Rats! Need New Strategy

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

We have two savvy rats skiddling around our coops during broad daylight. i go outside a hundred times a day to find them sitting inside the duck's food bin eating (and pooping and peeing). So i am constantly setting the food bin up, then down again so the ducks can eat. i have set snap traps inside the duck pen after i lock them in their coop at night. i have tried shooting them with a pellet gun, but i'm a terrible shot and the pellets will ricochet if i hit something solid - so scared for my chickens and ducks. i have set out a rat zapper and also another larger one, to no avail. So i think i need to step up to poison.

Here is what i'm thinking of getting: http://www.pestmall.com/protecta-rats-bait-stations.html
It's a bait station that you can lock, and you can also put one of those large black plastic snap traps inside. i was going to use Tom Cat bait blocks, which you can secure inside. From what i have read, they are the least toxic to any secondary poisoning. The main ingredient is Bromethalin.

The rats seem to be coming from under our shed, which is set on uneven ground so has pillars on the backside, for easy rat access. i was going to get two bait stations and set them under the shed where none of my animals can access. We do have a neighbor cat who is over here a lot looking at the rats, but he is way too slow to catch them. He looks well-fed so i doubt he would try to eat a dead rat . . . at least i hope not.

Does this sound like a plan? Any other suggestions?

 

[Godiva]

I sympathise with your problem - however I still never go the poison route. Plenty folk do and that is totally your choice ... no judgement here. Have you tried one of those live traps with a bait set inside? Then once the rat is no longer running around you can shoot it and don't have to worry about the aim issue. I just hate the thought of some other animal getting into the poisoned rat ... Something that I found helped to keep the rodents from getting into my feed was to load it with cayenne pepper which the chickens didn't mind at all and the critters found way too hot for their liking Good luck figuring this out! What do you bait your traps with? We have had great success with peanut butter on a sunflower seed that is jammed into the bait spot. They get caught every time

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i was using peanut butter with some Flockraiser feed sprinkled on top, since that is what the ducks eat and the rats are going after. i try to keep all the feed cleaned up from the ground at night, but that's hard with how many pens i have. i hate the idea of using poison, but i'm just desperate here.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i ordered two professional rat bait traps last night online. They hold several chunks of bait, but also have a spot for a large snap trap. They can be bolted down to something and have a lock. So i'll try them with just the snap trap and some bait, like what you suggest. If that doesn't work i need to go with the poison bait. These rats are relentless.

 

[Righteous Rstr]

!Go to my profile and read old school tried and true ! Poison is awful I used it
when we first got this place,trust me it's a nightmare. We rented a motel for
a week from the smell of the ones we lost,and the dog ate one ! CURE; a
turkey baster with hydrogen peroxide in it,squirt it all down throat dog will
puke20-25 times rat first. RR





















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[Righteous Rstr]

They wise up to the traps pretty quick plus they know if they smell dead buddies.
Believe me a 5 gallon bucket with a way to climb on top of the1x2 you will catch
one or more a night ! Just be sure to wash the buckets regularly . RR

 

[Ken Phillips]

I have fought that war a couple of times.. Here's what worked for me. First use pellet poison so they can carry it back to their burrows. The fish flavored seems to be their fav. Secondly if you can find a burrow take a piece of pipe and put it down the burrow and make it easy for them to get a good meal. cave in their opening after you place the bait.They will take it back to their family. Use bait stations or at least put it inside a cage that only They are small enough to get into. You can use a 3" pvc pipe with caps on the ends with a hole drilled into it about 1.5 inches in diameter.Or what ever your creative mind can come up with.You gotta make em hungry ,Real hungry by depriving them of any other source of food. So after giving your flock something to eat pick up the food.They won't starve to death in the mean time. I know from experience they will also kill your chickens!!! Good luck I hate those ********!!

 

[Island Roo]

When I set snap traps, I put the bait out for a couple of days without setting the traps. The rats get used to a free snack trail trail of several traps. When I set them to snap a couple days later, they are not expecting it.

Havahart traps work too.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i have tried the bucket trick before, wood ramp up, bucket filled with water then float sun flower seeds on the water. Didn't catch anybody. We did accidentally catch one once when i had some 18 gallon rubbermaid containers that got filled with water. Went to dump the water out and *Bleech!*

i have used snap traps in the past with success, wiping out a whole family of 11. But these two rats are very wary, and fast. i don't think they come out at night. They are out first thing in the morning, though, as i set food out for my ducks. i think i've blocked off their access to my chicken pens.

Using bait really is a last resort here. i can't have them pooping and peeing in my bird's food, and i'm tired of going in and out all day long, putting the food up, then down so my ducks can eat, then back up.

Still waiting for those bait stations to arrive. They can't come soon enough.

 

[brozilla]

No one has mentioned getting a cat? we have one that constantly brings us rats, mice, birds, lizards, squirrel or two, mole, voles and even a bat!....
GL....