rats!

[rittert3]

That nevermiss has an interesting concept but will it catch a football sized rat? All of my domestic stud males were the size of a 20oz pop bottle by the time they were 9 months old and wild norway rats get even bigger. Also is it just me or dose this thing look like it throws elastrator bands? ETA: I'm not a fan of cats esspecially around birds so any alternative to them is worth a try in my book.

 

[chickbird]

f
Quote:
if you will cover your cage/pen with fruit netting which is really cheap they can not get in, if you will put one layer lightened and a second layer loose, it will trap the mice,snakes, it has even caught a fox and a possum from getting in my chicken pens, and caught 7 snakes this summer. it is cheap and it works great. you can usually get this in wide widths at tsc ,lowes or home depot and cut it to suit your needs with scissors.

 

[chickbird]

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lye is caustic, it burns the skin, the throat and anything that eats or touches this including animals like dogs and cats and humans.

 

[TreeHugger]

I caught one in a live trap yesterday. I was shocked to find a rat in it. About 3 months ago some of my young chickens and a few squab were killed. I thought a young possum had managed to get into my pens. BTW that live trap had been sitting out there for months and I hadn't caught anything. I have not had any more birds killed recently, but some eggs that were due to hatch "disappeared" last week. My main concern is how many rat friends were hanging with him. This is the first rat problem I've had in 6 years of raising chickens.

 

[Yetti]

I think many people have the wrong impression of what is good bait for rats. they love liver and gut meats. Peanut butter is like settling for whats there. I find the smaller mice & chipmunks ate it more.

the water drop traps are great. rats need to be able to get in them. the ramp has to be along a wall. they have to be able to drag there whiskers parallel as they walk. ( they can't see in the dark any better then we do). if you use the water drop/bucket traps then I hope you are using the bottle axle style. if you want great results try putting tiny holes in the bottle so it can drip juice from a tuna can or chicken grease into the water, it will stink and that's the idea. they can't resist.

on a side note you can always use a nice fat Snake to eat the rats

 

[FenDruadin]

Try pennyroyal. You'll have to grow it, but it's an old-time homesteader's trick that I've heard works wonders. You just harvest pennyroyal leaves and spread them around the area you want to keep the rats out of. I don't think it will harm mammals, though I guess it would be good to check on that before putting it in the coop. I think it just smells bad to the rats. I'm planning to try this next year & will report back... but I'd love to hear others's experiences in the mean time!

 

[Orange Ribbon]

I've caught rats in buckets with water and drowned them, but not all of them will fall for it. Dang things are pretty smart and can figure out what is a trap. I once had a rat in my cabin and I tried a water bucket, trap, even set a deadfall but the darn thing could eat the peanut butter off the trigger without setting it off. And I had it set pretty light too. I'd guess poison is about the best thing, but it can be dangerous for other pets/animals. That cayenne trick sounds like something worth trying.

I have a friend who is paralyzed from the waist down and one night he woke up with something just not feeling right, so he threw back the cover and there was a rat chewing on his foot! It had already ate part of one toe off! Just to note, he keeps a clean place, so it wasn't like his house was like a pigsty or anything. The sucker just found his way in and somehow sensed my friend's lack of feeling. It got away that night, and I don't recall if he finally killed it or it just left, but that was a horrible thing to have happen. How it could figure out it could bite my friend without it being felt is just uncanny. Gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

 

[rittert3]

I think we are on the right track of thinking here, it seems like detering rats is easier than actually killing them. They tend to be to smart for traps and the poisons will harm our own critters. Cayenne (in combination with red pepper flakes) is supposed to be benifical to birds so I think it's really worth a shot. It's supposed to decrease the time that hens take a break from laying in the winter/ lower the temps where a hen will lay. I guess people have said their chickens love scratching around for the red pepper flakes mixed with deep litter, and as I mentioned before the rats and mice can't stand to be around it so, were ever you use them should be rodent free.

 

[Stellar]

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Oh my goodness! That is horrible! I hope your friend got treated right. I keep facilities clean but found my first rat the day before yesterday. I gutted out the brooder and breeder rooms and there is no sign of poop or anything.... The cages are fort Knox at this point because of snakes. Did I kill all the rat snakes???? Lol

ETA when I meant "treated right" I meant your friend got proper medical care

 

[chrishel]

In regards to glue traps, to remove them, heat the glue trap up with a hair dryer and the glue will melt and release.

One of my Vendors from work told me about this. He's an adhesive scientist and at the time we had mice in our house and I was worried about my then 18 month old getting stuck. Instead, my parakeet got stuck. After much freaking out on both our parts, we got her unstuck in 30 seconds with no residue on her feathers. Be careful not to burn anyone/thing with the hair dryer heat.