Rats... please help.

[Al Gerhart]

I have yet to find anyone that has actually done the mashed potato or cornmeal and plaster of paris. Seems to be an old wives tale. If it were that easy there wouldn't be rodent poison on the market I think.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Mashed potatoes?? Please explain. I’m intrigued.

Neither of those methods work.

 

[McChooky]

Mashed potatoes?? Please explain. I’m intrigued.

DRY Instant mashed potatoes swells in their stomach if they drink water and kills them.

Adults Rats can reproduce every 21-29 days. Each female can have 5-10 litters a year, each litter can produce 6-12 baby rats and each baby that survives will reproduce in 5-6 months.
If you continually feed the babies dry instant mashed potatoes and starve the adults the colony will die off. Rats only live 1-3 years.

 

[McChooky]

I have yet to find anyone that has actually done the mashed potato or cornmeal and plaster of paris. Seems to be an old wives tale. If it were that easy there wouldn't be rodent poison on the market I think.

It only works if you remove all other food sources and and continually feed the baby rats the dry instant mashed potatoes. Every baby rat that matures can have more babies in 6 months. If you are not diligent in keeping trash hauled off and all grain and food secured in rat proof containers you won't get rid of rats.Rats can survive on nothing more than poop.

 

[McChooky]

Neither of those methods work.

This method is limited in who it works for I agree. It only works for anyone willing to lock up all food, trash and compost in rodent proof containers and bins .No "free feed" pet food containers left out. No open compost piles with food scraps. Rats will eat the grain in cow patties scattered about .

 

[allenw]

Hi everyone, I know I made this post a while ago but I wanted to come back and thank everyone for sharing their knowledge!

I ended up purchasing a live trap called the ratinator from tractor supply a couple weeks ago and I’ve had success with it. I have caught 10 rats and still going at it (7 in one night!). I’m not seeing any daytime rat activity anymore so I think I caught the bulk of them. I don’t think the rat population was as large as I thought - I think I just had a couple really brave (and fat) ones coming out during the day. I store their food inside my house and bring in all food about a half hour before sunset so if they wanted food they HAD to come out during the day.

If you have any questions about my experience with the ratinator feel free to ask!

I use these small 5x5x16 box traps placed along buildings or pens where rats may travel. A scuba lesson in the stock tank when caught.

 

[Al Gerhart]

No,I have never heard from anyone that this mashed potato idea worked. Just use some common sense, the flakes would mix with saliva as it is being eaten and swell before it hit the stomach. Dried flakes swell between 8 and 10% when wet, hardly enough to burst a rat's stomach.

I wish this were true but it isn't.

 

[McChooky]

No,I have never heard from anyone that this mashed potato idea worked. Just use some common sense, the flakes would mix with saliva as it is being eaten and swell before it hit the stomach. Dried flakes swell between 8 and 10% when wet, hardly enough to burst a rat's stomach.

I wish this were true but it isn't

I was given this advice by a professional exterminator while working in Security at a truck gate at a Hanesbrands site in Rural Hall NC. It got rid of the rats.

 

[Al Gerhart]

The moisture content of dried dog food, heck, most dried food items like crackers, cookies, or cereal is going to way, way, way lower than that of dried potato flakes, in the 6 to 8% range for potato flakes and closer to 2% in cookies and breakfast cereals. Things like nuts are even lower in moisture content, sunflower seeds are under 1% moisture content, peanuts close to that, potato chips and corn chips are arou0nd 1%. And rice, dried rice, around 9% and we all know how rice plumps up when it gets wet. Post harvest loss to rats runs as high as 17% in some Asian countries.

Now how could this be? If dried food that swells up when it gets wet will burst a rodent's stomach why do they have a post harvest rice/rat problem?

Rodents cannot vomit, that much is true, but they are thought to have lost that ability due to superior methods of avoiding toxic food, amazing sense of smell and taste along with the general practice of avoiding the ingestion of any new foods without trying a bit of it first and avoiding it if it makes them sick. They do fart though and like any stomach they have the ability to move food through their system quickly, AKA diarrhea.

There are lots of ways to control rats but please people, please, don't pass along old wives tales. People with a rodent infestation need good advice to deal with the problem and feeding rodents soda, rice, potato flakes, baking soda, plaster of paris isn't going to help them in any way.

Don't make me trap a rat and raise it on dried potato flakes and make it drink soda. : )

 

[MROO]

The moisture content of dried dog food, heck, most dried food items like crackers, cookies, or cereal is going to way, way, way lower than that of dried potato flakes, in the 6 to 8% range for potato flakes and closer to 2% in cookies and breakfast cereals. Things like nuts are even lower in moisture content, sunflower seeds are under 1% moisture content, peanuts close to that, potato chips and corn chips are arou0nd 1%. And rice, dried rice, around 9% and we all know how rice plumps up when it gets wet. Post harvest loss to rats runs as high as 17% in some Asian countries.

Now how could this be? If dried food that swells up when it gets wet will burst a rodent's stomach why do they have a post harvest rice/rat problem?

Rodents cannot vomit, that much is true, but they are thought to have lost that ability due to superior methods of avoiding toxic food, amazing sense of smell and taste along with the general practice of avoiding the ingestion of any new foods without trying a bit of it first and avoiding it if it makes them sick. They do fart though and like any stomach they have the ability to move food through their system quickly, AKA diarrhea.

There are lots of ways to control rats but please people, please, don't pass along old wives tales. People with a rodent infestation need good advice to deal with the problem and feeding rodents soda, rice, potato flakes, baking soda, plaster of paris isn't going to help them in any way.

Don't make me trap a rat and raise it on dried potato flakes and make it drink soda. : )

DO IT! Blame it on the neighbor's kids, 'cause it would make an ideal science fair project!