top stop them tossing the tops off).
Store everything away from the site except what is essential. Move it temporarily if necessary.
If your compost bin is near make sure it is on concrete or tiles - if not get rid of it as they will live in and eat it if they can get in.
Rake the area daily to remove chicken do dos (yes rats will eat them !)
Block each and every hole you see with a brick or part of one.
I don’t use poison as I have cats and traps won’t kill enough to make a difference.
Take food and water away every night.
Use rat proof feeders with a tray under each (empty trays as often as possible).
Take away food and water and they will find somewhere else. That’s my two pennys worth.
Get a couple of good cat hunters although they can’t get them all.
The above and good luck.

 

[Acre4Me]

Good Luck. Have you thought about getting a couple cats?

We recently adopted a 4 month kitten thru the humane society. It will live in the barn, where we have an insulated area, but for all intents, it will become more of an outdoor cat, and we hope a good mouser. Funny though, we called around to several humane societies, and various rescues after finding potential fits on their websites. It was a real challenge once I said that the cat would not live in our actual home, but described the situation, including cat having own bed, food, water, and comfy cage with loft, and with routine vet visits. Some of them were like "we will have to ask our board if we would even allow you to get a cat if its not going to live inside your actual home"...Wait, wat? A few people actually told me to lie, but I figured that if the adoption places knew our intent, they might say "this one is a better fit..." Oh well, cat adopted, clean vet report, spay scheduled, and she likes the outdoors and we've found one chewed up mouse (she might have just played with it, it wasn't eaten).

 

[cmom]

It’s really hard to get rid of them once they have taken hold. Here’s how I did it ...

Always use galv. Metal dustbins for food and bedding with strong heavy lids (old roof tiles on top stop them tossing the tops off).
Store everything away from the site except what is essential. Move it temporarily if necessary.
If your compost bin is near make sure it is on concrete or tiles - if not get rid of it as they will live in and eat it if they can get in.
Rake the area daily to remove chicken do dos (yes rats will eat them !)
Block each and every hole you see with a brick or part of one.
I don’t use poison as I have cats and traps won’t kill enough to make a difference.
Take food and water away every night.
Use rat proof feeders with a tray under each (empty trays as often as possible).
Take away food and water and they will find somewhere else. That’s my two pennys worth.
Get a couple of good cat hunters although they can’t get them all.
The above and good luck.

 

[Folly's place]

Humane Society cats; I found the same issue, nobody wants to send a cat to an outdoor home, however useful the cat would be, or however well cared for. I'm waiting for a streetwise cat to turn up here, because bringing an indoor only cat outside isn't a good idea either.
My barn cats thought that adult rats are my problem! Mice, juvenile rats, rabbits, fine, but not adult rats.
Mary

 

[andreanar]

Yes, I used bait stations inside the coop, where the chickens were. I put them along the walls behind nest boxes, rats like to walk along the edges. I also had to literally cover the run, under the coop with bait stations, glue boards and snap traps because I had covered every tiny crack in the coop with hardware cloth so they couldn't get in anymore.
I stuffed poison down into their tunnels too. I had to risk it, my rat problem was BAD! So bad that when I lifted a pallet they ran out and over my feet in droves! I burned all pallets and was grabbing up the rats as the scurried over my feet and was throwing them in the fire. It was disgusting!

 

[Debby in france]

Yes, I used bait stations inside the coop, where the chickens were. I put them along the walls behind nest boxes, rats like to walk along the edges. I also had to literally cover the run, under the coop with bait stations, glue boards and snap traps because I had covered every tiny crack in the coop with hardware cloth so they couldn't get in anymore.
I stuffed poison down into their tunnels too. I had to risk it, my rat problem was BAD! So bad that when I lifted a pallet they ran out and over my feet in droves! I burned all pallets and was grabbing up the rats as the scurried over my feet and was throwing them in the fire. It was disgusting!

OMG ! ,
Isn’t this what nightmares are made of ?

