Rats

[turboscooby07]

I had a nasty pack rat problem but a few months of going out with a flashlight and a 22 revolver with bird shot in it took care of them. Also I cleaned the yard up and moved anthing they can live under or in. I have only had a few rats in the past year. The owl popultion has exploded this spring and they are eating every furry critter out here, I have seen their pellets by my silo

 

[sue4rescue]

Has anyone tried this to eliminate rats and mice? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013H4HR3S...&ascsubtag=826f143a54f75785202cbacfce2b1a28_S

 

[turboscooby07]

Havent tried that....to much food for rats to be persuaded. I have had rats decorate their homes with poison and raccoon poop for that matter....just shoot them they have terrible flight or flight response...they just stare at the flashlight. ..get rid of bedding sites and keep the yard mowed and free of debris. Rats breed all year long as long as there's food available.

 

[favman]

g'day. john the favman. old aussie trick, coffee jar 2/3 raw sugar 1/3 cement shake well till gold sugar turns gray put jar lids of this where chooks cannot get at it if the chooks find a dead rat no poision just a lump of cement in the middle.good luck.

 

[turboscooby07]

Ooh I like that idea...I have no mercy for rats, how about an old aussie trick for voles, they eat roots any plants and tunnel around under your yard about 2 inches deep. They make a perfect cow pasture dangerous. I had been soaking corn cobs in antifreeze and burying them in the tunnels and it worked for one year then they got wise to it

 

[CrazedCowgirl]

Great idea's everyone!

I was out earlier feeding my girls some strawberries (their favorite) and this rat just walks right out from under their coop and **** near grabs a berry out of one of my girls mouths!

Needless to say, I'm more than a little upset...I've been asking my neighbor for weeks now to clear his fence line so the little buggers don't have any hiding spots. I found the one spot in my fence that he was squeezing through and buttoned it up with gravel and a few bricks. Over kill I know but I DO NOT like or tolerate rats anywhere. I can't and won't use bait since I have other critters and we have a pretty nice owl and hawk population around me. I put out a couple live traps on their stupid little paths and filled a 55 gal drum to drown them in.

I know some of you will shame me for it but I really don't care. it's the most humane way I can think of last minute and it's free.

I think I'm going to try Favman's suggestion of sugar and cement though, I like the sound of that one too.

I saw a couple people mention DE as a preventative/ repellant but I can't find any good info on DE for a rat repellant online. I already use DE for dust bath mix and on my dogs so if I can find another use for it, I'd be ecstatic!

 

[oldhen2345]

I have a rat problem too- big suckers. My feed is in galvanized metal containers, but I leave the feed out for the chicks to free feed all day. Guess I will be changing that tactic.
I have seen them in the pine shavings in the coop. Don't know how to prevent them in there.
I bought a couple of those ratinator traps that electrocute them. You can only get one at a time with that though. I got one - so big he filled up the container and his end was hanging out.

Just bought a big live trap and plan to drown the rats it catches. Sorry, no catch and release for these pests.
I like the idea of mixing sugar with cement and killing them like that. I like my wild birds, and domestic pets too, so worry about them getting into the mix. I also worry about the smell of the rats after they die. I live in town- what do you do with dead rat carcuses when the trash man only comes once a week?? I refuse- yes refuse- to double bag them and store them in the freezer until trash day.(this was actually a suggestion). so, what now?

 

[favman]

Hi old hen. just a note sugar is addictive and rats will keep coming back to it until dead remember to put your bait station under cover so birds and pets cannot get at it .the rats will be coming in from else ware and will go back near there to die.i have not smelt a dead rat yet but iam on 20 acres.if you have aworry just start with one bait station then increase after two days then another two days.you should wipe them out in a week then keep one station going for ever if you have to top up every few days put out more stations what kills rats best is persistence...good luck. favman.

 

[jools2014]

I tried to go the humane route-bought a big cage trap-it's not really humane at all though. You are supposed to check the trap regularly (every hour I think!) well I set it up at night since that's when they are most frequent and who would get up regularly during the night, go all the way down the garden in the pitch black to check? And then what to do with it if you do find one in the middle of the night? You still have to kill it somehow.

Rats usually survive but if a mouse is caught I will most often find it dead (and rats are pretty smart when it comes to the cage traps-I have caught mainly mice and only a few smaller rats). Not only that but if you do manage to catch a live rat (which will have been stressed out in the cage for a while) and you release it in the country thinking you are being kind, apparently it is pretty sure to die anyway without it's usual food and water sources. So all that being said, me being an animal loving vegetarian who tried to go the humane way-might have caused an even bigger problem and more rats and may have to resort to poison etc. in the end anyway-killing more rats and causing more suffering than someone who just kills them right away. Sigh, keeping chickens is not easy!

I would say-make sure there is no way they can get to any food (mine went away mostly when i put all food out of their reach and bought a metal container only the birds could operate-they came back when i had ducklings and food out for them a few months ago) Block off all their holes, and if that fails you may have to resort to killing them (not like i have to convince many people on here anyway!) I am still hoping I don't have to resort to poison, but very aware of the problem escalating.

 

[oldhen2345]

Thanks. Will do. Appreciate the advise. Will let you know how thing go.