 

[llombardo]

We recently adopted a 4 month kitten thru the humane society. It will live in the barn, where we have an insulated area, but for all intents, it will become more of an outdoor cat, and we hope a good mouser. Funny though, we called around to several humane societies, and various rescues after finding potential fits on their websites. It was a real challenge once I said that the cat would not live in our actual home, but described the situation, including cat having own bed, food, water, and comfy cage with loft, and with routine vet visits. Some of them were like "we will have to ask our board if we would even allow you to get a cat if its not going to live inside your actual home"...Wait, wat? A few people actually told me to lie, but I figured that if the adoption places knew our intent, they might say "this one is a better fit..." Oh well, cat adopted, clean vet report, spay scheduled, and she likes the outdoors and we've found one chewed up mouse (she might have just played with it, it wasn't eaten).

Where do you live? I would never ever take a friendly cat and make it a barn cat. They are meant to be inside IMO and I agree with rescues.

Feral cats is what you need. Not sure if they have them where you are? They have working cat programs here and use these cats in the City to control the rodent control program. They live in colonies. People work tirelessly to trap, fix them and vaccinate then return them or relocate them. They have their ear clipped do they are recognized as feral and they are microchipped.Then they have caretakers that are registered for each colony. Those people take care of and feed them like they are their own. People everywhere help each other. It's amazing. I have saw several groups get transported to barns where they live happy lives in groups. They can't tepopulatd because they are fixed and for the most part no human can ever touch them, they are not cats that are meant to be inside. I will say I do have one that I made an indoor kitty and she loves it, doesn't want anything to do with outside. She just was t meant for that life and rather enjoys her life

 

[andreanar]

OMG ! ,
Isn’t this what nightmares are made of ?

Believe me, it was a nightmare! I had done the stupidest thing by putting down 25 pallets, to make a "floor" in the run to keep my chickens up out of the mud. Then I stuffed straw, a ton of it, down into all the pallet cracks. OMG, the rats just moved in!
I started a fire and started throwing the pallets in the fire to get rid of them, and the rats were just overflowing out and all over me! Some even jumped on me! I was grabbing them left and right. I was crying and screaming. It was like I opened a New York City sewer!
But I got it done and left no place for them to live.

 

[Acre4Me]

Where do you live? I would never ever take a friendly cat and make it a barn cat. They are meant to be inside IMO and I agree with rescues.

Feral cats is what you need. Not sure if they have them where you are? They have working cat programs here and use these cats in the City to control the rodent control program. They live in colonies. People work tirelessly to trap, fix them and vaccinate then return them or relocate them. They have their ear clipped do they are recognized as feral and they are microchipped.Then they have caretakers that are registered for each colony. Those people take care of and feed them like they are their own. People everywhere help each other. It's amazing. I have saw several groups get transported to barns where they live happy lives in groups. They can't tepopulatd because they are fixed and for the most part no human can ever touch them, they are not cats that are meant to be inside. I will say I do have one that I made an indoor kitty and she loves it, doesn't want anything to do with outside. She just was t meant for that life and rather enjoys her life

I got a kitten. It was a feral street kitten before someone brought it into the shelter. We spent some time looking for the appropriate cat - Certainly I did not want some unaccustomed older cat to be thrust from home life into a barn. We asked a friend with more land and barn...they trapped a feral cat for me, but guess what, that cat made a complete fecal mess inside the carrier they put it in and no one wanted to transport that hot mess anywhere. Of course, when they cleaned it out, the feral cat was nowhere to be found. My town has only installed a trap/release program in the past couple of years. But, it will take awhile for them to make a sizable dent in the feral cat population. In addition, I disagree with the shelters - I have all the kitten/ cat needs: warmth, food, water, bed, vet and I was clear that I wanted an outdoor cat, and did not lie about that fact. I've given a good home to the cat, so it is a success as the kitten was not euthanized nor living in a shelter for a long time, hoping or waiting for a home.